Beneil Dariush is an American mixed martial artist who fights under the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The 34-year-old Dariush is the No. 4 ranked lightweight contender in the UFC as of June 5, 2023.
Before taking up MMA, Dariush was a decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor. He won the World No Gi championship as a blue, purple, and brown belt. Dariush was also a silver medalist in the Gi silver medalist at the Mundials as blue, purple, and brown. He says he has over 50 BJJ tournaments under his belt and he’s placed first, second, or third in all of them. Dariush achieved his BJJ black belt under Romulo Barral and Muay Thai black belt under the legendary Rafael Cordeiro before transitioning to mixed martial arts.
In this Beneil Dariush Story…
- Beneil Dariush Quick Facts
- Beneil Dariush Record
- Beneil Dariush Stats
- Beneil Dariush Early Career
- Beneil Dariush vs Mateusz Gamrot
- Beneil Dariush vs Islam Makhachev
- Beneil Dariush Next Fight
- Beneil Dariush Personal Life
- Beneil Dariush Wife
- Beneil Dariush Charity Work
- Beneil Dariush Net Worth
- Beneil Dariush Car
Beneil Dariush Quick Facts
| Name: | Beneil Khobier Dariush |
| Age: | 34 years old |
| Date of Birth: | May 6, 1989 |
| Place of Birth: | Urmia, Iran |
| Nationality: | Iranian |
| Height: | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight: | 70 kg ( 155 lbs ) |
| Reach: | 72 in |
| Fighting Stance: | Southpaw |
| Net Worth: | $1.5 million |
| Last Fight Purse: | $100,000 |
| Instagram: | @beneildariush 176K followers |
| Twitter: | @beneildariush 43.4K followers |
Beneil Dariush Record
Beneil Dariush has a professional MMA record of 22-4-1 with 5 knockouts and 8 submission wins. Dariush’s four losses have all been by stoppage – 3 by knockout and 1 by way of submission.
He is 16-4-1 while fighting under the UFC and has won eight consecutive bouts heading to UFC 289. Dariush’s 16 wins in the lightweight division are tied with Gleison Tibau for the third most in the history of the weight class,
Beneil Dariush Stats
Below are Beneil Dariush’s fight stats per ufcstats.com:
- Significant Strikes landed per 15 minutes: 3.81
- Significant Striking Accuracy: 49%
- Significant Strikes Absorbed per minute: 2.55
- Significant Striking Defense: 58%
- Average Takedowns Lander per 15 minutes: 1.95
- Takedown accuracy: 34%
- Takedown Defense: 80%
- Average Submissions attempted per 15 minutes: 0.9
Beneil Dariush Early Career
Beneil Dariush began his career with the Respect in the Cage promotion where in 2013, he captured the lightweight championship and made one successful title defense before the UFC came calling. Dariush joined the UFC in 2014 and he has slowly moved up the rankings.
During a six-fight stretch from 2016 to early 2018, Dariush went 2-3-1 with all three losses via stoppage – a 2016 submission to Michael Chiesa, a 2017 KO to Edson Barboza, and another KO to Alexander Hernandez in 2018. Since then, however, Dariush has not lost a bout and he heads to UFC 289 having won 8 consecutive fights.
Beneil Dariush vs Mateusz Gamrot
At UFC 262 Dariush earned his biggest UFC billing to date when his bout against former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson was booked as the event’s co-headliner. It marked the first time that Dariush fought in a co-main event.
Dariush beat Ferguson decisively and after beating El Cucuy, he solidified his position in the Top 5 of the lightweight division. He was then booked to fight promising contender Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 280 last October in Abu Dhabi. Despite being the more accomplished fighter, Dariush entered that bout as a heavy betting favorite at the top MMA betting sites. Seeing the plus money written beside his name, Dariush got fired up more than ever.
Speaking to John Morgan of MMA Underground via sportskeeda.com, Dariush said:
“I’m a little bit broken in here [motions to head]. I just genuinely believe I could beat anybody all the time and I was p**sed at people for doubting me. I was like, ‘Why am I the underdog here, what the heck is going on?’ I was pretty angry about the whole – not angry, but I was pretty, like, ‘whatever, I’ll show these people how I’m the underdog.'”
He did. Dariush ended Gamrot’s four-fight winning streak by showing a more diverse arsenal that his opponent. It wasn’t flashy but it was decisive with two judges scoring the bout 29-27 and the other giving Dariush the bout at 29-28.
