Benoit Saint Denis delivered a dominant performance to dispatch his late replacement opponent, Kyle Prepolec, opening the main card at UFC 315 with a victory.
Initially scheduled to face Joel Alvarez on Saturday, Saint Denis instead squared off against the returning Prepolec, who was looking for a better outcome after a previous brief run in the UFC. Although Prepolec showed considerable toughness, Saint Denis eventually overwhelmed him, culminating in a tight arm triangle choke that ended the fight.
Prepolec submitted at the 2:35 mark of the second round. This win brings Saint Denis back into the win column following two consecutive losses.
After the bout, Saint Denis addressed the crowd: “Everybody thank you Montreal. It`s an honor and a privilege to fight here. [Mateusz] Gamrot, [Dan] Hooker, [Justin] Gaethje, I`m here. Gamrot, if you are looking for an opponent, I respect you but I`m going to bring violence.”
The French lightweight wasted no time, securing a takedown less than 20 seconds into the fight. Prepolec attempted a kimura to slow the powerful Saint Denis, but Saint Denis advanced position and began raining down punches and elbows while Prepolec was trapped defensively.
A subsequent scramble saw Prepolec end up with Saint Denis on his back, locked in a body triangle. Prepolec managed to survive the round despite Saint Denis`s continued assault, including a late standing rear-naked choke attempt.
In the second round, Prepolec landed a couple of clean punches that caught Saint Denis`s attention and energized the Montreal fans. Saint Denis responded by pressing Prepolec against the cage and unloading a barrage of strikes.
This pressure led to another takedown. This time, Saint Denis was determined not to let Prepolec escape, immediately transitioning to secure the arm triangle choke. Prepolec`s defense was ineffective against the locked-in submission, forcing him to tap out and giving Saint Denis the submission win.
While it wasn`t the opponent he initially prepared for at UFC 315, Saint Denis capitalized on the opportunity and is now looking towards potential matchups against ranked opponents in the lightweight division for his next fight.
