“This is a good fight, it’s exciting,” Dariush told reporters at the UFC 322 media day. “He’s a good fighter. He’s very skilled, he’s more experienced now, and I just think stylistically, it’s a fun fight for me. Obviously, I think I’m better, so I’m excited for the fight. When I watch him, I see more of a grappler, but everybody sees him differently. I would say current culture is very short attention span, so what you see a lot of is his highlights. If you watch the entirety of his fights, clearly he’s a great grappler, very dominant in that, and I think something I need to watch out for. I think in grappling, I have an advantage for sure. He could go that route, that’s fine. I have plenty of ways to deal with that.” The “Moicano” bout was the last time “God of War” saw the loss column. Granted, it’s only been two fights, but consecutive submission finishes over Kyle Prepolec and Mauricio Ruffy (another nail in the “Fighting Nerds” coffin) reestablished Saint Denis as a major threat in the 155-pound weight class, where the Parisian has racked up four post-fight performance bonuses, which includes two “Fight of the Night” honors. It should be noted that Saint Denis changed teams after his Carneiro loss and now trains alongside top UFC middleweight Nassourdine Imavov under famed French coach Nicolas Ott.

“I cannot wait to fight on Saturday night, because we don’t have the opportunity every day to show the world, against world-class opposition, what type of progress we have made,” Saint Denis told reporters at the UFC 322 media day. “It’s been almost a year now, like over six months that I’ve been working with an MMA head coach, and I feel like I’m really a better fighter now. I’m still the ‘seek and destroy’ guy everybody loves, but I’m putting stuff inside the recipe to get the job done against anybody and to take this fight, and take my future fights very seriously. We’re both very good grapplers, we’ve been proving it time and time again. It’s a very interesting position, because it’s a fight where tactics mean something. The one of us who imposes his will the most will be the winner of the fight.”