If UFC lightweight Beneil Dariush looked slow at UFC 289, the 34-year-old fighter certainly felt that way. Dariush lost the fight to Charles Oliveira following a brutal grappling exchange, which led to a vicious head kick and the flurry of punches that ended the bout. Dariush told Submission Radio that he felt consistently “one step behind” throughout the fight.
“I just know that’s not the best version of me. I don’t know. For whatever reason that day, I was not on. I can’t explain it. I’m not gonna give too many excuses because I don’t want to take from Charles. He was the better man that night. He had a great victory. But that was definitely not the best version of me.
“One Step Behind”: Beneil Dariush Reflects On Massive UFC Loss
What was weird was like, I can’t explain it, but at some point, it felt like my body was in, like, my eyes were good, but my body was slow motion.
So, everything I wanted to do, I was one step behind. I couldn’t pull off the things that I was seeing. And then just balance maybe wasn’t the best either for some reason. I don’t remember the last time I threw a kick and slipped. I can’t explain it. I just didn’t feel like myself.”
Despite the major setback, which snapped Dariush’s eight-fight win streak, the lightweight veteran isn’t worried. “Right now in the room, I’m the best I’ve ever been.
When I train in the room, I’m faster than before, I’m stronger than before. Technically, I’m superior than I was before. Everything is where it needs to be. And I’ve been able to do it obviously [in] the fights prior. But for some reason this time I wasn’t able to transfer that over into the octagon. I’m gonna figure out all the details of why I couldn’t do that and fix it.
At this point, I just need to know that I’m healthy and I can get back inside that Octagon. Man, please, before the end of the year. Like, I don’t wanna have to wait ‘til next year to fight, ‘cause it’s been so slow for me to get fights. So ideally, I would like to fight before the end of the year.
Everybody’s trying to console me right now, everybody’s trying to make me feel better, which is great.
But at the same time, it’s like, I’ve been down before and I’ve been down worse than this, and God put me back together. So, I’m not too worried about the future, I’m just disappointed with my performance. The only thing I can really do is have another fight, show the world why I was considered such a contender.”
