Nassourdine Imavov and Brendan Allen stepped into the cage for a UFC title shot in the co-main event of UFC Paris last night (September 28, 2024). Neither man made a particularly strong argument, but the Paris audience certainly managed to stake their own claim!

Looking at the UFC Paris card from bottom to top, it’s a standard Apex-level event. The main and second main games were good matchups and featured fights that were relevant to each division’s title mix. The rest of the card featured a mix of action fighters and Contenders series Products, just like the rest of the Fight Night cards that are not broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV).

However, the French fans now treated the card the same way. At the opening fight of the “Prelims” the stands were fuller than at the first fight in the Sphere a few weeks ago. Better yet, those fans were loud as hell from the first bell, carrying that momentum through a slow undercard and keeping it going until the doctor saved what was left of Benoit Saint Denis’ face.

Afterwards, the card felt more important. The night felt more interesting. A handful of great moments are entirely due to fan participation. Even an already huge moment like Fares Ziam’s absolutely climactic knockout of Matt Frevola was made even better by the camera shaking caused by the loud volume in the stands.

In another example, Morgan Charriere brought the audience to its feet with a magnificent rendition of the French national anthem. In general, I wouldn’t say I don’t mind national anthems or fighters singing into the microphone – Tyson Fury ruined it forever – but I enjoyed the enthusiasm, if not the acoustics.

It was a great moment that came out of a squash match. Gabriel Miranda is no good, but Charriere stopped him with a great left hook and then allowed his star to grow considerably Because The crowd was so excited.

Bryan Battle from North Carolina also used the crowd to his advantage. Overall, Kevin Jousset isn’t a household name or a particularly significant addition to Battle’s role, even if Battle stopped him impressively. In a vacuum, it’s not the kind of victory that would push the Battle name so much.

However, in Paris he played the heel wonderfully. It was a great piece of UFC cinematography, watching Battle talk to the French crowd before the camera slowly panned up until thousands of people shrugged him off.

It felt like a big win!

So far, all UFC trips to Paris have been a success. Given the long, arduous battle to legalize MMA in France, it’s really rewarding to see this happen on this side of the pond too. Hopefully UFC takes note of the great atmosphere and either brings more events to France or sends a PPV card to The City of Light.

For complete UFC Paris: Saint-Denis vs. Moicano results and play-by-play click here HERE!