“I think that’s a sorry excuse, that’s a very bad excuse,” Beneil Dariush slams Zhang Weili for letting the boos distract her at UFC 261

“I think that’s a sorry excuse, that’s a very bad excuse,” Beneil Dariush slams Zhang Weili for letting the boos distract her at UFC 261

Zhang Weili and Beneil Dariush

The former UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili faced the second loss of her MMA career against Rose Namajunas in the co-main event of UFC 261. Weili’s loss came after having a winning streak of 21 fights and recently she broke her silence over this loss.

After reaching to China and talking about this in an interview, Zhang Weili revealed that Florida’s crowd booing her affected her performance. The UFC Lightweight fighter Beneil Dariush also faced a similar experience in his latest fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 262.

Ferguson was the crowd favorite entering into this fight and Dariush was on the receiving end of booing by the crowd. Still, Beneil Dariush dominated ‘El Cucuy’ and in the end, he won the fight by unanimous decision of the judges.

FS Video

In his latest interview on SiriusXM, Dariush says it was a silly excuse that Zhang Weili let the fan’s booing distracts her. He says, “I’m going to be honest with you, I think that’s a sorry excuse. That’s a very bad excuse,”

“People are afraid to pick who they want to root for. People are all ‘Dariush is so nice, I don’t know why he’s being booed’. Who cares? People want to boo me, let them boo me.” {H/T SCMP}

Beneil Dariush added, “Just to say that distracted you, I’m sorry, that’s a terrible excuse. I get it, it’s not an easy thing to deal with, but as an athlete, that’s your responsibility.”

Zhang Weili also said she’s not making an excuse for her loss

Zhang Weili
Zhang Weili

After making this statement, in the recent question-answer session with Chinese media, Zhang Weili insisted she isn’t completely blaming the crowd for the loss.

Weili says, “I want to emphasise we’re not making any excuses, we accept the result, “I’m talking about the boos, the location, and the uncertainty of who I would face, not because I’m making excuses for my loss. We’re just discussing the problems encountered. So if people think I’m making excuses, that’s not the case.” {H/T SCMP}

Although, Weili’s coach Cai Xuejun insisted that the hostile crowd distracted her concentration during the fight. He says, “Weili wanted to relax more and be less nervous. But when she tried, she didn’t relax. Instead, she lost focus. So at that moment, she was actually not fully there,”

“So I would say Weili wasn’t focused enough. We wanted her to be in her vacuum of focus from the moment of her entrance. But we let the boos overwhelm us. So I think for this kind of professional sports event, we should treat it with a more professional attitude.” {H/T SCMP}

Also Read: “The boos were really loud, it was my first time experiencing the situation,” Zhang Weili discloses fans distracted her at UFC 261.