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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Conor McGregor has respect for the pioneers of MMA.

“The Notorious” was recently featured on a live stream hosted by online gambling site Duelbits, where he fielded a number of questions, including who he considers to be the five greatest MMA fighters of all time.

Without missing a beat, McGregor rattled off four names that would register with any fight fan, though he needed a moment to come up with the fifth.

“Top-5 MMA GOATS,” McGregor said. “Rickson Gracie, Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Chuck Liddell… how many is that? Three, four? Four? The OGs… Bas Rutten. Bas Rutten, yeah. Europe’s own. Europe’s first is Bas Rutten. What a man Bas Rutten is.

“Serious shape he’s in now. Bas, I’m right behind you, bro. I see you, Bas. I see you, Bas. I’m right behind you.”

A former kickboxer, Rutten became the first UFC champion from the Netherlands when he defeated Kevin Randleman via split decision in May 1999 to claim a heavyweight title. Injuries prevented Rutten from ever defending his belt, but the victory was the exclamation point of an impressive fighting career that saw him go 28-4-1 with notable wins over Frank Shamrock, Maurice Smith, Guy Mezger, and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka.

Rutten was inducted into the UFC Hall Fame Pioneer Wing in 2015.

McGregor’s other choices were also integral to the rise of MMA to the mainstream, with Royce Gracie being arguably the most important figure in the history of the business as the face of the earliest UFC events, Rickson Gracie being renowned for his mythical—if often undocumented—martial arts feats, Shamrock taking the UFC to another level of popularity, and Liddell being the promotion’s first superstar of the modern era.

Surprisingly, McGregor left himself off the list. The braggadocious Irishman remains MMA’s biggest box office draw and once held titles in the UFC’s featherweight and lightweight divisions. The 36-year-old’s recent career output has left something to be desired as he has just one win to his name since defeating Eddie Alvarez for the 155-pound title back in 2016 and hasn’t fought since a loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021.

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Big Plans
| BJPenn.com

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will once again venture away from the familiarity of its APEX facility and ship its cast and crew across the world for the upcoming UFC Paris fight card, locked and loaded for tomorrow afternoon (Sat., Sept. 28, 2023) from inside Accor Arena in Paris, France, featuring a 155-pound headliner between all-action Brazilian banger Renato Moicano and homegrown hero Benoit Saint Denis. Like most “Fight Night” cards, you’ll need a subscription to ESPN+ to stream this weekend’s event (sign up here).

Before we dive into the main and co-main event, which includes the middleweight showdown between Top 10 title contenders Nassourdine Imavov and Brendan Allen, check out Andrew Richardson’s “X-Factor” breakdown for the rest of the UFC Paris main card by clicking here. Get all the latest “Moicano vs. Saint Denis” odds and betting props courtesy of DraftKings right here. For UFC Paris live results and play-by-play click here.

Let’s get down to business.

155 lbs.: Renato Carneiro vs. Benoit Saint Denis

Renato “Moicano” Carneiro
Record: 19-5-1 | Age: 35 | Betting line: +230
Wins: 1 KO/TKO, 10 SUB, 8 DEC | Losses: 3 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 1 DEC
Height: 5’11” | Reach: 72” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 4.38 | Striking accuracy: 48%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 3.68 | Striking Defense: 60%
Takedown Average: 1.89 (45% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 72%
Current Ranking: No. 11 | Last fight: Technical knockout win over Jalin Turner

Benoit “God of War” Saint Denis
Record: 13-2 | Age: 28 | Betting line: -285
Wins: 4 KO/TKO, 9 SUB, 0 DEC | Losses: 1 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 1 DEC
Height: 5’11“ | Reach: 73” | Stance: Southpaw
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 5.70 | Striking accuracy: 54%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 4.98 | Striking Defense: 52%
Takedown Average: 4.76 (37% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 69%
Current Ranking: No. 12 | Last fight: Knockout loss to Dustin Poirier

Renato Carneiro has been with the promotion for nearly a decade and this marks his second UFC main event during that span, the first coming against “The Korean Zombie” back in June 2019. The Brazilian is celebrated for his live-by-the-sword offense; though surprisingly, “Moicano” has just two post-fight bonuses to his credit. Carneiro is a durable lightweight with top shelf submission skills but his striking sucks. He’s got just one knockout in 25 professional fights and that came over Jalin Turner at UFC 300, a fight that proved “The Tarantula” has a brain roughly the same size as his favorite spider. After getting clobbered by Rafael Fiziev at UFC 256, Carneiro roared back to capture five of his next six and is currently the winner of three straight, proving you don’t need to be a knockout artist to make a run in the 155-pound weight class.

