Benoît St Denis started professionnal MMA in 2019

[Hazuki Ryo]

In 2017, while he was still in the military in Bayonne, Benoît Saint Denis began Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) with Christophe Savoca

Saint Denis appreciates BJJ and participates in several competitions, including the French championship, which he won in 2019 in gi and no-gi in the blue belt category


In September 2017, to be a sharper commando, he started boxing and fist fights with Christophe Cordier, Yoann Jacquemain and Stéphane Susperregui. He then tried MMA during the Invictus XV amateur tournament which he won in the welterweight category.

Impressed by Saint Denis' combativeness, Savoca asked Luiz Tosta, a Brazilian colleague, to take him for a week at his professional MMA club in London, the Shootfighters Gym, where Michael Page trained. The Brazilian saw BSD's potential instantly.

Savoca then invited Saint Denis to participate in a professional MMA detection session, organized in 2018 by Daniel Woirin, a French trainer renowned for having won three belts at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC ) and two at Strikeforce including Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida.

On this occasion, while he was the only amateur fighter of the evening, Saint Denis stood out among thirty fighters and Daniel Woirin invited him to join his team at the end of his contract with the army. Released from his military obligations in March 2019, Saint Denis decided to embark on a career as a professional MMA fighter.

He will face Dustin Poirier to eventually get a chance to get the gold and bring it to France

War BSD (from a proud Frenchman)

 

[RonDante]

Allez dieu du guerre

 

[xhaydenx]

War the God of War.

 

[Marko Polo]

Late starters can do great in mma - Poatan, DC


I think it’s better to start late than early with mma. It’s a sport the wears a man down. Aaron Pico, Rory McDonald etc

 

[Poirierfan]

In 2017, while he was still in the military in Bayonne, Benoît Saint Denis began Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) with Christophe Savoca

Saint Denis appreciates BJJ and participates in several competitions, including the French championship, which he won in 2019 in gi and no-gi in the blue belt category


In September 2017, to be a sharper commando, he started boxing and fist fights with Christophe Cordier, Yoann Jacquemain and Stéphane Susperregui. He then tried MMA during the Invictus XV amateur tournament which he won in the welterweight category.

Impressed by Saint Denis' combativeness, Savoca asked Luiz Tosta, a Brazilian colleague, to take him for a week at his professional MMA club in London, the Shootfighters Gym, where Michael Page trained. The Brazilian saw BSD's potential instantly.

Savoca then invited Saint Denis to participate in a professional MMA detection session, organized in 2018 by Daniel Woirin, a French trainer renowned for having won three belts at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC ) and two at Strikeforce including Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida.

On this occasion, while he was the only amateur fighter of the evening, Saint Denis stood out among thirty fighters and Daniel Woirin invited him to join his team at the end of his contract with the army. Released from his military obligations in March 2019, Saint Denis decided to embark on a career as a professional MMA fighter.

He will face Dustin Poirier to eventually get a chance to get the gold and bring it to France

War BSD (from a proud Frenchman)

I watched a good doc on BSD yesterday. The guy is tough as hell, I still think Poirier finishes him though. Good luck.

 

[usernamee]

Late starters can do great in mma - Poatan, DC

yeah but those guys had extensive backgrounds in other shit tho

Manuwa did well (until he didn't) but pretty impressive that he picked up his first martial art (mma) at 27yo and made it that far

 

[Vulve]

Allez dieu du guerre

de la guerre

 

[HuskySamoan]

Late starters can do great in mma - Poatan, DC


I think it’s better to start late than early with mma. It’s a sport the wears a man down. Aaron Pico, Rory McDonald etc

This is very wrong. You're using a couple selective examples.

