Beneil Dariush was just one victory away from a 155-pound title shot.
The longtime lightweight veteran captured eight straight wins in the promotion’s deepest division and found himself sitting in the Top 5 in the official rankings. Then came a technical knockout loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 289, followed by a first-round knockout defeat to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC Austin, and it all came crashing down.
That doesn’t include the damage Dariush took in the gym.
“Benny had a very rough year last year,” head coach Rafael Cordeiro told MMA Fighting. “He had two knockouts and three knockdowns. He was knocked down twice and knocked out once in the gym, and then fought Charles and was TKO’d. He fought Arman next and was knocked out. He had five situations during the year where his head was hurt. He’s a young kid, and it was a request I made for him to take some time.”
With both Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliveira losing at UFC 300 and Dustin Poirier fighting Islam Makhachev at UFC 302, the No. 6-ranked Dariush, who turns 35 in just a few days, could very easily find himself back in the lightweight title chase with a couple of big wins. He’s also not short on callouts, though a return date has yet to be determined.
Beniel is so tough dude
Getting KO’d in the gym before getting KO’d in the arena is not good for his long term health.
That’s not so good
Everybody who’s met his says the same, and that he is the nicest dude also
Rafael Cordeiro is truly looking out for his best interests. Thank you for not sending him out while he’s still dealing with neurological issues. Beniel has enough money to walk away if that’s the case.
better to retire than ruin ones brain
may good fortune be with him
Hope he’s okay. He seems like a class act
Best of luck to him. Hope he gets it sorted out.
He should probably get a fight he can win, then retire. Looked great against Gamrot, then looked extremely slow with zero chin in his next two fights.
Doesn’t surprise me after Arman landed that last punch on him. His head had nowhere to go and he got his full force.