Lightweight Renato Moicano upset Benoit Saint-Denis in Saint-Denis’ home city of Paris, France. He utilized his poise, top control, and crisp boxing to complete the job with a second-round TKO doctor stoppage.
An early takedown from Moicano stifled Saint-Denis’ potent striking ability from getting implemented. Moicano controlled the positioning well, utilizing his side control and mount positions effortlessly. Several elbows followed to visibly cut Saint-Denis., along with a rear-naked choke attempt. Moicano maintained top control for over three minutes. Despite half of Saint-Denis’s face covered in blood from a flurry of ground and pound, particularly in his left eye, the fight continued.
Moicano out-struck Saint-Denis 30-4, further establishing his dominance in Round 1.
Even though Saint-Denis was compromised, Round 2 saw him show signs of heart and perseverance. He won the round by keeping the fight on his feet and allowing Moicano to second-guess himself for not getting the initial finish minutes earlier.
The victory for Moicano was his fifth in a row, while Saint-Denis has dropped his last two fights.
Moicano called for “easy fights” moving forward, citing Dan Hooker and Paddy Pimblett in his in-Octagon post-fight interview.
Nassourdine Imavov won a middleweight title eliminator against Brendan Allen via unanimous decision in the night’s co-headliner. Imanov has won 12 in a row and called for a fight with champion Dricus du Plessis. A timetable for when the fight would happen is unclear at press time. Du Plessis successfully defended the belt against Israel Adesanya in August in his first title defense.
Allen’s first loss since Dec. 2021 was when he faced Chris Curtis in the first of a two-fight series. Allen had previously won seven in a row, five by rear-naked-choke.
William Gomis edged Joanderson Brito in a back-and-forth three-round split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28). The win was Gomis’ 12th-straight, remaining unbeaten in the UFC.
Other main card action saw Bryan Battle silence the Accor Arena crowd with a second-round TKO against Kevin Jousset in a welterweight bout. The victory improved Battle’s UFC mark to 6-1, 1 NC, extending his streak to three. It was Jousset’s first UFC blemish and first loss since July 2022.
The knockouts kept coming in Paris. After a heavy wrestling-based Round 1, Morgan Charriere delivered a one-punch finish of Gabriel Miranda, leaving no doubt after entering as the card’s biggest betting favorite. The win was Charriere’s second in the UFC and his first win this year.
Farez Ziam scored a late third-round finish against Matt Frevola with a knee to Frevola’s jaw, which sent him straight to the canvas. Frevola was intended to by cage-side doctors while Ziam celebrated his 16th MMA win to open main card action.
The event marked the UFC’s third-straight trip to Paris. The promotion turns the page to next Saturday for UFC 307, headlined by Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree for Pereira’s light heavyweight title in Salt Lake City, Utah.
–Field Level Media