Beneil Dariush vs Islam Makhachev
In November 2021, the UFC announced that it had booked Beneil Dariush to a huge showdown against Islam Makhachev at the UFC’s February 26, 2022 event.
However, Dariush withdrew from the bout due to injury. Makhachev went on to beat Bobby Green in a short-notice fight and earn the right to fight Charles Oliveira for the vacant title at UFC 280. Makhachev beat Oliveira to become the new UFC lightweight champion and successfully defended the belt against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284.
Last March, Makhachev told BT Sport that he was rooting for Dariush to beat Oliveira at UFC 289. According to the reigning UFC lightweight king, he wants a new challenge:
“Honestly, I don’t know. I hope Beneil wins because I already beat Oliveira and I need some new challenge,” Makhachev said in an interview with BT Sport.
“Dariush is going to be a good fight because this guy has good skills, striking skills, wrestling skills, and grappling skills. That’s right, it’s going to be a good fight,” Makhachev later added. “But Oliveira, if he wants a rematch, if he shows a good performance, maybe he’s going to be next. I don’t know.”
Beneil Dariush Next Fight
Dariush is scheduled to fight former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira in the co-main of UFC 289 on June 10, 2023, in Canada. The two were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 288 last May but Oliveira withdrew from the bout after suffering a minor injury.
The bout is important for both fighters as the winner will most likely be the next challenger for lightweight king Islam Makhachev, although the UFC has not made an official announcement about that, although he recently claimed that the company gave him its word.
“UFC is not the type to often give their word,” Dariush revealed to MMA Fighting. “Before I fought Mateusz [Gamrot], I had a feeling they weren’t going to give me the title shot, so I said, ‘Hey if I beat this guy, I get a title shot right?’ They said, ‘We don’t know,’ basically.
“This time when I was talking to them, they said if I beat Charles Oliveira, I am the No. 1 contender. It’s not often they give me their word. This time they did.”
Beneil Dariush Personal Life
Beneil Dariush was born in Urmia, Iran, and was raised on a family-owned farm in the city of Gol Tappeh. When he was four years old, his father migrated to the United States to eventually bring the entire family there. The plan materialized when Beneil was 9 as the family moved to California.
In high school, Beneil played soccer and before his senior year, he tried out wrestling at the advice of a friend. He fell in love with wrestling and later Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Dariush would become obsessed with submission grappling and enter international BJJ competitions before transitioning to mixed martial arts.
Beneil Dariush Wife
Beneil Dariush’s wife is Victoria Vu Dariush whom he dated for a long time. The couple were engaged in 2019 and married one year later.
Victoria took up BS in Kinesiology and Exercise Science at California State University and graduated in 2016. She is also a registered nurse after graduating with a nursing degree from West Coast University.
She worked as a medical scribe at The Center for Bone and Joint Care in Orange County, California. She is currently the operations manager of the Kings MMA Anaheim, LLC, which is owned by her husband.
The couple have two daughters named Alva who was born in 2021 and Emma Doris, born earlier this year:
Beneil Dariush Charity Work
After earning a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for knocking out Drakkar Klose at UFC 248, Beneil Dariush used the money to fund an orphanage in Haiti. Known as the Cap-Haïtien Children’s Home, Dariush continues to support the orphanage and school.
Beneil Dariush Net Worth
According to the sports website sportskeeda.com, Beneil Dariush has a net worth of $1.5 million. The website also said that Dariush made $221,000 in his last bout against Mateusz Gamrot. The amount included $100,000 in guaranteed fight purse, $100,000 in win bonus, and $21,000 in sponsorship money. Overall, it is estimated that Dariush has made $1.3 million from his Octagon appearances.
Beneil Dariush Car
Beneil Dariush had a unique post-fight call-out after defeating Tony Ferguson at UFC 262. Usually, fighters use the post-fight interviews as an opportunity to call out a prospective opponent. But instead of calling out a fighter, Dariush called out Elon Musk.
“Elon, where’s my wife’s car, bro? I’ve been waiting six months,” Dariush stated. “I’m having a baby, I need a good car, I’ve got to protect my daughter. Let’s go, Elon. Get me my car!”
It turned out, Dariush experienced a delay in the delivery of a Tesla Car for his wife. Within 12 hours of that interview, Musk replied to Dariush via Twitter:
Just days later, Dariush received a ‘temporary’ Tesla car until his custom order arrived. The car was posted on social media by Dariush’s manager Ali Abdelaziz: