2023 was a disastrous year for Beneil Dariush. The fighter of Iranian descent, current number six in the lightweight ranking, had not been defeated in the octagon since March 2018. UFC. It seemed that 2023 would be his year, the one in which he would finally get an opportunity to fight for the belt after a long and promising career in the most popular company in MMA. Nothing could be further from the truth, because Dariush ended up being defeated in both of his fights: first, against Charles Oliveira in June and then against Arman Tsarukyan in December. And in both cases the defeat was by technical KO.
Months after the setbacks, Rafael Cordeiro —the Iranian’s coach—revealed in the podcast MMA Fighting that the fighter still suffers from head trauma. “Benny had a very difficult year last year,” Cordeiro confessed. “He had two knockouts and three knockdowns. He was knocked down twice and knocked out once in the gym, and then he fought Charles and got TKOed. Then he fought Arman and got knocked out. He had five situations during the year where he got hurt. head. He is a young boy and I have asked him to take some time“said the coach.
They have almost passed five months since the defeat against Tsarukyan, but for the moment Dariush stays away from talks about new fights. “Let’s see the fights that make sense to him as soon as he is physically recovered,” Cordeiro admitted about Dariush’s expected return.
“I’m not talking about confidence. He’s confident, it’s more a neurological issue. “I want him to be aware for a moment, because he has been hit a lot,” acknowledged the Brazilian MMA coach.
Dariush, to his 34 years, has already had 29 professional fights under his belt with a record of 22-6-1. Before his defeats last year, the fighter from the Kings MMA gym had managed to string up to eight consecutive wins that took him to the first places in the lightweight classification. It seems that for the moment we will have to wait to see the Iranian giant in action again.
