UFC lightweight contender Beneil Dairush finds himself at the crossroads of his fighting career ahead of UFC 311. As lightweight champion Islam Makhachev sets out to defend his title for a record 4th time against Arman Tsarukyan, Darisuh is contemplating whether his last two losses make him want to quit the sport altogether.
Darisuh’s last fight was against Tsarukyan in December 2023, which saw him get finished by the Armenian fighter. This loss came on the back of another heartbreaking Round 1 loss to Charles Oliveira in June 2023. As he prepares to take on Renato Moicano in the first PPV of the year, these defeats are ringing warning bells for the fighter.
But it doesn’t put pressure on him, he claims. Speaking to Inside Fighting, Dariush claims that he was just being candid with himself and his abilities to get to the top of the division. “If I can’t win fights in the Top 10, I am going to have to move into the Top 15“, he asserts. Dariush claims he would rather not do it at all if he can’t do it at the highest level.
“That was the upper echelon of the division and I didn’t perform well. So now I have an opportunity- either get back there and try again or go further back… Like, if I can only stay outside of the top 15, I don’t want to fight. If I can’t be the best, I don’t want to do this. There are so many other things I can do other than fighting. If I am not trying to be the best, it’s not worth it. “
His opponent for UFC 311, Mociano however, doesn’t care about any of this. In fact, Moicano wants to make a jump and take a shot at the champion post the event.
Mociano plans title shot call-out
Moicano is on a 6-fight win streak at the moment and is riding high after a 2nd round TKO finish of Benoit Saint-Denis. While it didn’t do much for his UFC rankings, the manner of the win meant he got noticed.
Moicano stepped into the octagon at BSD’s home ground in Paris and put a clinical beating on him so bad, he made himself look himself a title contender in the process.
Later, Moicano claimed that once his fight with Dairush was over at UFc 311 and he had won, he would no longer wait in the shadows for an opportunity to present itself. Whoever wins the fight between Islam and Arman, he claimed, was going to get called out to a title fight.
Whether either of them would accept a call out however is another matter altogether. Oliveira has been knocking on the door for some time now and with featherweight champion Ilia Topuria announcing a move to lightweight, things are going to get tricky at the top of the division. So whether he likes it or not, Moicano might have to wait a little longer.
