Benoit Saint Denis, despite suffering a staph infection and struggling with weight cut, decided to continue with his fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 299, which resulted in a brutal second-round knockout, his second setback since joining the UFC roster.
Benoit Saint Denis, the French lightweight, had a tough time at UFC 299. He was up against Dustin Poirier and, boy, did he pay for it. He didn’t even think about backing out, despite the odds.
He put up a brave fight, but it wasn’t enough. A brutal second-round knockout was his fate. It was his second loss since joining the UFC.
After the fight, Saint Denis spilled the beans. He had been on antibiotics, fighting an infection. It had drained him, almost made him call off the fight.
Turns out, it was a staph infection. Diagnosed just two days before he was to leave for Miami. For UFC 299, no less.
“The last sparring session, I had this ugly stuff on my forehead,” Saint Denis confessed on The MMA Hour. “Two days before leaving France, last Friday. I had to start treatment immediately, out of respect for everyone.”
He called the doc, they figured out a plan. The goal? Be in the best shape possible, make the fight happen. “You have to give the people what they want,” he said. “Especially when you’re the co-main event.”
But the infection wasn’t his only problem. He struggled with his weight cut too. The antibiotics didn’t help.
“I was tired the whole week with the staph infection,” he admitted. “Maybe it’s my fault. I came in a bit too heavy. The weight wasn’t going down, and I had two more kilograms to cut. It was too difficult. I paid the day after. No reflexes. Out of form.”
In Miami, he had a chat with his team. Should he compete? The risk was worth the reward, he decided.
“Tuesday, we had the debate … it didn’t take a long time to convince myself to make it happen anyway,” he said. “With a staph infection, sometimes in five days you’re getting in better shape. Sometimes in one week, sometimes in eight days. But with the stress and the weight cut, my body couldn’t handle it all.”
Despite it all, Saint Denis came out strong. He had his moments against Poirier. But he was running on fumes by the second round.
“I was very slow,” he said. “My kicks were sloppy as hell. In my fight with Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos in the third round, I was in better shape than the first round against Poirier. It was my fault.”
He won the first round but knew it was over. “I couldn’t take the opportunities there,” he said.
Before the staph infection, he was ready for Poirier. But in Miami, his dream fight turned into a nightmare.
“The worst fight week,” he said. “I had very bad news for my health. But I couldn’t cancel. We’re not robots, we’re human. I was hoping the antibiotics would help. I wanted to give him a good fight.”
He doesn’t regret the loss. He chose to step into the cage that night. Now, he hopes to avenge the loss and become a UFC champion.
“I need to get my ticket back to such an opportunity again,” he said. “Even in good health, maybe I would have gotten knocked out by Poirier. He’s a great fighter. I hope I will work my way back to having this kind of opportunity and to show that this day it was not the ‘God of War’ in there.”
“I will give you my best again as soon as possible. I will make the adjustments to try to be at my best in the fight, because a fight against a guy like this, you cannot be diminished.”