Michael Bisping has suggested that the UFC had little choice in pairing Paddy Pimblett with Benoit Saint-Denis, as the Liverpudlian aims to bounce back from his first loss in the promotion.
In January, Pimblett was thoroughly outpointed by Justin Gaethje in an interim title fight, with the latter now going on to challenge Ilia Topuria for the undisputed lightweight belt – at the White House, no less.
Meanwhile, “Paddy The Baddy” faces a similarly stern test against Saint-Denis, as they prepare to fight in the co-main event of UFC 329 in July, with Conor McGregor vs Max Holloway headlining the card.
While Pimblett, 31, is seen as the better grappler, “BSD” is also capable in that department and hits notably hard. As such, he is expected to test Pimblett’s commendable resilience.
There had been some feeling that Pimblett might receive an easier fight next time out, but former middleweight champion Bisping, who now commentates for the UFC, has explained why that could not happen.
“This is the world that Paddy’s in now,” the Briton told The Independent, speaking via prediction market experts at casino.org/us. “He’s highly ranked in the lightweight division, and unless you’re going to go backwards and fight someone that’s ranked 10 or 12 – which doesn’t make sense – then these are the types of match-ups that he's going to have going forward.
“These are the waters that he’s swimming in now, and they are deep waters. When you look at the rankings, it’s Ilia [Topuria] and Justin who are fighting for the belt, Arman Tsarukyan is the back-up, Charles Oliveira just beat Max Holloway, and then it’s Benoit and Paddy Pimblett.
“Max Holloway’s fighting Conor McGregor later on in the year, so there’s no one else for [Paddy] anyway, unless you want to go backwards and find somebody like Mateusz Gamrot. Gamrot is a dangerous guy, but he doesn’t have the kind of profile that Paddy deserves right now.
“Paddy’s an absolute superstar. He’s one of those guys that really breaks through into the mainstream. He’s crossed over into that kind of younger demographic. Paddy’s a superstar and this is a superstar match-up.”
And evaluating the danger posed by Saint-Denis, 30, Bisping said: “Look, it’s a dangerous fight for both men, and that’s what makes it such a compelling match-up.
“Paddy, last time out against Justin Gaethje, proved not only to the world but to himself that he’s got that dog in him. I’ve seen all of Paddy's fights, and a lot of the time he goes out there and he makes it look easy. I wasn’t sure if he had that grit, that tenacity, that toughness, the ability to go toe-to-toe with Justin Gaethje over five rounds. He ticked all those boxes. He didn’t get the win, but I still think his stock went up in that fight.
“Now, Benoit Saint-Denis is a very dangerous grappler, but Paddy’s an awesome grappler, so I don’t think there’s any concerns for Paddy in that regard.
“We’ve seen Saint-Denis be very violent as well, he’s got knockout power. That fight against Dustin Poirier... yeah, he lost the fight, but prior to the end coming, he had Dustin in all kinds of problems. He walked him down, kneed him in the face multiple times, rocked him before getting knocked out.”
Bisping was referring to Saint-Denis’s 2024 clash with Poirier, in which BSD had the former interim champion badly hurt before losing by second-round KO.
That result halted a fine run from the Frenchman, who also lost his next fight as he was submitted by Renato Moicano in Paris. However, Saint-Denis has bounced back with four straight wins, all of them coming via stoppage. The most recent was a second-round TKO of Dan Hooker in January.
