There’s no I in team.
No. 13-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight contender, Benoit Saint-Denis, returns to the Octagon this weekend (Sat., May 10, 2025) at UFC 315, welcoming back former 0-2 UFC fighter Kyle Prepolec, which goes down inside Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
“God of War” is looking to rebound after a rough 2024. In his last outing, Renato Moicano destroyed him in front of his home crowd in France, and prior to that, got nuked by Dustin Poirier at UFC 299 (watch highlights).
Those back-to-back stoppage losses exposed cracks in Saint-Denis’s approach, sparking calls for a major change.
Many fans and analysts urged him to leave France and join a world-class gym like American Top Team. Instead, Saint-Denis opted for a simpler fix: hiring a dedicated head coach.
“I made a huge mistake by being both the general and the soldier,” Saint-Denis told UFC News. “I was coaching myself, with different coaches for separate disciplines, but I didn’t have a head coach. It was a huge mistake because when I entered the fight [against Moicano], I didn’t know how to start or what the keys to victory were.
“I figured it out after the first round and had a strong second round, but one of my eyes was swollen shut. Despite being well-prepared, he got the victory,” Saint-Denis concluded. “I had the worst round of my life because I was the head coach of my camp. You can’t do that. You have to be a soldier inside the cage.”
Now, with a head coach steering his training, Saint-Denis is poised to rediscover the form that made him a rising star. A focused “God of War” could spell BIG trouble for Prepolec and signal a return to the Lightweight elite.
Attention, le dieu de la guerre arrive.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 315 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, before the main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 315: “Belal vs. Jack Della” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
