Beneil Dariush drew the short straw at UFC 311.
When Arman Tsarukyan bailed on the lightweight main event against Islam Makhachev, the promotion poached Renato Moicano from the pay-per-view (PPV) main card, leaving Dariush without a date for the big dance last Sat. night (Jan. 18) in Los Angeles.
The promotion paid the longtime veteran both his “show” and “win” purse but Dariush is hoping he’ll also be rewarded with a premium booking against one of the top names at 155 pounds, including his own personal white whale.
“in an ideal world, I would get somebody ranked ahead of me — and the the options there are Dustin Poirier, Max Holloway or Michael Chandler,” Dariush told Submission Radio. “I believe I can beat anybody, so I think I match up well with him. I think I’ll be fine in the striking and I think I have a big advantage in the grappling. The reason why I said Max Holloway is because he’s now in the rankings.”
Holloway moved up to lightweight following his knockout loss to Ilia Topuria.
“But my personal favorite would be Poirier,” Dariush continued. “I know I’ve mentioned this before, and the only reason I say it is because for a while, he’s like ‘I don’t want to fight Dariush, it doesn’t make sense for me,’ blah, blah, blah. And then he went and fought Benoit Saint-Denis. I don’t know how his brain works, but maybe something clicks again in his brain and he’ll be like, ‘Okay, maybe I do want this fight.’ Max Holloway, obviously I’ve been a fan of his for a long time. To be able to fight him would be great. I think he’s one of the best fighters, you know, ever. And then Chandler, I don’t really want to fight him because I don’t think he’s that tough, but he’s ranked ahead of me.”
The 35 year-old Dariush (22-6-1) has not competed since his knockout loss to Arman Tsarukyan at the UFC Austin event back in Dec. 2023, but remains ranked in the division Top 10 for his consistency against contending lightweights over the last several years.
As of this writing, Poirier, Holloway, and Chandler remain unbooked for 2025.
