Benoit Saint Denis gets new opponent for UFC 315 after Joel Alvarez suffered injury

Benoit Saint Denis is still set to fight at UFC 315 on Saturday despite losing his original opponent when Joel Alvarez suffered a hand injury that knocked him off the card.

On Monday, the UFC officials announced that Saint Denis is now scheduled to face returning lightweight Kyle Prepolec, who went 0-2 with the promotion during a previous stint dating back to 2019. Aaron Bronsteter initially reported the news about the fight via Twitter.

With an 18-8 record overall, Prepolec comes back to the UFC after amassing a 4-1 record since his initial exit from the promotion. Prepolec is currently riding a three-fight win streak with all of those victories ending by way of knockout.

Prepolec attempts to keep that momentum going against one of the top prospects in the lightweight division with Saint Denis also trying to bounce back following two consecutive losses in a row.

Prior to those losses, Saint Denis was on quite a roll with five straight wins while finishing all five opponents by knockout or submission. That win streak earned him a fight against former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier and they went to war but ultimately Saint Denis fell by second-round submission.

He still earned Fight of the Night honors for that performance.

Saint Denis then suffered a loss to Renato Moicano in the UFC’s return to France this past September. Now he makes his first appearance in 2025 with Saint Denis drawing a fight against Prepolec on Saturday.

UFC 315 is headlined by welterweight champion Belal Muhammad putting his title on the line against upstart challenger Jack Della Maddalena while the co-main event sees flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko defending her belt against French striker Manon Fiorot.

The final bout order for UFC 315 hasn’t been announced yet, although Saint Denis was originally slated to kick off the pay-per-view main card but it remains to be seen if he’ll keep that same slot now that Prepolec has stepped up as a replacement.