Beneil Dariush cannot seem to catch a break as he zeros in on a title shot.
The streaking lightweight’s run of bad luck started when his highly anticipated fight with Charles Oliveira fell through for UFC 288. Oliveira’s latest injury marks the second time a fight between the two was postponed. The two were originally scheduled to meet in 2020.
Naturally, Dariush believed that the pseudo-eliminator bout with Oliveira falling through would lead to a title shot against Islam Makhachev. Unfortunately for Dariush, the UFC has other plans in mind for the lightweight champion.
Appearing on the April 17 edition of “The Schmo,” Dariush detailed a meeting that all but confirms Makhachev will face Dustin Porier in the fall. He also detailed his frustrations with the UFC during the interview.
“I don’t really want to wait until October, but I still want to fight for the belt, right? So I say, ‘OK, why don’t I get him in October then?’ And basically the way they put it is like, I’m not the No. 1 contender. They said there’s people ahead of me, and they specifically pointed out Dustin Poirier. At that point, I was about to flip a table..”
Beneil Dariush expresses his frustrations on “The Schmo.”
Beneil Dariush Not A Box-Office Draw
It is understandable that the UFC would rather put Poirier up against Makhachev instead of Dariush. On paper, it’s a more appealing matchup, and Poirier has a massive fan following. There wouldn’t be a lot of shock if the UFC would have silently rooted for Oliveira to beat Dariush at UFC 288 had they faced off.
A frustrated Dariush would later comment in the interview that the UFC vetoed his request to face Arman Tsarukyan at the event. Tsarukyan saw his own fight with Renato Moicano also get nixed due to Moicano suffering an injury. While Tsarukyan floated the idea, the UFC is opting to ice Dariush for now.
As Dariush gets back in line, allowing UFC politics run their course, he hopes to not suffer the same fate as Tony Ferguson. Ferguson saw his 13-fight win streak go up in smoke without ever having a title shot against Khabib Nurmagomedov. Dariush is eight fights into his winning streak, and no closer to a shot at the title.
