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Beneil Dariush Is Back Doing What He Loves
After More Than A Year Away, Beneil Dariush Hopes To Prove He Is A Worthy Lightweight Title Challenger With A Win Over Renato Moicano At UFC 317: Topuria vs Oliveira
Luck and timing haven’t exactly been on Beneil Dariush’s side the last few years. Heading into 2022, Dariush was on a seven-fight winning streak and fresh off a dominant victory over Tony Ferguson that put him in the lightweight title mix. At the top of the year, he prepared for his first career main event against Islam Makhachev, but a lower leg injury knocked him out of the matchup and kept him out of commission until UFC 280 where, coincidentally, Makhachev defeated Charles Oliveira to claim the title. Instead of competing for gold that night, Dariush was tasked with fighting Mateusz Gamrot and secured his eighth victory in a row.
Despite the lengthy winning streak, Dariush still needed to pick up another win over an elite opponent to get into a title fight, but he was unable to do so in 2023 and suffered two first-round knockout losses in a row against Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan to send him tumbling back down the order. Injuries kept him from regaining any momentum through 2024, but he had hopes of getting back into the swing at the top of 2025 as he prepared for a bout with Renato Moicano at UFC 311. Bad luck reared its ugly head again, however, as Tsarukyan pulled out of the headliner against Makhachev and Moicano was plucked as the replacement, leaving Dariush without a fight.
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Not getting to fight after a year away is frustrating enough, but going through a camp and a weight cut just to see your opponent fight for gold is a whole other monster and one Dariush described as “really difficult.” He made his peace with it, though, and is keen on getting back to business against Moicano at UFC 317: Topuria vs Oliveira.
“The issue with holding onto things and never letting go is always carrying extra weight on you,” Dariush told UFC.com. “It’s a lot easier to let it go and move on. If I was staying on that, I’d be bitter about it, and it’d stick with me, and it’s not a healthy way to deal with things. I reset, said I want to fight again, and we got set up for June.”
Dariush candidly thought the rebooking would come at some point in the spring. Alas, he finds himself fighting on the same night the lightweight belt is up for grabs for the third time in five fights.
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There is some cruel poetry in that, surely, but Dariush isn’t one to get caught up in all that.
“I think the time off has been good,” he said. “I got to spend time with family, we got to do a lot of things, so I think it was good.”
The 36-year-old knows the only thing he can do is the task set in front of him, and after a second camp preparing for “Money Moicano,” he is as dialed in as can be.
On paper, the two are a fascinating matchup. They’ve secured 18 submission wins between them but have also flashed some solid striking, as well. Moicano’s last two wins came via knockout, and Dariush boasts five knockout finishes on his own resume. When they square off in Las Vegas, Dariush anticipates “a little bit of everything.”
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“He’s got great skills,” Dariush said. “He’s well-rounded. I just have to be careful with his striking and grappling. He’s a veteran, so he’s good at mixing it up, as well, so he’s as good as it gets.”
And that’s what Dariush wants to remind everyone on June 28 — that he is as good as it gets. That he is every bit a worthy title challenger. That, at some point, the timing will work in his favor, and nothing gets luck on a fighter’s side more than winning in spectacular fashion, which is why he expects to show his “best version” in T-Mobile Arena and make a statement along the way.
UFC 317: Topuria vs Oliveira took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 28, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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