Beneil Dariush reveals frustrating conversation with the UFC over potential title shot: “I was about to flip a table”

UFC lightweight contender Beneil Dariush is about ready to start a riot.

He’s been out of the cage since his clash with Mateusz Gamrot last October at UFC 280. In that outing, Dariush secured an entertaining unanimous decision victory over ‘Gamer’. The win was the contender’s eighth in a row, having previously defeated names such as Tony Ferguson, Drew Dober, and more.

Following the win, Dariush was booked to face former champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 288 next month. However, ‘Do Bronx’ was forced to pull out of the clash due to injury. The two lightweights were later re-booked for UFC 289 in June, but that wasn’t what Dariush wanted.

In a recent interview with The Schmo, Beneil Dariush revealed that he asked the UFC for a title shot after the Brazilian’s withdrawal. The promotion turned him down, stating that the champion, Islam Makhachev would be out until October. In response, Dariush again asked if he could face the titleholder then.

The UFC again told Dariush no, and pointed to the fact that others, such as Dustin Poirier, were ahead of him in the rankings. As a result, the lightweight contender was about ready to follow Justin Gaethje’s advice after his win over Michael Chandler in 2021. Following that victory, ‘The Highlight’ said he would get a title shot, or start a riot.

Beneil Dariush reveals conversation with UFC over a title shot

“I was actually pretty upset at that time,” Beneil Dariush told The Schmo. “I took a minute and kind of calmed down. So I go in and I basically say to them, ‘Hey, if that’s the case, if he’s not available, let me fight Makhachev in, let’s say, July or August?’ But they’re like, ‘No, we have to save Makhachev for October for the Abu Dhabi card.’ I don’t really wanna wait until October, but I still wanna fight for the belt. So I say, ‘OK, why don’t I get him in October then?’ (h/t MMAJunkie)

He continued, “Basically, the way they put it is like – I’m not the No. 1 contender is the way they put it. They said there’s people ahead of me, and they specifically pointed out Dustin Poirier. At that point, I was about to flip a table. I was about to take Justin Gaethje’s advice. You know he said, ‘If Dariush doesn’t get the title shot, we riot.’ I was very close to that.”

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