“Benoit Saint Denis is not easy money, and that’s why he’s in the position he is right now,” Moicano told reporters at the UFC Paris media day. “We’re fighting in France, right? UFC knows his value, but I’m here to prove I’m better than him. I’m here to beat him. I think the rankings, they don’t matter. I think this sport, we have to try to see like the popularity, the momentum. And even though Benoit Saint Denis is ranked behind me, I think he has a lot of momentum. I think he has a lot of popularity, especially in Europe, and I think that could catapult me, not to the rankings, but to popularity and I could get even better fights.”

Benoit Saint Denis has certainly lived up to his “God of War” moniker and seemed destined to blast his way into title contention. Unfortunately for the 28 year-old Frenchman, he tried (and failed) to beat Dustin Poirier at his own game in the UFC 299 co-main event. Saint Denis later blamed the loss on Staph infection, claiming he didn’t have the juice to last more than one round, but he certainly didn’t look any slower in the second stanza — he just got creamed by an uppercut, never got his legs back, and went down in flames. We’ve seen Poirier do that to multiple lightweights, including Conor McGregor, Justin Gaethje, and Eddie Alvarez, among others, so it’s not like “BSD” got popped and dropped by some unranked chump. Regardless, I’m not expecting Saint Denis to change his approach for this fight — even with his new striking coach — because it’s likely to prove victorious at UFC Paris.

“Everything is open, everything is to take,” Saint Denis told reporters at the UFC Paris media day (courtesy of La Sueur). “I’m here to take everything I can. First off, I need to put on a huge performance against Moicano. He’s a tough fight. I’m expecting a tough fight, and it’s going to be a war. Expect me to do my best to climb the division. Of course, what we want is the same fighter with a bit more responsibility defensively. This has been one of the keys around my preparation, and I’m ready to give a war and show this off. I’m a complete mixed martial artist, so it can go anywhere. We will bring it anywhere that we can have our way.”

You only need to look at one stat to figure this one out: Saint Denis lands 5.70 significant strikes per minute and Carneiro absorbs 3.68 significant strikes per minute. “Moicano” is going down and he’s going down in a big way.

Prediction: Saint Denis def. Carneiro by technical knockout

185 lbs.: Nassourdine Imavov vs. Brendan Allen

Nassourdine Imavov
Record: 14-4, 1 NC | Age: 29 | Betting line: -220
Wins: 6 KO/TKO, 4 SUB, 4 DEC | Losses: 0 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 3 DEC
Height: 6’3“ | Reach: 75” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 4.58 | Striking accuracy: 55%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 3.33 | Striking Defense: 59%
Takedown Average: 0.98 (36% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 74%
Current Ranking: No. 4 | Last fight: Technical knockout win over Jared Cannonier

Brendan “All In” Allen
Record: 24-5 | Age: 28 | Betting line: +180
Wins: 5 KO/TKO, 14 SUB, 5 DEC | Losses: 2 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 2 DEC
Height: 6’2“ | Reach: 75” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 3.98 | Striking accuracy: 53%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 3.83 | Striking Defense: 47%
Takedown Average: 1.74 (47% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 58%
Current Ranking: No. 8 | Last fight: Split decision win over Chris Curtis

Nassourdine Imavov is fast approaching his four-year anniversary with UFC. During that time, he’s racked up a 6-2 record with one “No Contest” while entering this bout on the strength of back-to-back wins over Roman Dolidze and Jared Cannonier. There were cries of an early stoppage when he planished the “Killa Gorilla” at UFC Louisville but let’s face it, Cannonier was already on Queer Street and the stoppage probably did his brain a favor. I think a lot of pundits (present company included) were lukewarm on the Frenchman after his UFC Vegas 67 loss to Sean Strickland in early 2023 — but that’s only because we didn’t yet realize that “Tarzan” was championship material and good enough to dethrone the likes of Israel Adesanya. Imavov is in his fighting prime at age 29 and brings a solid standup game into tomorrow night’s battle, punctuated by both speed and volume.

“I’m the fastest fighter in this weight class,” Imavov told UFC.com. “I could even fight in welterweight, but I’m very comfortable in middleweight. I’m the fastest striker in the division, and I think he hasn’t faced someone that strikes as fast, as accurate and as strong as me. And I don’t think he has a big chin, so let’s see on Saturday night. We don’t underestimate no one. This guy is 12-2 in the UFC, he’s on a seven-fight win streak, and we know he’s very strong, he’s a very tough fighter. We know he’s very strong, but he’s not as strong as me. That’s it.”

