The Real Winners and Losers from UFC Fight Night 243

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In tennis, it'd be Breakfast at Wimbledon.

But for mixed martial arts, perhaps it could be labeled Brunch at the Octagon.

The UFC packed up the production and crossed the Atlantic for its weekly Saturday show, going prime time in Paris for a 14-bout card that kicked off at midday on the east coast in the U.S. and in mid-morning at the promotion's home base in Las Vegas.

Not surprisingly, the combat had a decidedly French flavor, with nine fights involving athletes carrying the home flag, including all six on the main show at Accor Arena.

Local hero Benoît Saint Denis was the featured local in the headline bout, returning for the first time since a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 299 in March to face streaking lightweight Renato Moicano, who'd won five of his last six since 2020 and raised his profile on the mic with a trash-talking "Money" persona.

The winner put himself in prime position to enter the top 10 at 155 pounds, where Moicano arrived ranked No. 11 and Saint Denis was a spot behind at No. 12.

The B/R combat team was in position to take it all in and compile a real-time list of the show's definitive winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the comments.

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It was as sickening a sight as you'll see on a UFC show.

After just five minutes of combat with lightweight rival Renato Moicano, French favorite Benoît Saint Denis had a grotesque swelling under his left eye, knots on either side of his head, and blood pouring from a pair of jagged cuts on his battered right eyelid.

The former member of the country's special forces endured the punishment and made it through another round, but the damage was too severe to allow him to continue and Moicano was declared the winner by TKO before the start of the third.

Referee Marc Goddard pulled the plug after a brief chat with a cage-side physician, who'd determined after examining Saint Denis that the fighter was unable to see out of his right eye well enough to continue.

"Unfortunately, in that first round I came out and I was a little bit sleepy," Saint Denis said, "and it allowed (Moicano) to play the matador in the later rounds."

Indeed, the Brazilian worked from distance, avoided prolonged volleys and essentially conceded the second to Saint Denis, likely knowing the swelling around his foe's eyes would ultimately prove decisive. It was his 12th win in 17 UFC fights and fourth in a row.

Saint Denis has lost two straight and is 5-3 with the promotion.

"I just beat a helluva athlete," Moicano said, "but guess what, Money Moicano is the man tonight."

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It's time to take the initiative at middleweight.

The 185-pound ranks are controlled by a newish champion in Dricus Du Plessis, but because each of the first three contenders have already been atop the division or at least fought for its title, there's an opportunity available for the fighters in the next tier.

Which made Round 3 of the co-main between fourth-ranked Nassourdine Imavov and No. 8 Brendan Allen even more important.

The elite opponents split the first two rounds with intermittently effective takedowns and grappling and they went to the same well again in the third, mixing in an occasionally violent flurry, too, as Imavov pulled away to win a close but clear unanimous decision.

All three judges scored it 29-28, matching B/R's scorecard as well.

"In the last seven months I've had three fights against three fighters who were considered contenders," Imavov said. "My objective now is the belt. I deserve a shot at the belt because I've proven myself now."

Allen was the clear-cut boss in the first round with a takedown in the first half-minute and better than four minutes of positional control time. But Imavov repeatedly stuffed his takedown attempts in the final two rounds and added some subsequent punishment from top control, in addition to controlling most of the exchanges on the feet.

It was his seventh win in 10 UFC fights and third in a row since January 2023.

"I knew I wasn't in a great position (in the first round) but I knew there were two rounds left," Imavov said. "The only thing that surprised me was how good his chin was. I predicted a knockout in the second round. But he was very solid."

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When the broadcast table gets worried, you know the hate is real.

Blow-by-blow man John Gooden and his well-dressed colleagues expressed concern for their safety as American welterweight Bryan Battle stalked back and forth across the mat – with middle fingers raised – after stopping streaking French welterweight Kevin Jousset.

And the louder the booing crowd got, the more Battle dug in.

"What about us?" Gooden said. "We've got red wine coming down on us."

