SPORTS UPDATE
The UFC’s return to Madison Square Garden was already looking stacked, and the card has a new big addition in the lightweight division. Benoit Saint Denis will meet Beneil Dariush in a battle of top 15 fighters at UFC 322 in New York City on Nov. 15. Saint-Denis’ manager confirmed the bout to RMC Sport.
Saint Denis (15-3), ranked No. 13 in the official UFC lightweight rankings, has won back-to-back fights, submitting Kyle Prepolec in May and Mauricio Ruffy in September. Those wins got Saint-Denis back on track after a two-fight losing skid that started with a surprising knockout loss to Dustin Poirier before a doctor’s stoppage loss to Renato Moicano.
Prior to that skid, Saint Denis had won five consecutive fights in the Octagon, establishing himself as a potential future title challenger.
No. 9-ranked Dariush (23-6-1) just snapped his own two-fight skid in his most recent outing, defeating Moicano by decision.
Dariush had racked up an eight-fight winning streak between November 2018 and October 2022, seemingly positioning himself for a title shot. A June 2023 fight with Charles Oliveira could have gotten Dariush over the finish line and into a title fight, but Oliveira won by TKO in the first round. A 64-second knockout loss to Arman Tsarukyan followed before Dariush righted the ship with his win over Moicano.
Saint Denis vs. Dariush joins a card headlined by a pair of title fights.
In the main event, welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena will make the first defense of his title against former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who vacated his 155-pound belt in search of gold in a new division. The co-main event features a similar clash as women’s flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko defends her title against Weili Zhang, the two-time strawweight champion who is climbing a weight class to challenge the legendary Shevchenko.
