Off the back of another hugely impressive victory in his Octagon return at UFC 280 over the course of last weekend, Iran-born lightweight contender, Beneil Dariush has noted his intentions to secure a title eliminator against former division champion, Charles Oliveira at UFC 284 in February of next year.
Returning to the Octagon for the first time since May of last year on ‘Fight Island’ last Saturday night, Dariush, a staple of Kings MMA, defeated former duel-weight KSW champion, Mateusz Gamrot with an impressive unanimous decision win.
Dropping Gamrot with a massive overhand shot in the third round of their main card fight, Dariush won the striking and grappling exchanges against the Polish contender in Abu Dhabi, UAE – as well as displaying formidable takedown defense as well as winning scrambles on cue.
As for Oliveira, the Sao Paulo fan favorite saw his division-best 12-fight winning spree halted in the night’s headliner against Islam Makhachev, dropping a second round arm-triangle submission loss in the duo’s vacant lightweight title battle.
Beneil Dariush remains interested in a fight against Charles Oliveira
Expressing his interest in a timely route back to title contention, Oliveira’s plans appear to be welcomed by the aforenoted, Dariush, who earmarked a February return at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia – suggesting a fight with the Brazilian.
“Charles (Oliveira) would be great, but is Charles gonna be ready?” Beneil Dariush said during an interview with Submission Radio. “Because is he gonna be in a mindset of where he wants to fight again? If no, Charles, like, I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think the top five are really interested.”
“If Dustin Poirier or Michael Chandler, if one of them wins, I don’t think they’ll want to face me,” Beneil Dariush explained. “Rafael Fiziev – however you say his last name. He’s good, man, I like that fight too. But, yeah, we’ll see. I don’t hate that fight. Ideally, Charles would be better. I was talking to my wife about it, I’m kind of excited for it. I’d love to go to Australia too and do it there.”
Distancing himself from a war of words with undisputed UFC featherweight champion and pound-for-pound number one, Alexander Volkanovski, outspoken former titleholder, Conor McGregor instead offered the Australian advice ahead of a potential February lightweight move and fight against Islam Makhachev. Making his way into the Octagon over the course of last weekend following the culmination […]