Brendan Allen has spent the better part of 2024 complaining about his position in the UFC rankings and can’t seem to figure out why his seven-fight win streak hasn’t led to a middleweight title shot. Not having a victory over anyone ranked in the division Top 10 probably has something to do with it, but I guess it’s just easier to blame the media. Allen cut his teeth on Dana White’s “Contender Series” back in summer 2019 and has proven to be a very dangerous submission fighter, but only has one knockout victory in 14 trips to the Octagon. I don’t expect that to change at UFC Paris as “All In” will be outgunned on the feet and likely hunting for the takedown to help facilitate his grappling game. Imavov has pretty solid takedown defense so this could turn out to be a long night for Allen, unless his opponent runs out of gas late in the fight.

“When I really break him down, I think I’m better than him everywhere,” Allen told UFC.com. “I think he’s got the advantage, maybe in speed, but I have the advantage everywhere else. I think I’m just as fast but I’m definitely stronger. I think I’m bigger, stronger. I think my cardio is better, my technical abilities are better, striking and on the ground. I’m tougher, more experienced. He is the favorite for whatever the reason may be. We can go on about his resume, his accolades or whatever, but for whatever the case may be, he’s the favorite. I’m going to beat him in his hometown. I’m going to beat him in front of his people, and I’m going to do it very convincingly.”

Allen is going to spend most of this fight trying to get Imavov to the floor, which is likely to take away the Frenchman’s chances for the knockout. Instead, Imavov will probably sweep the scorecards after 25 minutes of spamming jabs, mixed in with the occasional wall work.

Prediction: Imavov def. Allen by decision

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the UFC Paris main card predictions RIGHT HERE.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Paris fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card matchups which are scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining main card balance on ESPN+ at 3 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Paris news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized “Moicano vs. Saint Denis” fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Aljamain Sterling vs. Movsar Evloev is back on.

On Friday, the UFC announced that the featherweight matchup between Sterling and Evloev now takes place at UFC 310 on Dec. 7 in Las Vegas.

Evloev and Stering were originally scheduled to face off at UFC 307 which takes place next week in Salt Lake City, but “Funk Master” withdrew from the bout due to injury. After Sterling’s withdrawal, Evloev campaigned for a replacement opponent, including former foe Diego Lopes, but the UFC instead opted simply to delay the contest for later in the year.

Sterling, a former bantamweight champion, made the move up to featherweight this year after losing the belt to rival Sean O’Malley. He won his debut fight against Calvin Kattar at UFC 300 to move to No. 11 in the MMA Fighting Global featherweight rankings.

Undefeated in 18 professional bouts, Evloev has won eight straight fights in the UFC and most recently competed in January, taking a unanimous decision victory over Arnold Allen at UFC 297.

UFC 310 takes place Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. A main event is yet to be announced.

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UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Merab Dvalishvili is offering to put his rivalry with Sean O’Malley to bed for good.

“The Machine” handily won a five-round unanimous decision at UFC 306 to take the bantamweight title from O’Malley, but the former champion has questioned the scoring since, arguing that he did enough to win three rounds of the fight.

Though O’Malley came on strong in the fifth and arguably won the third, it’s difficult to figure out what other round the judges could have given him given that Dvalishvili controlled the majority of the action with his grappling. Regardless, Dvalishvili appears to be open to facing O’Malley again, and soon, as he took to social media to propose a rematch at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I hear O’Malley thinks he won the fight and is looking for a rematch,” Dvalishvili wrote in a Twitter post tagging O’Malley.” If he wants it, he can have it. Let’s do Nov. 16 at the Garden and then I’ll still defend the title against whoever the UFC wants me to fight next. What do you think?”

Dvalishvili’s assurance that he still plans to defend against another contender is probably good news for fight fans eager to see him lock up with undefeated bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov. A matchup between Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov would put the champion’s 11-fight win streak against an opponent that is yet to lose in 18 pro bouts.

Regardless, it doesn’t sound like O’Malley plans to take Dvalishvili up on his offer as he has an upcoming surgery that could keep him sidelined well into 2025. He replied to Dvalishvili, telling him that he should just fight Nurmagomedov instead.

“Getting surgery Oct. 3,” O’Malley wrote. “Fought you with one hip and still beat you. Rounds 1, 3, 5. I’m the champ. Fight Umar.”

Nurmagomedov has also chimed in via social media:

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