Las Vegas — After seeing their fight fall through back in January when Renato Moicano was bumped up to a title shot against Islam Makhachev thanks to Arman Tsarukyan pulling out of UFC 311, Beneil Dariush finally got his hands on the Brazilian at Saturday’s UFC 317.
Dariush (23-6-1) did get the win, earning a unanimous decision after 15 minutes, but it didn’t come easy. The 36-year old snapped a two-fight skid, but was dropped in the opening five minutes. That’s something that left Dariush fuming after the fight.
“I just felt like in the first round, I was landing leg kicks, I was landing high kicks, my hands were kind of landing, and then I get dropped. So it’s frustrating,” Dariush admitted following the fight, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. “And then round two- to be honest, the game plan was to shoot. I was supposed to take him down in the first round. It’s frustrating because you don’t follow the game plan that you set, and you lose the round because of it, now you go into round, now you’re just so mad, you’re not even thinking about game plans anymore. You’re just thinking about finding ways to win.”
As far as the knockdown, Dariush recalled that “he caught me with a straight, a straight down the middle. That’s something I should be aware of, and he still caught me. Definitely impressed with his performance. Obviously I had to dig deeper, but that’s okay, I’m perfectly fine with digging deeper.”
Ahead of the fight, Moicano had the fans eating out of his hands, getting into some admittedly light hearted trash talk. No real beef, but obviously an attempt to get under Dariush’s skin, and get the fans on the Brazilian’s side. For Beneil Dariush, however, the toughest part was that he actually enjoys Moicano.
“I’ve never been one to be directed by the fans, so it wasn’t really too difficult. I would say the most difficult part is that I genuinely think Renato is very funny. It’s hard not to laugh with half the things he says,” admitted Dariush. “So it’s not like he’s getting in his head, but I’m like ‘damn that’s really funny.’ He’s got some tricks. What did he call me, ‘Senile Dariush?’ I thought that was clever. I like that stuff, it’s not a big deal. It wasn’t really getting into my head. It makes it hard to fight a guy that you like, I would say that.”
He may not be senile, but Dariush is the last 36-year old standing after the fight (he and Moicano are actually the same age). Still, the lightweight feels there’s lots to learn yet. “It feels good to be the last old man standing, but I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.”
Watch the full UFC 317 post-fight press conference with Beneil Dariush above.
