UFC 280 Clash: Dariush Vs. Gamrot!

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight contenders Beneil Dariush and Mateusz Gamrot will square off this weekend (Sat., Oct. 22, 2022) at UFC 280 inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Dariush feels almost like the forgotten contender at 155 pounds. Sure, his biggest win being over Tony Ferguson isn’t aging terribly well, but Dariush has still smashed seven straight foes. That’s no easy task, but between Alexander Volkanovski and Michael Chandler’s attempts to leapfrog him, it feels safe to say Dariush needs an impressive finish here. Conversely, Gamrot is climbing the Lightweight ladder quickly. He brought a strong resume into his UFC debut in 2020, and after a mild hiccup there, he’s strung together four strong wins to prove himself a Top 10 talent.

Let’s take a closer look at the keys to victory for each man:

Beneil Dariush

Record: 21-4-1
Key Wins: Carlos Diego Ferreira (UFC Vegas 18), Tony Ferguson (UFC 262), Drakkar Klose (UFC 248), Rashid Magomedov (UFC Fight Night 98), Drew Dober (UFC Fight Night 146)
Key Losses: Edson Barboza (UFC Fight Night 106), Alexander Hernandez (UFC 222), Michael Chiesa (UFC on FOX 19)
Keys to Victory: Dariush entered the UFC as a jiu-jitsu expert with surprisingly strong wrestling. Under the tutelage of Rafael Cordeiro, he pretty quickly developed some nasty Muay Thai to compliment his ground skills, and he’s now a very capable of knocking opponents cold.

For my money, Dariush is the better kickboxer here. He certainly hits harder! Gamrot has the slicker movement, but the answer to that problem is found in Dariush’s brutal left kick. Gamrot switches stances and feints actively, but a few well-timed low kicks could discourage that portion of his game. Or, Dariush could look to time Gamrot’s Orthodox switch with a liver kick.

Either way, Dariush is more consistently able to hurt opponents on the feet with his bevy of left-side offense. If he’s the one winning the kickboxing exchanges, that puts additional pressure on Gamrot to shoot. Both men can scramble with anyone in the division, but if Gamrot is forced to take some bad shots, that’s probably Dariush’s easiest path to top position.

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Mateusz Gamrot

Record: 21-1 (1)
Key Wins: Arman Tsarukyan (UFC Vegas 57), Carlos Diego Ferreira (UFC Vegas 45), Scott Holtzman (UFC Vegas 23), Jeremy Stephens (UFC Vegas 31)
Key Losses: Guram Kutateladze (UFC Fight Island 6)
Keys To Victory: Gamrot is climbing up the ranks with skill and style. He can wrestle about as well as anyone in the division, but Gamrot sets up his shots from different angles and fluidly transitions from kickboxing to wrestling perhaps better than any of his peers.

Dariush is not an easy man to outwrestle. In fact, he ends up taking down many of the wrestlers who expect to impose that game plan on him. Likely, these two are both going to have trouble landing and securing takedowns on one another. That does not, however, mean Gamrot should not be trying.

Perhaps the biggest advantage Gamrot has in this match up is conditioning and pace. Dariush does not come to fight out of shape, but he’s never been one to utilize pace as a weapon. He has slowed down in three round fights before.

Conversely, Gamrot weaponized his cardio to great effect Tsarukyan, finding more success in the latter half of the fight than the first. He likely will have to do the same here, forcing constantly output from Dariush until the tide turns to his favor.

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Bottom Line

This is maybe a title eliminator?

Lightweight is complicated. There should be a champion by the end of this weekend, but even so, the order of contenders is unclear. Volkanovski has a legitimate case to jump the line, and maybe it happens? Alternatively, Chandler has the star power to leapfrog if he defeats Dustin Poirier, and Conor McGregor could confusingly wind up in a Lightweight title fight somehow at any time.

The victor of this bout certainly deserves a chance at undisputed gold more than anyone else. Both men are riding considerable win streaks and in their early 30s, clearly the prime of their careers. Hopefully, no politics interfere, because any combination of Dariush, Gamrot, Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev sounds electric!

At UFC 280, Beneil Dariush and Mateusz Gamrot will go to war. Which man will earn the victory?

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 280 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPNEWS/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET, then the remaining undercard (also on ESPNEWS/ESPN+) at 12 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 280: “Oliveira vs. Makhachev” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.