Analyst Michael Bisping ultimately climbed into the cage to chat with Battle, who improved to 6-1 with a no contest in the UFC, but the 30-year-old known as "The Butcher" wasn't quite ready to break character and instead kept jawing with the locals.

"Keep booing me. People can boo me," he said. "The more you boo me the stronger I get. I'm used to this. Give it up, you can't stop me."

Jousset's attempt to do so was snuffed out at 3:47 of the second round, when a double-digit barrage of shots along the fence sent him stumbling unsteadily and forced the hand of referee Herb Dean to give Battle his fourth KO in his 12th career win.

"I know y'all didn't think the Butcher was gonna lose in a fist fight to a French dude," Battle said. "That ain't never gonna happen, baby."

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Sometimes, being a heel just doesn't pay.

New York-based Matt Frevola reveled in the jeers of a partisan French crowd on the way to the cage and didn't hesitate in egging them on as he prepared to meet local hero Fares Ziam.

And for the first half of the first round, it seemed like the derision was fuel.

Frevola got his taller, longer foe to the ground and briefly chased a finish with a guillotine choke, but once the streaking Ziam reversed the position, the fight's competitive portion was over.

The French lightweight pasted Frevola with right hands as the initial round ended and went on to control the second, too, before ending matters with a highlight-reel KO in the third.

A standing Ziam was in positional control on his opponent's back when Frevola pivoted to his right and directly into the path of the onrushing knee that rendered him instantly unconscious and sent him tumbling heavily to the canvas in a heap.

Ziam landed two hard shots to a defenseless foe before referee Loic Pora intervened at 2:59. It was a third straight loss by KO and fourth of his career for Frevola, who stayed down for several moments and ultimately left the cage with assistance.

"I worked hard. I trained hard," Ziam said. "For all my friends and family this was for you. I wanted this fight because I wanted to show that I'm the strongest one, and that's what I showed here tonight."

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The Frenchmen rose to occasion to begin the main card.

Just a few minutes after Fares Ziam viciously announced his candidacy for the UFC's KO of the Year, countryman Morgan Charrière made his own bid for a Saturday night fight bonus.

The popular 28-year-old featherweight controlled the first round with superior aggression and tenacity, then pursued opponent Gabriel Miranda as he spun out of a second-round clinch and clipped him with a hard left hook that dumped him to the floor and essentially ended the fight at 27 seconds.

Charrière landed one clean right hand as referee Marc Goddard leapt in to wave it off.

It was Charrière's 11th career KO, his 20th career victory and his second win in three UFC fights since arriving a year ago. For Miranda, it was a third KO loss among seven in his career.

"The game plan was to take my time, get the timing and when I had it, just beat his a–," Charrière said. "(I wanted to) mix the wrestling, create some chaos, and in the chaos throw some hard shots to get a f—ing beautiful KO."

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It wasn't the sort of one-sided blowout that Oumar Sy has been accustomed to.

Still, the Paris-born 28-year-old – the only unbeaten fighter among 28 on the show – found a way to get it done while dealing with some sturdy adversity in the form of Da Woon Jung.

Sy had only seen two third rounds in 10 fights prior to Saturday but he managed the gas tank well and avoided prolonged danger while winning a clear unanimous decision.

He earned three matching scores of 30-27 from the judges.

Sy was 9-0 with seven finishes across multiple promotions before reaching the UFC, where he debuted with a choke-out of Tuco Tokkos on a Fight Night show in May.

He pressed forward and got Jung to the floor in the half of the first round but was unable to near a finish and instead looked winded by the end of the round as the South Korean pressed forward with punch-heavy offense of his own. Jung opened the second on the front foot as well, but Sy landed a hard right hand to blunt his momentum and continued to carry the fight at his own pace through that session and across the final five minutes to get to 11-0.

The winner finished with a 73-35 edge in strikes and scored the fight's lone two takedowns.

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The second time is not the charm for Vince Morales.

