UFC Paris went down yesterday (Sat., Sept. 28, 2024) inside Accor Arena in Paris, France, which saw Renato Moicano defeat Benoit Saint Denis, forcing a doctor’s stoppage after slicing him up badly (see it again here). In the co-main event, Nassourdine Imavov secured a huge unanimous decision win over Brendan Allen (recap here).
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Biggest Winner: Renato Moicano
For all of the talk of the usual monsters in the Lightweight division, Moicano has been lurking in the shadows for awhile now. But, the Brazilian bomber is ready to step out of the darkness and into the light the Top 10 provides thanks to his impressive four-fight win streak, which includes his demolition of Saint Denis in France. Indeed, Moicano was precise with his ground-and-pound, landing razor-sharp elbows and punches that ultimately busted his foe’s face up pretty good. After 10 minutes, it was so bad that the cage-side doctor had no choice but to put an end to the damage, much to the chagrin of the crowd. Now that Moicano is 6-1 in his last seven fights, he can expect to crash the Top 10, and take part in the bigger fights that comes with it.
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Runners Up: Morgan Charriere, Fares Ziam
Imavov notched a huge win over Allen to move up in the rankings, but the win wasn’t very dominant nor entertaining. That’s why we’re giving Charriere and Ziam love this week after their massive knockout wins over Gabriel Miranda and Matt Frevola, respectively. In round two of his Featherweight fight against Miranda, Charriere landed a massive left hook that put “The Fly” on his butt and sent the crowd into a frenzy (see it here). Prior to that, however, Ziam set the bar high as far as knockouts go for the night thanks to his massive and devastating standing knee knockout win over “Steamrolla” that earned him a cool $50,000 in post-fight bonus cash (relive it here). With wins like that, they can expect their stock to go up.
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Biggest Loser: Brendan Allen
In mixed martial arts (MMA), the air can be taken out of your balloon quicker than it took for it to get filled. That’s just what happened to Allen, who saw the momentum it took him two years to build — which included seven straight wins — go up in smoke after a subpar performance. Indeed, Allen went toe-to-toe with Imavov for 15 minutes. But, the output was lacking from Allen, who could have leaped into the the Top 5 and one step closer to a title shot with a win. It was pretty disappointing to see his performance because he was firing on all cylinders during his win streak, but was running on “E” in one of the biggest fights of his career. Now. Allen will have to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch, which is not an easy thing to do in the stacked 185-pound division.
For complete UFC Paris results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.