Benoit St. Denis Favors Islam Makhachev’s Well-Roundedness Against Dustin Poirier

Benoit St. Denis believes Islam Makhachev has more tools at his disposal than Dustin Poirier to get his hands raised at UFC 302.

Makhachev is slated to defend his lightweight strap against Poirier in the main event at UFC 302 on June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Poirier made his case for the gold bid with a second-round knockout win over St. Denis at UFC 299in March. While St. Denis acknowledges Poirier’s elite boxing, “God of War” notes that Makhachev’s complete skillset cannot go unnoticed.

While St. Denis is leaving room for a potential knockout from Poirier, the Frenchman believes Makhachev has a more well-rounded arsenal to get the job done, either via knockout, submission or decision.

“It’s a great fight. Dustin Poirier is a very composed and experienced fighter. I do believe he has boxing on his side, but Makhachev is very well-rounded,” St. Denis recently told MMA Fighting at the ADXC 4 grappling event in Paris. “I do believe he has watched my fight against Poirier, as well as Dustin’s fight with [Charles] Olivera. Everybody knows what the game plan is going to be. It’s going to be Makhachev trying to submit Poirier, and Poirier trying to knock out Makhachev.

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“Makhachev [has] more options. Makhachev can knock out or submit Poirier. But I see Poirier only having the knockout win eventually, and decision-wise, I also see Makhachev having the physicality to dominate the fight if it goes long. We will see who will win this fight; it’s an interesting fight anyway.”

After coming up on the short side of a unanimous decision against Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos in his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut in 2021, St. Denis racked up a five-fight finishing streak to earn himself top tier opponent in Poirier. St. Denis was even the favorite going into the toughest matchup of his career against “The Diamond,” who derailed the French standout’s run.

St. Denis returned to his winning ways with a unanimous decision win over fellow UFC fighter Marc Diakiese at the ADXC 4 grappling event in Paris on May 18. The Frenchman is now looking to stay as active as he can and is eyeing a slot on either UFC Manchester in July or UFC Paris in September, and ideally both.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be [Manchester on July 27 at UFC 304], I don’t know if it’s going to be Paris [on Sept. 28]. But my manager is doing great work, he’s working with the UFC to find the best place for me to compete. And I want to climb the rankings and get at the top. I feel like I do belong there… If I can be on both cards, I will be on both cards. If it’s going to be just Paris, it’s great as well. It’s a great opportunity. I just want to fight. I just want to show that I’m the best. And for that, I need a tough opponent. So I’m waiting for the UFC to work with my manager to find a matchup that everybody will want to see, and that will prove who is the next future contender.”

Despite St. Denis’ loss against Poirier, “God of War” dominated the Louisiana native in the first round, proving that he certainly belongs amongst the elite. While St. Denis’ ideal targets for his next contest are all Top 5-ranked lightweights, for now, the 28-year-old is content with the highest-ranked opponent he can draw.

“The names that are interesting to me the most are in order of the placement: [Islam] Makhachev No. 1, [Arman] Tsarukyan No. 2, Justin Gaethje, Poirier, all those guys. But, of course, you need to earn that. I will fight anybody that the UFC is going to give me, but I want to fight as high as possible.”