2023-07-23 10:58:19
The French find colors at the UFC. After the defeats of Ciryl Gane and Nassourdine Imavov at the start of the year, Benoît Saint-Denis first put the Blues back on track on July 1 by submitting the very dangerous Ismaël Bonfim in the first round. This time, it was Farès Ziam who won on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London.
The Lyonnais however faced a hell of a client in the person of Jai Herbert. The experienced Englishman, very encouraged by the British supporters, had the same qualities as the Frenchman: very good boxing, scathing kicks and an interesting wrestling defense. But in this little game, it was Farès Ziam who proved to be the most efficient. Like in Paris, he proved that he had progressed and was a complete fighter, capable of competing in all aspects of the fight.
“I respected him too much”
After three rounds during which the Englishman put pressure on him, sticking him regularly against the cage, without however managing to really touch him, Farès Ziam was declared the winner unanimously by the judges (29-28, 29-28, 30-27). It was above all his precision and his ability to avoid being put in danger that convinced the judges.
Despite this victory, the Lyonnais was not very satisfied at the microphone of RMC Sport. “I’m not very proud of my performance, I think I respected him too much, he regretted. I would like to finish my fights (before the limit), advance a little more. I was a little too hesitant at times. But I still won so that’s fine. Farès Ziam now hopes to be able to fight in Paris on September 2, even if the deadline is very tight.
In the main fight of the evening, Tom Aspinall won by TKO in the first round, after only 1′13″ of fighting against the Polish Marcin Tybura. The Englishman was making his return to competition, in front of his home crowd, after a year off because of a terrible knee injury that occurred during his previous fight against Curtis Blaydes. After his victory, the heavyweight assured that he would be in Paris to watch the clash between Ciryl Gane and Sergey Spivak, and that he hoped to meet the winner afterwards.
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