After his big win at UFC 280, Beneil Dariush is looking to get back into the Octagon as soon as possible.
Scoring a unanimous decision win over Mateusz Gamrot in his last outing, Dariush is already looking for his next opponent and has some big names in mind. In an interview with Luke Thomas of Morning Kombat, Dariush suggested a few top tier names for his next matchup including the winner of UFC 281’s massive lightweight showdown between Dustin Poirier and ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler.
“So I guess right now my options are the winner of Dustin Poirier [vs. Michael Chandler], Charles [Oliveira], [Rafael] Fiziev. Those are the three options.
“Those are great fights, right? Let’s just figure this out and move forward. I don’t want to sit out for another eight months, nine months, a year and a half. I love fighting, I just want to fight, you know. I know you’re not gonna be able to dangle the belt in front of me. The belt doesn’t make me feel special. I know who I am, I know what I’m worth and I know what God has made me, put me on this earth to do. The belt is cool. I’d love to get it, but ideally, I just want to make sure I don’t wait or waste my talents. I want to get back in there as soon as I can.”
Beneil Dariush Picks the Winner of Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler
Dustin Poirier is scheduled to step back into the Octagon on November 12th with Michael Chandler in a battle of fan-favorite lightweights. Speaking on the highly-anticipated bout, Beneil Dariush believes Chandler has all the tools to get the win, but his desire to entertain the fans more than secure a win could be his downfall against ‘The Diamond’ at UFC 281.
“If Chandler fights smart, he should be able to win this fight. Chandler right now he’s so focused on being exciting. He’s so focused on being entertaining for the fans. He puts himself into really bad situations. I think if he goes out there, plays a very conservative striking game and a lot of wrestling, he should be able to pull this off.
“In reality, I think Dustin Poirier is going to end up winning this fight because Chandler’s going to try to be more than he needs to be and I think he’s going to end up losing the fight because of that.”
