A crazy turn of events around the UFC 311 card in January this year led to Renato Moicano being pulled out of his bout against Beneil Dariush to fight Islam Makhachev in the main event. It left Dariush in a complicated spot, as he’d gone through a full training camp and the struggle of cutting weight just for the fight not to happen.
Although Dariush got his show and win money from the UFC, the whole situation left him in a limbo state when it comes to the next potential matchup.
In his January 20 interview with Submission Radio, Dariush stated, “I think March or April makes sense, and the reason why I say this is… I need to deload basically from this camp.”
Obviously, Dariush didn’t get booked in March, making it two months since UFC 311.
After a dominant victory over Diego Ferreira at UFC 311, Grant Dawson got on the mic to call for one name.
“I will step in, and I will fight Beneil Dariush. He says he wants to fight in April. There is a Miami card in April – that’s the card I want, Beneil Dariush is the fight I want…”
Dawson is currently No. 14 in the lightweight rankings. Dariush has repeatedly stated that he wants a top-ten opponent, but the probability of him getting one seems slim, as the 155-pound division gets more stacked at the top.
Mauricio Ruffy provided the world with a highlight for ages with his spinning heel kick KO over King Green at UFC 313. In the post-fight interview, Fighting Nerd capitalized on the momentum from a shocking finish to call out Dariush. Ruffy saw the 35-year-old as his fast-ride ticket to the top ten.
Dariush responded quickly on another Submission Radio episode, stating, “At this point, I want the fights that are gonna get me to the title the quickest. So that’s really what I’m waiting for, to get that call and be like, ‘Okay, you’re fighting this guy or fighting that guy who are ranked.’ That’s the ideal situation. But if they call me to fight him, so be it.”
Not too thrilled about the matchup, Dariush highlighted his no-nonsense attitude.
After Renato Moicano was submitted by Islam Makhachev inside of a round, would it be that awkward to rebook him against Beneil Dariush?
Makhachev is the pound-for-pound number one and a dominant force in the 155-pound class, so a quick loss to him didn’t set back the No. 10 lightweight Moicano too much. In this case, Dariush would get his top-ten opponent, and Moicano would still be fighting up the ranks as a reward for saving an important pay-per-view card.
While there are other names Dariush has mentioned – such as Dan Hooker, Rafael Fiziev, Mateusz Gamrot, and Ilia Topuria – the ones brought up prior seem like the more possible options.
The last time we saw Beneil Dariush in the cage was against Arman Tsarukyan in December 2023. Tsarukyan got the knockout in the first round, later going on to fight Charles Oliveira at UFC 300.
The amount of time “Benny” has been out of the Octagon makes a lot of people forget that his only recent losses were to No. 1 and No. 2 of the division.
It truly is a shame that the fighter had to end up in this spot because of the circumstances around him. At this point, Dariush is unlikely to get a match in April, and May would be the earliest realistic turnaround for him.
If you love sports, download Stadium Rant from the Apple App Store and join one of the fastest-growing social sports communities. Be sure to follow us on socials too — you can find all our profiles on our Linktree.
