Diakiese tough, but I’m more than ready

Benoit Saint Denis is excited to compete under the ADXC ruleset.

Saint Denis faces Marc Diakiese in a no-gi welterweight grappling match, which headlines ADXC 4 May 18 at Dojo De Paris in France. Saint Denis was initially linked to a matchup vs. No. 1 UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan, but it never materialized.

Diakiese has heavily resorted to his grappling in his recent octagon bouts, and Saint Denis recognizes that.

“I believe he fell in love with the process with another discipline of mixed martial arts, which is the grappling and the wrestling part,” Saint Denis told MMA Junkie on Diakiese. “He’s a good wrestler, he’s an athlete, he’s in the UFC a long time. It will be tough opposition, but I’m more than ready. Let’s see who’s going to win and who’s going to put pressure 18th of May.”

In his most recent octagon outing, Saint Denis was knocked out by Dustin Poirier at UFC 299 in March. He sees ADXC 4 as a good opportunity to continue working on his craft until he gets another fight booked.

“The proposition ADXC is giving us is very exciting,” Saint Denis said. “You will have a lot of cage control, you will have a lot more aggressive grappling style approach with judging not only being on points and on tactics, but on engagement of the fighters. It’s an exciting way to put things on the table and to have a great show, and to have time to prepare for one specific part of the mixed martial arts career.”