A Fighting Nerds alum will face the French “God of War” in hostile territory at UFC Paris this September.
That lightweight fight will see Brazil’s Mauricio Ruffy (12-1), part of the red-hot Fighting Nerds camp, take on France’s own Benoit Saint-Denis (14-3, 1NC).
Multiple sources confirmed the booking following an initial report by Sexto Round on social media.
BSD snapped a two-fight losing streak in May when he defeated short-notice replacement Kyle Prepolec at UFC 315 in Montreal. Prior to that, the French star had lost bouts against Renato Moicano and Dustin Poirier.
Saint-Denis is 6-3 overall inside the octagon, after joining the promotion as a welterweight in late 2021. He then moved down to lightweight, where he has competed since.
Ruffy has yet to lose a fight inside the octagon, and is a perfect 3-0 to start his run with the company after winning his way into the big show on Dana White’s Contender Series. Most recently, Ruffy knocked out King Green.
UFC Paris takes place September 6, 2025 at the Accor Arena in Paris, France with middleweights Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho headlining. The following match-ups have been reported for the event:
- Nassourdine Imavov vs. Caio Borralho
- Andreas Gustafsson vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov
- Marcin Tybura vs. Ante Delija
- William Gomis vs. Robert Ruchała
- Farès Ziam vs. Kauê Fernandes
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Paul Craig
- Bolaji Oki vs. Mason Jones
- Kennedy Freeman vs. Yuneisy Duben
- Shauna Bannon vs. Sam Hughes
- Brendson Ribeiro vs. Oumar Sy
- Sam Patterson vs. Trey Waters
- Benoît Saint Denis vs. Maurício Ruffy
