Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Surging Lightweight veterans Beneil Dariush and Drakkar Klose — both riding three-fight win streaks — locked horns tonight (Sat., March 20, 2020) on the pay-per-view (PPV) main card of UFC 248, which took place inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It was a solid match up, with the winner looking to crack the Top 15 rankings. And it seemed like Klose had Dariush out on his feet early in the second round, before the Iranian-born submission specialist roared back with a shocking stoppage of his own.
Dariush got the action started with a hard kick to the gut, but Klose fired back with two hard shots upstairs. Dariush didn’t like that so he closed the distance and dumped Klose on his back along the cage. Klose, however returned to his feet quickly, with Dariush draped on his back. Dariush wrapped himself around Klose, who was fighting off Dariush’s hands, while at the same time carrying all of his weight. Dariush began to box his ears from behind, his legs locked around Klose in a tight body triangle. Dariush was finally able to sneak his arm under Klose’s chin — and he almost had a rear-naked choke locked in numerous times — but he continued to peel off his hands, somehow surviving the round with Dariush threatening for more than three minutes.
Klose looked to push the pace , drilling Dariush with hard, clean shots to start the second stanza. He wobbled, and backpedaled, seemingly moments away from being finished. But, as he backed up against the fence he countered with a hard right hook on the temple. Klose was wobbled as Dariush continued to follow him toward the fence, where he connected with a flush left hand that folded Klose like a cheap suit. What a turn of events — Dariush was on the brink of getting knocked out, then seconds later, registered the first-ever finish of Klose.
What a violent sequence!
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 248 fight card this weekend starting with the Fight Pass/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 248: “Adesanya vs. Romero” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.