Headlining UFC Paris on Saturday in Bercy, Benoit Saint-Denis, a former special forces soldier, likes to highlight his “chivalrous commitment” and describes MMA as a “gentlemen’s” sport.
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As her numerous tattoos suggest, from Joan of Arc on her back to the Templar cross on her torso, chivalry, “it’s (s)our education”. “It’s a bit cliché, but I grew up with Lancelot, with the quest for the Grail and military adventures of all kinds”says Saint-Denis, as he steps into the UFC cage for the eighth time in his career.
“ MMA, if practiced intelligently, is the original sport, it goes back to boxing. It is the quest for the most effective martial art, for the strongest man. MMA allows us to answer this question because we have the entire employable technical panel. »
“ But with gentlemen’s rules “, he assures. “ It is very regulated so that the show remains sporting. »
At 28 years old and after meteoric progress in mixed martial arts, the Frenchman has now established himself as one of the French stars of the discipline, alongside Ciryl Gane, Manon Fiorot and Cédric Doumbé.
“Swiss army knife”
“ I had the chance to see MMA grow alongside my career. MMA arrived in France at the time when my career was fully exploding, it helped me a lot », recognizes the man who launched into combat sports after a career of several years in the army.
“BSD” has chosen to retrace this atypical journey in a comic book, entitled “God of War”, his fighting nickname, recently published (ed. Marabulles). He talks about his childhood, his years in the special forces and the links between his military training and MMA.
“ I was also lucky enough to give myself the means to throw myself fully into each adventure. », he continues, explaining that he sees commonalities between the two worlds.
“ In the special forces, you must have great intellectual potential, because there is a whole technical range to master », he explains. “ It requires composure, intelligence, and it allowed me to acquire a certain discipline. You have to be a bit of a Swiss army knife to optimize your training between free fall, diving, shooting, 4×4… »
“ Being an MMA fighter is a bit like being a decathlete or a triathlete, there are several disciplines and you have to distribute your time intelligently between them. This is something important in MMA as well as in special forces. »
“ In MMA, I progressed very quickly, and if I succeeded, it is because I worked on each of the disciplines as much as possible while optimizing my schedule. »
“ A big test »
Opposed on Saturday to the Brazilian Renato Moicano, Saint-Denis measures the importance of this fight to move forward in the -70 kg category, six months after a bitter defeat against Dustin Poirier. Reduced by a staphylococcus infection, “BSD” suffered a setback by losing by knockout in the second round, while he remained on five consecutive victories in the lightweight ranks.
“ I have to produce a high level performance against Moicano, he is a serious opponent, I expect a tough fight and it will be war “, he said at a press conference on Wednesday. “ My job is to give you a very committed fight, which makes the UFC want to give me more, and for that, it’s up to me to give a good performance. »
“ It’s a big test and that’s what I want from this fight: to prove my place and to be tested. And I’m convinced, it’s going to be a great fight », he promises.