Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight finish machines Dan Hooker vs. Benoit Saint-Denis went toe-to-toe TONIGHT (Sat., Jan. 31, 2026) inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, on UFC 325’s Paramount+-streamed main card.
Let’s take a closer look at how the fight unfolded round-by-round:
Hooker started with a front kick, possibly to keep Saint-Denis at bay. Saint-Denis telegraphed an early takedown, then got in on a single-leg shortly thereafter, but Hooker defended it with a tight guillotine choke. Hooker continued to land the front kick to Saint-Denis’ mid-section, as the Frenchman retreated, possibly compromised from the kicks. Nice left hand from Saint-Denis after he could not secure another takedown. He went for another shortly thereafter and Hooker pinned him against the cage, stepped back and drilled him with another front kick to the guts. He continued to try and get the fight horizontal and Hooker denied him each time until about the 3:30-mark. Saint-Denis was able to get him wrapped up on the ground and was sitting on his chest, angling for a potential fight-ending kimura. Hooker defended it expertly and was able to roll to his feet, where the two went toe-to-toe for about 20 wild seconds before Saint-Denis got the fight to the ground again late. While there, Saint-Denis split Hooker’s wig with a nasty elbow.
Saint-Denis began round two by immediately shooting for a takedown, getting it, but then forced to defend a guillotine choke from Hooker. Saint-Denis was then able to secure full mount in the scramble and began to UNLOAD on Hooker’s face, with his arm pinned behind the Frenchman. Saint-Denis took a break to attempt a kimura, but it didn’t pan out. He went back to ground-and-pound, and then he jumped to an arm-triangle choke … with almost four minutes on the clock. Hooker really defended well as Saint-Denis tried to crank the choke and put him to sleep. He tried to regrip the choke, and when it didn’t work again, he went back to ground-and-pound. Saint-Denis started to rain down 12-6 elbows as Hooker shelled up — but big shots were getting through. He continued to just punch relentlessly until the ref called off the match.
