Benoit Saint Denis, reflecting on his UFC 299 loss to Dustin Poirier due to a staph infection and brutal fight camp, learned valuable lessons about underestimating opponents, the importance of health, and managing stress, which he believes will aid him in future fights.
Benoit Saint Denis had a huge opportunity at UFC 299. He wasn’t going to let anything stop him, not even a brutal fight camp or a staph infection.
Dustin Poirier ended up knocking Saint Denis out in Round 2 of the March co-main event. It was an incredible battle. Now, as Saint Denis prepares to headline Saturday’s UFC Paris event in front of his home crowd, he reflects on the lessons learned from challenging one of the greatest lightweights of all time.
“I learned a lot,” Saint Denis told MMA Fighting. “First, I learned that you have to underestimate nobody, especially top fighters like that, and you can’t go out there not being healthy. That’s huge.” Despite everything, he believes nothing happens by mistake.
The staph infection came late into his camp. He thinks it was due to stress and not taking pleasure in training. “I had a lot of new stuff to manage that I wasn’t used to,” he said. Becoming someone in the sport means having the responsibilities of a CEO.
Managing staff and dealing with new challenges takes time and experience. Being at the top is tough. It’s about managing your schedule and still enjoying the process of being a fighter. Making those around you proud is crucial.
“We made a lot of adjustments, and I’m really happy now,” Saint Denis shared. “I took pleasure in training and will take pleasure in my fight.”
After his loss, Saint Denis revealed his staph infection led to a horrible weight cut and bad fight week. Deep down, he considered withdrawing but felt it would be disrespectful to Poirier.
“It was disrespectful to go out there against a guy of this level being in such bad condition,” he admitted. But calling off the fight during fight week also felt wrong.
It was a dilemma that brought a lot of stress during fight week. “Guys like Khabib [Nurmagomedov] have called off fights due to bad cuts or infections,” he noted.
Saint Denis and his team lacked experience at this level. They decided on Tuesday of fight week to go through with it despite his condition.
“It was difficult, bad times,” he recalled. He believes his lack of professionalism in managing his stuff contributed to the situation.
The fight was a huge opportunity but also almost led him into depression during camp. To perform well, you need to be happy doing what you love.
With hindsight, the lessons learned outweighed the results from UFC 299. Poirier went on to challenge for the lightweight title, coming up short in a Fight of the Year contender at UFC 302 in June.
Saint Denis didn’t let that get him down. The story of that loss is an important chapter in the “God of War” story.
“I cannot have regrets because it’s a lesson,” Saint Denis said. “All the stuff that went bad before the fight I had to manage, but I have no regrets.”
He feels lucky that the fight went well for him for as long as it did. “So I’m a lucky man,” he concluded.
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