Benoit St. Denis vs Mario Saeed

Back in 2019, BRAVE Combat Federation took the lead in the industry of Mixed Martial Arts and became the first global promotion to accommodate its main divisions with a 10-pound gap between them, based on the new Unified Rules recommendations .

Thus, the Bahrain-based promotion pushed the Welterweight division 5-pounds up, making it up to 175 lbs, and created a new Super Lightweight division, with its limit up to 165 lbs. Those five pounds might not seem much at first glance but it makes a world of difference for athletes who were stuck on a limbo between 155 and 170 pounds — or, the original Lightweight and Welterweight limits.

A great example of the importance of the measure for such athletes will be seen inside the BRAVE CF Arena on Saturday, August 8, in Stockholm, Sweden, with France’s Benoit St. Denis meeting Mario Saeed in a super lightweight match.

Both St. Denis and Saeed are slightly small for the Welterweight division, which would put them at a disadvantage against bigger foes, but also are unable to healthily make a cut down to Lightweight. In other words, they’re naturally 165ers.

But the bout between St. Denis and Saeed is not only interesting from a weight class perspective. The fight is a clash of two very skilled and decorated grapplers, that can either offer the fans a high-level ground match or cancel each other in it and the more well-rounded of them will have the edge then.

The “God of War” St. Denis is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt with all his professional wins by way of submission and will face the only Kurd with a BJJ black belt in Mario Saeed.

It is safe to assume that the winner of St. Denis vs Saeed will not only get the more important victory of his career but take a huge step towards a potential title shot for the BRAVE Combat Federation Super Lightweight world championship.