Beneil Dariush and Benoit Saint Denis meet in the main card opener of UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
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Beneil Dariush vs. Benoit Saint Denis UFC 322 preview
Dariush (23-6-1 MMA, 17-6-1 UFC) enters his second contest of 2025, but came in heavy at official weigh-ins, missing weight for the second time during his UFC run. In his first outing of the year, Dariush won a unanimous decision over Renato Moicano at UFC 317 to snap a two-fight skid. Prior to the losses against former champ Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan, Dariush put together an eight-fight winning streak.
Saint Denis (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) has quickly erased the memory of a rough 2024 campaign, where he was stopped in back-to-back fights. This year, he bounced back by with second round finishes of Kyle Prepolec and Mauricio Ruffy – the latter earned a Performance of the Night bonus, Saint Denis’ fifth of his UFC tenure.
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Beneil Dariush vs. Benoit Saint Denis UFC 322 expert pick, prediction
Kicking off the paid portion of the card in proper fashion is a lightweight action fight between Dariush and Saint Denis.
This is one of many southpaw vs. southpaw affairs on the card, so expect the volatility to be turned up to 10 given the stance-pairing intangible that is in play.
Dariush has the more impressive record and experience in this sort of matchup (officially standing at 3-1-1 opposite UFC-level southpaws), but that record is about as sketchy as the 36-year-old’s chin when you go back and watch the tape on those fights.
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Saint Denis, on the other hand, is officially 1-1 against UFC-level lefties, losing to Dustin Poirier and beating Kyle Prepolec.
Although Saint Denis showed a slightly improved presence of his lead hand, the Frenchman still has a propensity to load up and keep his head on center that could cost him.
I don’t blame anyone for siding with youth and picking Saint Denis to crack Dariush’s chin. But if Saint-Denis fails to finish Dariush, then I believe that the Iranian-born fighter has better skills all around and can pull away down the stretch.
Even though it’s an even riskier play considering the weight miss by Dariush, I’ll still take a flier on him to survive Saint Denis’ initial storm en route to a stoppage win in Round 2.
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Beneil Dariush vs. Benoit Saint Denis UFC 322 odds
The oddsmakers and the public favor the French fighter, listing Saint-Deins -194 and Dariush +156 via FanDuel.
Beneil Dariush vs. Benoit Saint Denis UFC 322 start time, how to watch
As the main card opener, Dariush and Saint Denis are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 10:10 p.m. ET. The fight broadcasts live on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 322: Beneil Dariush vs. Benoit Saint Denis prediction, time