Islam Makhachev? Competing in Tae Kwon Do since 8, Sanda after that, Sambo since 13, amateur MMA and then pro debut at 18? Pantoja pro debut at 17, BJJ and Muay Thai competition before than? Omalley kickboxing around 16, amateur MMA debut at 18. Oliveira, Holloway amateur MMA and kickboxing at 14-15. Topuria pro debut at 18, competed in BJJ and wrestling before that. Leon began training around 17, went amateurnand then pro at 19...Leon is a late starter. Dricus? Began kickboxing at 14, Judo at 5, amateur MMA at 18 and pro at 19. Jones was a late starter at 20 but HW and LHW are very different because so shallow.

You're just so damn wrong. Umar and Usman Nurmagomedov along with Khabib began amateur MMA, Sambo and then pro MMA as early as possible. Moreno same story pro debut at 17, Charles was 16 or 17 when he went pro, Shavkat was 17 when he fought amateur and 19 when he went pro. Whittaker was 18 when he went pro but had a stellar martial arts background before. Your opinion is just crazy. With primes ending around 33, you gotta get started really soon. Most guys don't burn out the way Rory did, that's just something idiots said and morons ran with the narrative. Yadong went pro at 15, Sandhagen was kickboxing from around 16 until he transitioned to MMA around 19. I did averages for ages where fighters began training, went amateur and then pro. Almost everyone in every divisions top 10 began super young nowadays.

 

[Marko Polo]

This is very wrong. You're using a couple selective examples.

Islam Makhachev? Competing in Tae Kwon Do since 8, Sanda after that, Sambo since 13, amateur MMA and then pro debut at 18? Pantoja pro debut at 17, BJJ and Muay Thai competition before than? Omalley kickboxing around 16, amateur MMA debut at 18. Oliveira, Holloway amateur MMA and kickboxing at 14-15. Topuria pro debut at 18, competed in BJJ and wrestling before that. Leon began training around 17, went amateurnand then pro at 19...Leon is a late starter. Dricus? Began kickboxing at 14, Judo at 5, amateur MMA at 18 and pro at 19. Jones was a late starter at 20 but HW and LHW are very different because so shallow.

You're just so damn wrong. Umar and Usman Nurmagomedov along with Khabib began amateur MMA, Sambo and then pro MMA as early as possible. Moreno same story pro debut at 17, Charles was 16 or 17 when he went pro, Shavkat was 17 when he fought amateur and 19 when he went pro. Whittaker was 18 when he went pro but had a stellar martial arts background before. Your opinion is just crazy. With primes ending around 33, you gotta get started really soon. Most guys don't burn out the way Rory did, that's just something idiots said and morons ran with the narrative. Yadong went pro at 15, Sandhagen was kickboxing from around 16 until he transitioned to MMA around 19. I did averages for ages where fighters began training, went amateur and then pro. Almost everyone in every divisions top 10 began super young nowadays.

Jesus dude are you okay? Did you miss the part in my post where I used the word “can”?

 

[RonDante]

de la guerre

Lol, I had a feeling I got it wrong

 

[fortheo]

In 2017, while he was still in the military in Bayonne, Benoît Saint Denis began Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) with Christophe Savoca

Saint Denis appreciates BJJ and participates in several competitions, including the French championship, which he won in 2019 in gi and no-gi in the blue belt category


In September 2017, to be a sharper commando, he started boxing and fist fights with Christophe Cordier, Yoann Jacquemain and Stéphane Susperregui. He then tried MMA during the Invictus XV amateur tournament which he won in the welterweight category.

Impressed by Saint Denis' combativeness, Savoca asked Luiz Tosta, a Brazilian colleague, to take him for a week at his professional MMA club in London, the Shootfighters Gym, where Michael Page trained. The Brazilian saw BSD's potential instantly.

Savoca then invited Saint Denis to participate in a professional MMA detection session, organized in 2018 by Daniel Woirin, a French trainer renowned for having won three belts at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC ) and two at Strikeforce including Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida.

On this occasion, while he was the only amateur fighter of the evening, Saint Denis stood out among thirty fighters and Daniel Woirin invited him to join his team at the end of his contract with the army. Released from his military obligations in March 2019, Saint Denis decided to embark on a career as a professional MMA fighter.

