Benoit Saint Denis requires a new short-notice opponent if he’s to remain on this weekend’s UFC 315 event in Montreal, Canada after Joel Alvarez was forced to withdraw from the main card bout due to an injury.
“Hey there everyone. I’m out of my fight at UFC 315 due to hand injury that leaves me unable to start punching for 3 weeks. It’s not the lightweight loss I wanted, but it’s the one there is,” Alvarez wrote on Instagram.
“There are many factors that are not in our hands and we cannot control. Camp had been perfect so far. We will be back this year reformed and with a different focus. Thank you very much to everyone always for the support, you are the best.”
With less than a week to go before fight night it’s not going to be easy to find a suitable opponent for the 13th ranked BSD, but it seems that the No.7 placed Mateusz Gamrot was ready, willing and able to step in.
However, according to Gamrot, Saint Denis has opted not to take up his offer to fight.
“BSD turned down the fight next week, what’s wrong with you guys? Grow some balls, cowards!” Gamrot wrote earlier today on X.
There’s a lot riding on BSD’s next fight as after having gained real momentum in the division during a five-fight winning streak between 2022-2023, he then suffered back-to-back losses via KO and TKO last year against Dustin Poirier and Renato Moicano respectively that have seen him slide back down the rankings.
With that in mind it’s possible he’s thought twice about whether fighting someone of Gamrot’s calibre on such short notice, but it remains to be seen if the UFC will continue to try to pursue another late replacement fight for him.
