Renato Moicano spoiled the main event homecoming of Benoit Saint-Denis on Saturday night, forcing a finish after just two rounds of their headliner UFC “Fight Night” bout from the Accor Arena in Paris, France.
Ground and pound from Moicano in the opening round proved to be effective, bruising and cutting the face of Saint-Denis en route to a doctor stoppage result.
Moicano spent nearly all of the first round in control on the ground. The Brazilian contender caught a kick from Saint-Denis in the opening moments of the fight, using the limb to put together a takedown that started the lengthy beatdown on the canvas.
Moicano moved into a full mount position by the second minute of the fight, allowing him room to start unloading with hard shots. Clean elbows and punches busted up the face of Saint-Denis, although the French fighter’s ability to stay active from the bottom prevented Moicano’s attack from being even worse.
Saint-Denis survived the round, but incurred enough damage that all three judges saw Moicano lead with a lopsided score of 10-8. More importantly, however, was the fact that Saint-Denis had suffered damage to his face that threatened a stoppage later in the fight. Of the blemishes he took on, the most worrying was the bruising around his right eye which could lead to vision issues.
Despite taking large amounts of damage on the ground, Saint-Denis was able to hold his own in the second round and even win the frame on official scorecards. He out-landed Moicano through five minutes at a stand-up range, beginning what could have been a comeback performance.
However, Saint-Denis’ fate was decided for him once he got back to his corner. A cageside doctor assessed how the damage on his face had changed, and decided that the impairment of his vision due to bruising was too severe for the fight to continue.
“Unfortunately, in that first round, I came out, I was a little bit sleepy,” Saint-Denis said through an interpreter afterward. “It allowed him [Moicano] to do enough damage to then play the Matador in the later round.”
The win in Saturday’s main event for Moicano continued the strongest winning streak in his UFC career thus far. He has pieced together four consecutive wins since 2022, including prior victories over Jalin Turner and Drew Dober.
After the fight, Moicano claimed on social media that he entered the fight with a shoulder injury.
“I hurt my shoulder 3 weeks ago,” Moicano wrote on X. “But I couldn’t pull out of a main event. Thank you [to] my team for helping me train like that [and] get me ready for the fight.”
While Saint-Denis had fought on two of UFC’s three previous shows in France, Saturday was his first time getting the show’s main event spotlight. He was aiming to regain momentum this weekend after losing a pivotal fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 299 in March.
Fourth-ranked middleweight Nassourdine Imavov picked up a notable victory in the co-main event on Saturday night, getting past eighth-place Brendan Allen in a three-round unanimous decision result. The bout ended a lengthy seven-fight winning streak that Allen had developed since 2022 and marked the third victory from France’s Imavov in this year alone.
Main Card (3:00PM EDT / 9:00PM CET) (ESPN+)
Bout 14: Renato Moicano def. Benoit Saint-Denis via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 5:00
Bout 13: Nassourdine Imavov def. Brendan Allen via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 12: William Gomis def. Joanderson Brito via Decision, Split
Bout 11: Bryan Battle def. Kevin Jousset via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 3:47)
Bout 10: Morgan Charriere def. Gabriel Miranda via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 0:27)
Bout 9: Fares Ziam def. Matt Frevola via TKO, Strikes (RD 3, 2:59)
Preliminary Card (12:00PM EDT / 6:00PM CET) (ESPN+)
Bout 8: Ion Cutelaba def. Ivan Erslan via Decision, Split
Bout 7: Oumar Sy def. Jung Da-woon via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 6: Ludovit Klein def. Roosevelt Roberts via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 5: Taylor Lapilus def. Vince Morales via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 4: Ailin Perez def. Darya Zheleznyakova via Submission, Arm Triangle Choke (RD 1, 3:52)
Bout 3: Daniel Barez def. Victor Altamirano via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 2: Jacqueline Cavalcanti def. Nora Cornolle via Decision, Split
Bout 1: Chris Duncan def. Bolaji Oki via Submission, Guillotine Choke (RD 1, 3:44)
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