Benoit Saint Denis wants his shot at the top of the lightweight division after stopping Dan Hooker in the UFC 325 co-main event.
It didn’t come easy with Saint Denis absorbing some punishing body shots early but he weathered the storm and just walked Hooker down. Once Saint Denis trapped Hooker on the canvas, he first attempted to finish with a submission before deciding to just beat up his opponent with a barrage of elbows and punches.
Finally with Hooker trapped, Saint Denis just unloaded shots in succession with referee Herb Dean stopping the onslaught at 4:45 in the second round.
“He was very good with the distance management,” Saint Denis said about Hooker. “I had to put old BSD seek and destroy stuff on the plan. I’m going to be champion with this shit … give me the f*cking belt.
“For me there is only Max Holloway, Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje or Ilia Topuria I have in mind. Arman [Tsarukyan] … I’m going to take your f*cking spot, I’m here to be the champion.”
It took no time for Saint Denis to look for the takedown and Hooker quickly countered with a power guillotine choke. That forced Saint Denis to roll and escape back to his feet where Hooker was quick to greet him with some nasty kicks to the body.
Despite absorbing some serious punishment to the midsection, Saint Denis stayed on the attack but Hooker was quick to counter him at every turn. Saint Denis finally reversed course by grabbing the body lock and throwing Hooker to the ground.
That led to Saint Denis setting up a kimura but Hooker resisted and used the aggression to get back to his feet again. Another wild exchange ensued with Hooker punishing Saint Denis to the body and then going back up top to the head but the Frenchman countered with another takedown and some stiff ground and pound.
As round two got underway, Hooker made a mistake trying to go for a takedown of his own and Saint Denis countered and landed directly in the mount. Saint Denis began dropping bombs from the top, hammering away with punches and elbows with Hooker trapped underneath him.
A split second later, Saint Denis grabbed onto an arm-triangle choke and it looked like Hooker was very close to tapping out. He couldn’t get the submission but Saint Denis just kept chipping away at him before unloading with a series of nasty elbows.
With Hooker unable to escape, Saint Denis just switched punches as he fired off shots in succession and the referee was forced to intervene to prevent from harm.
That’s now four wins in a row for Saint Denis — all by knockout or submission — and he appears to be a serious player at 155 pounds as he pushes forward in 2026.
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