User:Gowdu59/Benoît Saint-Denis

Benoit Saint-Denis (born December 18, 1995) is a former special forces operator and a French professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of July 23, 2022, he is #75 in the worldwide lightweight rankings.

Early life, education and military experience
Benoit Saint-Denis (BSD) was born on December 18, 1995, a hundred meters from the arenas of Nîmes. His father is an officer who practiced judo and his mother was a teacher. Following his father's assignments, he spent his early childhood in Nîmes, his childhood in Müllheim, Rambouillet and Münster and his adolescence in Lille.

He practiced judo in Germany and France, from 8 to 16 years old, and obtained the black belt before devoting himself to his high school exam in Science and preparation for military recruitment tests. He also occasionally played soccer and rugby in his youth.

In 2014, when he was only 18, he enlisted in the special forces with the 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment. A year later, he was sent on a mission to Mali as an operator. For three years he carried out anti-terrorist missions in Africa and trained with the Australian special forces.

In 2019, he became a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.

MMA debuts (2018-2021)
Saint Denis began kick-boxing with Stephane Susperregui and Brazilian jiu-jitsu(BJJ) with Christophe Savoca in 2018 in the Bayonne region. He also tried MMA and won the Invictus amateur fights on December 15, 2018 in San Sebastian, Spain.

He stood out among sixty fighters during a test organized by Daniel Woirin, a French coach renowned for having won three belts at UFC and two at Strikeforce with MMA champions Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida. Saint Denis, ending his contract with the French armed forces, decided to embark on a career as a professional MMA fighter. He joined the Bulgarian Top Team of French manager Giom Peltier and won six fights in eleven months against opponents better ranked than him. Then the pace of the fights slowed down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

À la fin de son premier contrat de cinq ans dans l’armée française, il se fait remarquer parmi soixante combattants lors d'un test organisé par Daniel Woirin, entraîneur français réputé pour avoir gagné trois ceintures à la prestigieuse organisation américaine de l'Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) et deux au Strikeforce avec les champions de MMA Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson et Lyoto Machida. Benoît Saint-Denis, terminant son contrat avec l'armée, décide de se lancer dans une carrière de combattant professionnel de MMA et se donne deux ans pour intégrer l’UFC, première organisation mondiale. Deux ans, c’est le temps dont il dispose avec ses économies pour se consacrer pleinement au MMA et espérer percer. Il intègre la Bulgarian Top Team du manager français Giom Peltier et mène six combats victorieux en onze mois contre des adversaires mieux classés que lui. Puis le rythme des combats ralentit du fait de la pandémie de Covid-19.

UFC Prelims (2021-present)
With Daniel Woirin, he stayed undefeated in welterweight and super lightweight divisions at the Brave Combat Federation, a worldwide organization. Spotted by the UFC, he entered the number one MMA organization on short notice and in the upper welterweight class. He made his UFC debut on the Preliminary Card at UFC 267 on October 30, 2021, against Brazilian top 20 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos in the United Arab Emirates. After three rounds, he lost by unanimous decision at the end of an epic fight.

On June 4, 2022, during UFC fight night 207 in Las Vegas, for his second UFC fight, in lightweight class this time, Saint Denis won by submission against the German MMA artist Niklas Stolze in the second round.

On July 12, 2022, Christophe Savoca, his BJJ coach, gave him the brown belt.

Fighting style and Awards
Saint Denis whose nick-name is "God of War" is known as a finisher. In the octagon, that materialized in 100% finish before time-limit over 9 wins (8 submissions and 1 knockout). Saint Denis favors cage-and-ground controls.

The Brave CF awarded Saint Denis the prize for the submission of the year 2020 following an exceptionnel kneebar.

Charity and Influence
Saint Denis is a source of inspiration in France as a young professional MMA fighter, provided that MMA is booming worldwide and it was legalised in France in 2020. His training session with the French influencer Gregory Bouchelaghem (Greg MMA) has more than 700,000 views on YouTube. Similarly, he shares his experience with young amateur fighters during internships or during training camps.

Saint Denis is fluent in English. To finish with, he regularly contributes to charity MMA training sessions, like the one for the benefit of hospitalized children in January 2022.

Supporting Team
Benoît Saint-Denis relies on a high-level supporting team:


 * trainer Daniel Woirin for MMA, boxing and Thai boxing;
 * coach Christophe Savoca for BJJ;
 * coach Maxime François, of the French wrestling team;
 * the physical trainer Fabien Berenguel who serves in professional rugby Team, Bayonne;
 * the mental trainer Maxime Petit.

He trains in particular with his partners from Team Elite Daniel Woirin (Matthieu Letho, Jorick Montagnac, etc.), the Bulgarian Top Team, CYFIT64 and with Thomas Loubersane, world champion in BJJ in 2019.

Giom Peltier manages his sports career.