The Ultimate Fighting Championship is not skimping
on exciting matchups in its return to Madison Square Garden this
November.
Per the Two
to Tango with Steam & Scoob podcast on Friday, Matt
Frevola (11-3-1) announced that he had signed a new deal with
the UFC. The first fight on his new contract will be against
surging Frenchman Benoit St.
Denis (12-1, 1 NC), and the lightweights will tangle at
UFC 295 on Nov. 11. This will be Frevola’s third jaunt at
Madison Square Garden in New York, with a draw against Lando
Vannata and a knockout of Ottman
Azaitar in that building on his ledger.
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“I’m finally making [Billy
Quarantillo] money,” Frevola stated proudly. “I’m gonna
announce it right here, right now. It’s gonna be Matt ‘The
Steamrolla’ Frevola at MSG, and I’m fighting the French special
forces killer in Benoit St.
Denis. And, honestly, I had my questions about the French
people, not gonna lie. In his last fight, he beat Thiago
Moises, and I was like ‘man, this guy brings it.’ And these are
the fights that I live for. These are the fights that excite me. I
want another warrior. I want another guy who’s going to go in there
and bring it. And…St. Denis brings it.”
Frevola has strung together three straight first-round knockouts,
which constitute all but one of his career stoppages due to
strikes. In 2022, “The Steamrolla” ran over Genaro
Valdez and the aforementioned Azaitar in a combined five
minutes and 45 seconds. In his lone appearance this year, Frevola
sprang the upset and decked Drew Dober.
Before the trio of wins, Frevola struggled in 2021, with a decision
loss to Arman
Tsarukyan followed by a seven-second knockout at the hands of
Terrance
McKinney.
Like his upcoming opponent, St. Denis has rattled off stoppages in
all of his recent wins. The Frenchman competed twice in 2022, where
he choked out Niklas
Stolze and put down Gabriel
Miranda in a flurry of fists in the span of three months.
Returning in July, St. Denis emerged as a contender by tapping
Ismael
Bonfim with a powerful face crank. This September, St. Denis
remained active by beating down Thiago
Moises late into the second stanza. As a pro, “God of War” has
never heard the final bell when recording a win.
UFC 295 goes down on Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York,
with a heavyweight championship headliner of Jon Jones vs.
Stipe
Miocic for all the proverbial marbles. The co-headlining
attraction will have gold on the line as well, as the returning
former titleholder Jiri
Prochazka vies for the vacant strap against ex-middleweight
king Alex
Pereira. Other possible main card tilts include a strawweight
scrap pitting Jessica
Andrade against Mackenzie
Dern, and a flyweight tilt when Matt
Schnell toes the line with Steve
Erceg.