Or at least not yet.

The 33-year-old American climbed into the cage for another UFC debut but was beaten by unanimous decision by crowd favorite and fellow second-timer Taylor Lapilus.

Morales appeared on Dana White's Contender Series in July 2018 and made his first official trip to the octagon four months later for a unanimous decision loss to Song Yadong.

He won three of seven subsequent fights through a scorecard loss to Miles Johns in November 2022, then reeled off five straight wins in other promotions before being asked back to France.

Lapilus, though, was busier and more effective throughout and earned an 87-50 edge in overall strikes while earning matching 30-27 margins on all three scorecards.

It was the first of two straight losses for the only two U.S. fighters on the undercard, preceding Roosevelt Roberts' unanimous decision at the hands of Slovakia's Ludovit Klein.

Klein arrived as the biggest betting favorite on the card at -1000 and won by counts of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

Roberts, 30, was in the second fight of his own second UFC stay, following a 4-3 run (with a no contest) across eight fights from 2018 through 2021. He returned for a one-round submission loss at UFC 295 last November at Madison Square Garden.

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Ailin Perez is clearly comfortable on the main stage.

The 15th-ranked Argentine bantamweight sang and danced her way from the locker room to the cage, walked straight toward soon-to-be foe Daria Zhelezniakova during introductions and made no pre-fight secret of her intention to score a first UFC finish.

And once the fight began, the comfort level only increased.

The 29-year-old was in perpetually forward motion from the start, tripped Zhelezniakova backward to the mat at the halfway point of the first round, and ultimately worked into position for the arm triangle that prompted a tap from the stricken Russian at 3:52.

"We knew we were going to win," said Perez, who unleashed her signature twerk just inches from her beaten foe's face in the aftermath. "I want to be the first Argentinian champion."

It was her fourth straight win since a loss in her octagonal debut two years ago and her second win by submission in an 11-win career that began in 2018.

"It doesn't surprise me," Perez said. "I know what I'm capable of. I know what I can do."

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Bolaji Oki was coming hard for a finish.

Billed as the "Zulu Warrior" and performing as the UFC's lone active Belgian, the muscled-up 28-year-old arrived to thunderous applause and was winging shots from the opening glove tap.

But just when it looked like he'd get what he came for, he didn't.

Oki's aggression prompted a clinch along the fence but opponent Chris Duncan used it to his own advantage, tripping Oki to the floor and seizing his neck with a left-arm guillotine that ultimately put the crowd favorite to sleep for a finish at 3:34 of the opening round.

Oki was actively trying to escape the hold when his motion suddenly stopped, leaving Duncan and referee Loic Pora not quite sure of his status as Duncan briefly loosened his grip. But rather than continuing the battle, Oki pitched forward in obvious unconsciousness.

A tearful Duncan cited his late mother's inspiration as he chatted with analyst Michael Bisping and said the choke was a result of hard preparation at the American Top Team Gym.

"I train with the best in the world," he said.

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Main Card

Renato Moicano def. Benoît Saint Denis by TKO (doctor's advice), 5:00, Round 2

Nassourdine Imavov def. Brendan Allen by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

William Gomis def. Joanderson Brito by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Bryan Battle def. Kevin Jousset by TKO (punches), 3:47, Round 2

Morgan Charrière def. Gabriel Miranda by KO (punch), 0:27, Round 2

Farés Ziam def. Matt Frevola by KO (knee), 2:59, Round 3

Preliminary Card

Ion Cutelaba def. Ivan Erslan by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Oumar Sy def. Da Woon Jung by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Ludovit Klein def. Roosevelt Roberts by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Taylor Lapilus def. Vince Morales by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Ailin Perez def. Daria Zhelezniakova by submission (arm triangle), 3:52, Round 1

Daniel Barez def Victor Altamirano by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Jacqueline Cavalcanti def. Nora Cornolle by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Chris Duncan def. Bolaji Oki by submission (rear-naked choke), 3:34, Round 1