Beneil Dariush believes in himself, especially his grappling skills. Dariush will look to prove that point this Saturday night when he faces former champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 289.
Beneil Dariush Claims Charles Oliveira’s Grappling Not In Same Ballpark
A battle between lightweight contenders Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush is set for the co-main event this Saturday night at UFC 289.
The event takes place from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, airing live on pay-per-view. In the headline fight, Amanda Nunes defends her bantamweight belt against Irene Aldana.
Dariush, a 34-year-old originally from Iran, has reeled off an impressive eight-fight win streak. That includes recent wins over Mateusz Gamrot and Tony Ferguson, along with two submission and two knockout wins to his credit.
For the multi-time gold medalist in Jiu-Jitsu, the chance to test himself against Oliveira has brought out an interesting side in Dariush.
“Yeah, because I started out in grappling. I was a young grappler and I was coming up in the ranks, and Charles Oliveira, (I) had never even heard of him in grappling,” said Dariush, during a recent appearance on Submission Radio. “But, I first noticed him in MMA. But in terms of grappling, I think if we competed, either 10 out of 10 or 9 out of 10 times, I’d beat him in grappling.
“I think he’s very good at grappling, but we wouldn’t be in the same ballpark.”
Beneil Dariush Has The Resume To Support Himself
Back in 2008, Dariush claimed gold at the World No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Championship, adding a second gold the following year along with a bronze. In 2010, he won silver in the open and gold in his weight class.
At the same time, Dariush became a three-time silver medalist at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship and also won bronze in various degrees.
Since transitioning to MMA, Dariush has gone 22-4-1 with eight submission wins and five more by knockout. In the UFC, he is 16-4-1 with wins over Michael Johnson and Jim Miller also on the resume.
“The goal, the game plan, and this is the game plan. The game plan is to be defensively and offensively perfect,” Dariush said. “Where I don’t move forward without proper planning. I don’t move forward just to move forward. Every single inch that I take or I take back is with a reason and with a purpose.
” And so that is why the goal for me is to dominate this fight. That is my goal. I’m not saying that’s how it’s gonna be, but my plans, my goals for this fight are, he does not get anything from me, and that is my goal for this fight.”
