“I had a top 10 win and top 5 win” – Beneil Dariush believes he was more deserving than Islam Makhachev for title fight
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Beneil Dariush and Islam Makhachev
UFC had some worthy contenders to match up against Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 and Beneil Dariush was surely one of them. The #6 lightweight in the believes it should have been him fighting for the lightweight title.
UFC 280 is all set to go this weekend with Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev headlining the event at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The two will fight for the undisputed lightweight belt. Beneil Dariush will also be fighting on the same card against rising contender Mateusz Gamrot in the main card.
Dariush and Makhachev have the same managers and things got tricky when the Dagestani was chosen over Beneil as the lightweight title contender. Having similar fight profiles, the #6 lightweight believes he was deserving of the title shot. In a recent FirstSportz MMA exclusive interview ahead of UFC 280, Dariush explains why he believes he was deserving.
“Yes. I had a top 10 win and I had a top 5 win,” said Dariush in the interview with FirstSportz. And at the time I had defeated Carlos Diego [Ferreira] who was 6 years undefeated and I had an opportunity to fight Tony Ferguson, and everybody who beat Tony before that got a title shot, so I thought I was deserving,” added Dariush in the interview.
Comparing Beneil Dariush and Islam Makhachev’s resumes in the UFC
Both, Beneil Dariush and Islam Makhachev have had amazing runs at the UFC. The former is ranked #6 with an active win streak of 7 fights while the latter is currently ranked #4 with a 10-fight win streak. The MMA world is split between who truly deserves to fight for the title at UFC 280.
Also read: Charles Oliveira’s 11 vs Islam Makhachev’s 10-fight win streak: Which one is more impressive?
The UFC already had a plan sort out for this back in February when they matched the two against each other for a Fight Night headliner bout. However, this fight was scrapped after Dariush was injured. Makhachev went on to win Bobby Green on short notice and secure the lightweight title shot he wanted.
A huge criticism that Makhachev has been facing is that he hasn’t actually beaten any top-ranked lightweights in his winning streak. The highest-ranked fighter that Makhachev has fought in his career is Dan Hooker who is now in the featherweight division. Dariush, on the other hand, has a win over Tony Ferguson, who was then ranked high in the division.
Watch the LIVE coverage of 280 – Oliveira vs Makhachev on SONY TEN 2 (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi) & SONY TEN 4 (Tamil & Telugu) channels at 11:30 pm IST on 22nd October 2022.
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Prateek Athanur
(2944 Articles Published)