Benoit Saint-Denis had a very tough fight at UFC 267 that brought a lot of controversies. The Frenchman lost in dominant fashion and had many begging the referee or his corner to stop the fight.
Benoit Saint-Denis’ coach came under scrutiny as many felt he wasn’t protecting his fighter. His coach, Daniel Woirin, did an interview with Boxemag in French where he explained the decision.
“Never in my life would I have thrown in the towel,” Woirin told BoxeMag. “The referee, it’s true that he could have stopped it at one point, I thought he was going to stop it but he didn’t.”
“Benoit has been able to pull himself together in phases. He took a lot of punches but he was able to pull himself together, which allowed him to survive. This is the fight, the fight is hard, you must not be… people are too sensitive. Benoit is a warrior, for his first fight in the UFC, he will lose before the (time) limit? It’s not possible. We also discussed it after the fight and he told me that I was right not to throw in the towel. It didn’t even pass a second in my head, not even a second and you can see he got back into the fight.”
Daniel Woirin was actually happy with the performance and defended his decision not to stop the fight but also the referees. Benoit Saint-Denis didn’t want the fight stopped either.
“He had a great fight,” Woirin said. “The guy he took is a top-12, the guy has 30 fights, 14 knockouts. Benoit had a great fight, I’m really happy. In fact you know, when you are in the cage you don’t want to be stopped. That’s why I used to shout at Benoit sometimes to try to stick around and not stay inactive. When you stay inactive, the referee can stop you. Honestly I think if it wasn’t for him, another referee would have stopped him. The fact that he didn’t stop him ultimately made the fight even more interesting as Benoit picked up the pace behind. It was amazing, even I was stunned you know.”
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