Benoit Saint-Denis extended his win streak to four earlier tonight at UFC 325 by stopping Dan Hooker in under two rounds.
The bout went just as Hooker had expected. Saint-Denis wanted to take ‘The Hangman’ to the ground, where the former thrives. In the opening round, ‘God of War’ faced some early adversity as Dan Hooker landed several clean body shots, and from a viewer’s perspective, it felt like Hooker had found his rhythm and would land even bigger.
However, in the later seconds of the first frame, the Frenchman shifted momentum by scoring a takedown and starting to bloody Hooker.
The second round was similar after Hooker made a mistake by trying to go for a takedown of his own, which Saint-Denis countered to land directly into full mount. After getting complete control, Saint-Denis gave it all to force the tap from Hooker, but ‘The Hangman’ did not surrender.
Just when it felt like Hooker would make it out of Round 2, ‘God of War’ started to bust open Hooker with nonstop ground-and-pound from the top position. While the 35-year-old covered up, he had no answer to BSD’s strikes, and referee Herb Dean, who had seen enough, called a stop to the contest at the 4:45 mark of Round 2, declaring Benoit Saint-Denis the winner by TKO.
After securing 4 back to back finishes, Benoit Saint-Denis has his crosshairs on the BMF belt and the lightweight championship and is also eyeing a fight against Arman Tsarukyan.
MMA world reacts to Benoit Saint-Denis’ statement win over Dan Hooker at UFC 325
Thiago Moisés posted on X:
“Saint Denis looks like a zombie #UFC325”
Damon Martin wrote:
“Benoit Saint Denis with the ground and pound finish on Dan Hooker. Saint Denis had to survive some adversity, but he put it on Hooker in that second round.”
Gilbert Burns wrote:
“Great performance by BSD! #UFC325”
Arie Helwani posted:
“Case to be made that they went about 10 seconds too long. Another stellar win for BSD.”
Nassourdine Imavov posted:
“Let’s go @BenoitSt_Denis ✊”
Meanwhile, Dillon Danis, who loves to play the heel, took a dig at Dan Hooker after the latter’s UFC 325 loss:
“Dan Hooker is such a waste of space on the roster. He fu*king sucks. Someone put an end to this humiliation ritual.”
