Beneil Dariush is frustrated by the idea that Dustin Poirier isn’t interested in fighting him.
Poirier (29-7 MMA, 21-6 UFC) has fought a who’s-who at 155 pounds, but after he submitted Michael Chandler at UFC 281, the former interim champion said he’s looking for a fight that excites him.
Although Dariush (22-4-1 MMA, 16-4-1 UFC) is a streaking top contender with numerous bonuses to his name, he didn’t quite fit the bill for “The Diamond.”
“I wish he’d be a little bit more clear as to like, what is it that doesn’t excite him about me?” Dariush told Submission Radio. “Are my fights not exciting enough? Or is it a skill issue? Or is it just because I don’t have the name? If it’s just because of the name, man, he should really consider – and I say this as nicely as possible; I’m not trying to be a dick – but he should really consider retiring. Because if you’re going to look for the names, if you’re going to look to fight only guys that, you know, the name will get you – oh, there’s dogs coming.
“There’s dogs, and they’re young and they’re hungry and they’re looking to kill. There’s guys out there already. There’s not a whole lot of Michael Chandlers left out there in the division. How many more fights like that can you get you? You’re going to have to fight one of these dogs, and currently I’m at the forefront of these guys. So either step up or think about doing something else. And he seems successful. Fighting is not a sport you want to be half-hearted about. So if he’s not 100 percent in, he should really reconsider what he’s doing.”
Dariush has had to be patient in his quest for gold. He extended his winning streak to eight after an impressive win over Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 280, but he was passed up for a title opportunity after featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski decided to move up a weight class to chase dual-champ status.
But Dariush doesn’t mind knocking off top contenders. He relishes the challenge of going up against the division’s best.
“These are guys that I genuinely want to fight,” Dariush said. “The reason why I fought Gamrot wasn’t because I had to fight Gamrot. It wasn’t like they were making me fight him. I fought Gamrot because I was like, ‘Bro, look at the fight he just had with Arman. What a freaking fight,’ and it got my blood pumping.
“So I was like, ‘Let me fight this guy.’ And it’s the same thing when I watch Dustin Poirier fight Michael Chandler. It gets me pumped and I want to fight these guys. They’re great. They do certain things so well, and it would be great to be able to compete against them. But you can’t do anything about it when they don’t want to do it.”
