Lightweight’s Forgotten Contender

Veteran contender, Beneil Dariush, looks to turn away another young talent, Arman Tsarukyan, this Saturday (Dec. 2, 2023) at UFC Austin inside Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

Five months ago, Dariush’s excellent eight-fight win streak came to a sudden end at the shin and fists of Charles Oliveira. That’s about as difficult a title eliminator match up as you’ll find in the UFC today! I won’t claim Dariush suffered the full Tony Ferguson treatment, but his win streak really did deserve more attention and acclaim.

It doesn’t pay to be unassuming in the Octagon, even if a fighter is known for violent knockouts and slick strangles. Dariush suffered one loss to a recent champion, and it’s right back to the meat grinder against a hungry blue chip prospect — a must-win fight if he’s to have any chance at scoring a title shot in the near future.

Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:

Striking

The reputation for being unathletic follows Dariush around, and there is some truth to it. He stands a bit wide and tends to plod, one foot at a time. Years ago, he gassed out in some costly moments, and even now that he’s more than proven his ability to fight hard for 15 full minutes, he always looks mildly fatigued. Dariush will never have Michael Chandler’s six pack.

Simultaneously, the idea that Dariush isn’t athletic is a bunch of crap. Non-athletes cannot succeed at the elite ranks of Lightweight. They certainly cannot score brutal knockouts or shuck off Mateusz Gamrot’s takedowns. There is major impact when Dariush lands, a testament to his natural power as well as Rafael Cordeiro’s legendary Muay Thai coaching.

Cordeiro is known for creating aggressive fighters, and Dariush fits that bill. He’s a gamer, a Southpaw who doesn’t carefully manage distance but instead imposes his left leg and left hand on his opponents ruthlessly. In truth, there isn’t a ton of trickery in Dariush’s kickboxing. He doesn’t feint a ton or rely on complicated setups.

It’s all about power.

Dariush’s boxing is simple enough. The Southpaw has a decent jab that he throws actively, but it’s usually a setup to score the outside angle and follow up with his left. Dariush isn’t a combination puncher per say, but he’s willing to stand in the pocket and fire multiple 1-2 or 3-2s in a row.

His left hand is the moneymaker. Again, this isn’t a case of Conor McGregor or Israel Adesanya shooting perfectly straight left hands straight to the target. Dariush steps into the shot hard, making sure to take his head off the center line in the process. He tends to fire the left as an overhand, and he’ll also use that overhand while retreating as a plant counter (GIF).

Dariush’s kicking game is both simple and complex. The simple aspect is that he fires his left leg like he’s trying to kick through a tree. Unafraid of takedowns, Dariush is able to commit more of his weight into the strike, which acts as a battering ram into his opponent’s open side. Dariush doesn’t have any head kick KOs on his record because there is zero subtlety in how much he charges into the left kick, but he nevertheless is able to batter foes’ legs, mid-section, and arms. Mateusz Gamrot was actually doing fairly well with Dariush until early in the second when a single liver kick took the wind from his sails.

Dariush kicks in the classic Muay Thai fashion, leading with his knee then letting his shin unfurl at the end. This means that his step knees and kicks look almost identical to the end, and it’s part of the reason Dariush has hurt several opponents with knees in the open distance. He interrupted several Gamrot shots by stepping into a left knee, and he also crumpled Carlos Diego Ferreira with a perfect connection to the liver in the middle of a boxing exchange.

Despite the aforementioned lack of subtlety, Dariush has several interesting aspects to his kicking. For example, he’ll sometimes kick across to the back leg of his opponent, a strike that requires full commitment and does considerable damage. Additionally, Dariush is quite good at answering kicks with kicks: he’ll block and return, chop the base leg underneath a high kick, or withdraw his own leg then immediately step into a power kick.

Finally, Dariush understands the distance of his left kick well. After establishing the strike — it doesn’t take long — Dariush will show the kick to slide forward an extra half-step then blast the left kick. Or, he’ll hop/march his right foot forward an extra few inches, allowing him to again score more purchase wrapping his left shin around his target.

