Beneil Dariush thinks Islam Makhachev is still a tough out for Charles Oliveira.
Oliveira and Makhachev last fought back in October and it was the Dagestani native who won by second-round submission in a one-sided fight. Since then, Makhachev defended his belt against Alexander Volkanovski while Oliveira returned to the win column on Saturday with a first-round TKO.
With Oliveira getting the win, all signs point to him getting the rematch, yet Dariush thinks Makhachev still defeats the Brazilian.
“It’s a tough fight for Charles, to be honest with you,” Dariush said to Submission Radio. “When I grabbed him, in terms of wrestling, he tried something that I was like why would you do that? He tried so hard to lift and finish the takedown and he put himself on his back and ended up pulling guard. So, in terms of grappling and wrestling specifically, I still see too many holes in his game. In terms of striking, I didn’t get a good feel for him. I felt a little but of his speed and timing, he does have a good amount of power. Obviously, I do think he is going to do much better than last time, I still think it’s going to be a hard fight for him against Makhachev.”
‘I’m Thinking about Fighting’
Although Charles Oliveira earned the title shot by knocking out Beneil Dariush, the 34-year-old is still confident he will become champion despite the setback. The hope for Dariush is to return later this year against whoever and stack together some wins to earn a title shot.
“If you see me, my leg is twitching and I’m thinking about fighting. Really it is about health. Right now, I’m doing some blood work, brain stuff, I’m getting checked for everything to make sure there is nothing wrong,” Dariush said. “I feel good, I’ve been exercising the last couple of days, I’ve been jumping on the bike. I don’t feel awful or anything like that, I feel fine. At this point, I just need to know I’m healthy and I can get back inside the Octagon. Please before the end of the year. I don’t want to have to wait until next year to fight. It has been so slow for me to get fights. Ideally, I would like to fight before the end of the year.”
As of right now, Dariush is uncertain who will he fight but does hope to eventually rematch Oliveira.
