Yahoo Sports Benoit Saint-Denis has a trio of UFC lightweight ‘young lions’ he wants to take out
LAS VEGAS – Benoit Saint-Denis beat Ismael Bonfim with a first-round submission Saturday on the main card at UFC on ESPN 47 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Saint-Denis, who won for the third straight time after the lone loss of his career.
Ismael Bonfim vs. Benoit Saint-Denis
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Result: Benoit Saint-Denis def. Ismael Bonfim via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:48
Updated records: Saint-Denis (11-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC), Bonfim (19-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC)
Key stats: Saint-Denis has a 100 percent finish rate in his wins, including nine of 11 by submission.
Saint-Denis on the fight's key moment
“At the beginning, because he is tough, he has a lot of energy, and the way he got out of the mount made me think maybe I had to wait (to try a submission) – for the second round or third round to try to finish him. But I felt small technical openings, like with a lot of strikes from the back, and it started to frustrate him and he started to forget a bit about my hands and I was able to get the finish.”
Saint-Denis on Bonfim's power
“I knew he was tough. I think he’s the biggest hitter with some names like (Michael) Chandler or (Rafael) Fiziev in our division. It comes from the English boxing. He has a perfect undefeated boxing record – English boxing – so a strategy against those guys when you have good legs is just to break the arms by kicking it, and you kill his stomach and you kill his arms. It was one of the strategies on the feet and not letting him press, and if he wants to be too aggressive, counter-shots or counter him with grappling. I was able to do just that.”
Saint-Denis on what he wants next
“It’s simple: I want Arman Tsarukyan or I want Mateusz Gamrot, or I want Fiziev. I want one of the toughest young guys, young lions. If I (make) a statement against one of those three gentlemen, I could take an old lion like Chandler. I can even dream bigger after that. But I would really like someone in the top 15. I would really be excited about Gamrot because he’s one of the only guys to have defeated Mansour Barnaoui, who is a friend of mine. I would like to take revenge, to take his head off in Paris.”
To hear more from Saint-Denis, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 47.
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