He will face Dustin Poirier to eventually get a chance to get the gold and bring it to France

War BSD (from a proud Frenchman)

He also grew up doing judo in one of the best judo countries in the world. I don't think he competed in it or anything like that, but his judo background is probably why he picked up BJJ so quickly.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Late starters can do great in mma - Poatan, DC


I think it’s better to start late than early with mma. It’s a sport the wears a man down. Aaron Pico, Rory McDonald etc

Starting a little later is better as long as you have some kind of martial arts background. Otherwise you just crash out like Greg Hardy and CM Punk.

 

[kingghidrah]

Late starters can do great in mma - Poatan, DC


I think it’s better to start late than early with mma. It’s a sport the wears a man down. Aaron Pico, Rory McDonald etc

Jose Aldo, Fedor were worn down by 32-ish

Khabib might have been too, we don't know. GSP fought once past that age

 

[MartiniSIDe]

Baiser dans l'eau , baiser dans l'eau, tout ce qu'on veut c'est baiser dans l'eau!

 

[KarateYeah]

énorme si c'est vrai

 

[AmonTobin]

Ciryl Gane may be getting a 3rd title fight this year and he started training wrestling at the age of 33.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

This is very wrong. You're using a couple selective examples.

Islam Makhachev? Competing in Tae Kwon Do since 8, Sanda after that, Sambo since 13, amateur MMA and then pro debut at 18? Pantoja pro debut at 17, BJJ and Muay Thai competition before than? Omalley kickboxing around 16, amateur MMA debut at 18. Oliveira, Holloway amateur MMA and kickboxing at 14-15. Topuria pro debut at 18, competed in BJJ and wrestling before that. Leon began training around 17, went amateurnand then pro at 19...Leon is a late starter. Dricus? Began kickboxing at 14, Judo at 5, amateur MMA at 18 and pro at 19. Jones was a late starter at 20 but HW and LHW are very different because so shallow.

You're just so damn wrong. Umar and Usman Nurmagomedov along with Khabib began amateur MMA, Sambo and then pro MMA as early as possible. Moreno same story pro debut at 17, Charles was 16 or 17 when he went pro, Shavkat was 17 when he fought amateur and 19 when he went pro. Whittaker was 18 when he went pro but had a stellar martial arts background before. Your opinion is just crazy. With primes ending around 33, you gotta get started really soon. Most guys don't burn out the way Rory did, that's just something idiots said and morons ran with the narrative. Yadong went pro at 15, Sandhagen was kickboxing from around 16 until he transitioned to MMA around 19. I did averages for ages where fighters began training, went amateur and then pro. Almost everyone in every divisions top 10 began super young nowadays.

Sounds like a lot of research. Starting late is definitely not the norm. And generally takes a huge talent in one of the mma main disciplines to have big success.

 

[JohnMandick]

Until he brings a mattress into the ring, he'll be #2

Je me souviens.

 

[theincognito]

Jamahal Hill started professional MMA in late 2017, but fought as an amateur for like 10 years.

I think we'll see more and more go pro late as win-loss records have become a lot more valued.

 

[HuskySamoan]

Sounds like a lot of research. Starting late is definitely not the norm. And generally takes a huge talent in one of the mma main disciplines to have big success.

Yup, people don't understand where the sports at right now but Flyweight prospects Joshua Van started training at 17-18 and he often says "I started MMA late" and it's true, especially at lower weights. There's rare exceptions like a Volkanovski who started at 22-23 or BSD ironically also at 22-23 both having small grappling backgrounds in Greco for Volk and Judo for BSD. Meanwhile a guy like Ilia Topuria began in Greco Roman wrestling at 7 but at 15 he began training out of an MMA gym, there was never a job or college, the goal since a young age was to be an MMA champion, had his pro debut right after turning 8 when it was legal. That's a lot of time and effort for a guy like Volk to give up.