Wrestling

Dariush came to the UFC as a surprisingly strong wrestler for a jiu-jitsu fighter.

Once more, Dariush’s athleticism is deceptive in this regard. His ability to drive through the shot is quite good, and that’s a mechanic that troubles many BJJ players. He’ll occasionally land the double leg outright, but often, Dariush uses that strong drive to shove his opponent into the cage.

Dariush’s attack along the fence is dual-pronged. Much of the time, he’s looking to win inside knee position with the single leg or upper body clinch. If he can split his opponent’s stance with his knee from either position, he can hike their leg up high and get their weight onto his hip. From there, it’s relatively easy to trip/grab the remaining leg and land in top position.

If pulled up off the leg and unable to secure a body lock, Dariush will attack with trips along the fence as well. Playing the inside, outside battle of woking his foe over the knee and trying outside trips is an effective way to force action, and it also gives Dariush the option of dropping levels and trying to score below the waist again.

Defensively, Dariush’s win over Gamrot stands out as his masterclass. There was a good deal of excellent scrambling on the mat, but by the second round, Dariush was shutting down Gamrot’s shots outright. Time and time again, Dariush was able to meet Gamrot’s shot with his hips rather than give ground. When the shot is interrupted by strong hips, the momentum dies.

During that moment where Gamrot was no longer moving forward, Dariush would frequently apply heavy pressure to his overhook and circle towards the side. As Gamrot went to follow him, Dariush would either dig an underhook or get his forehead into Gamrot’s jaw, two defensive options that limit Gamrot’s follow up options. Often, Gamrot was forced to just hang onto the ankle as a last resort, because Dariush had already won the posture and position battle.

Without wrestling shoes, it was easy for Dariush to just yank his foot free.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Dariush is an accomplished black belt with legitimate competition experience prior to his UFC career, as well as eight career wins via tapout. Inside the Octagon, he’s submitted five opponents, and each of those finishes came from dominant position.

He’s able to submit opponents mostly because of his excellent top control and guard passing. Whenever Dariush gains top position, he’s advancing up his opponent’s body, applying heavy shoulder pressure and driving them flat and extended into the floor. He’s aggressive in his attempts to pass guard, often stepping into half guard then using his free leg as an instep to pry open the bottom grappler’s hold on his remaining leg.

Constant upper body pressure like that is exhausting. Dariush continually works to advance until he lands in mount, which is typically a guarantee that the opponent turns away in MMA. If he pins them in place mid-term, the arm triangle is a viable option, which is how he submitted Tony Martin. If not, Dariush submits via rear naked choke more often than anything else.

Against Drew Dober, Dariush ended up securing a triangle armbar submission. After working into mount, Dariush climbed high up on the body and started punching. Dober attempted to dig under his legs and escape out the back door, but Dariush was able to triangle his legs around Dober’s head and one arm before he could escape fully. Dober was almost free, but Dariush managed to isolate the arm and hip in hard enough to force the tap anyway.

9/10 fighters fall off from that position, but Dariush is that slick.

Dariush’s ability to counter wrestling with his jiu-jitsu deserves a mention. For example, a couple of Gamrot’s takedown attempts landed him in the crucifix position, which can be an effective answer to single leg shots.

In addition, Dariush does a great job of using leglock attempts to stand, as seen in his bouts with Gamrot and Ferreira. In both cases, Dariush would invert and throw his legs over his opponent’s back, allowing him to change the position considerably. An important aspect of his attack is that as his legs focus on locking down one of his opponent’s legs, he’ll often seek to collect the other foot with his hand(s). By controlling both of his foe’s feet, he severely limits their athleticism and makes it more likely that he lands in top position or escapes to his feet.

Conclusion

A deceptively athletic finisher, Dariush is skilled in all areas. He stands out as one of Lightweight’s best counter wrestlers, which makes him a serious threat to the younger and more explosive talent on the other side of the match up. It’s also the reason he remains an interesting challenge for Makhachev, even after the Charles Oliveira defeat.

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Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.