Beneil Dariush is questioning his ability to compete at the top level of his sport. This comes after a knockout loss to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC on ESPN 52 on Dec. 2.
This was not Dariush’s first knockout loss. He previously fell to former champ Charles Oliveira at UFC 289 in June. But, he says there’s a significant difference in his mindset after these two losses.
Dariush opened up about his feelings on Submission Radio. He had thought that the loss against Oliveira was due to a poor training camp. He believed he could go back, fix his camp, and everything would improve.
He did exactly that. He went back to camp, tried to do everything the best he could, and had a successful camp for his fight against Tsarukyan. His weight cut was great, his conditioning was excellent, and his sparring looked promising. But, then he got to the fight and didn’t show up again.
This led him to question whether it’s not about showing up, but perhaps he just doesn’t have it anymore. Dariush has had his share of struggles in the past. He notably went winless in a three-bout stretch from March 2017 to March 2017. However, he bounced back with eight consecutive victories, establishing himself as a top contender in the UFC’s lightweight division.
This time, Dariush is leaving the decision of when to return to the Octagon in the hands of his coaches. They’re concerned about his back-to-back concussions and want him to take a significant amount of time off.
Dariush is at their mercy. He admits that when you’re winning and performing well, you can have more say. But currently, he’s not performing well or winning, so his coaches have more control over when he gets to fight.
If it was up to him, he’d be back by February-March. But he thinks it’s going to be a bit longer than that.