Beneil Dariush kicks Scott Holtzman in their lightweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Beneil Dariush sounded bewildered when asked about Tony Ferguson’s recent comments on a fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Dariush takes on a hungry Tony Ferguson on the 15th of May, at UFC 262. The Iranian is on an impressive 6 fight win streak, having not lost in more than 3 years.
The number 9 ranked lightweight contender, earned a hard-fought split decision victory over Carlos Diego Ferreira at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Volkov, which also earned both the fighters the fight of the night award.
In his path stands, ‘El Cucuy’ Tony Ferguson who, for the first time in his career has lost two back-to-back fights. In a bid to get out of the rut, he has been working harder than ever, and has even hired legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach.
Ferguson recently stated that beating Dariush would be the key to getting a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov (who has already retired). Khabib and Tony have been booked to fight five times; not even once did the fight go ahead.
Dariush spoke to Marc Raimondi of ESPN, and addressed Ferguson’s aforementioned comments. An amused Dariush claimed that there was nothing in common between him and Khabib, except the fact that they have the same manager – Ali Abdelaziz.
Here is what Dariush had to say:
“I don’t know. I don’t even think I fight like Khabib, I mean I grapple a lot, and I do striking but I’m a southpaw. And, I guess the only thing I can think of that Khabib and I have in common is the same manager maybe. That’s why?”
Dariush then went on to explain that it would have made sense ‘if Ferguson had said this, had he fought Islam Makachev’.
Dominance MMA CEO and Beneil Dariush’s manager Ali Abdelaziz believes that Tony Ferguson has signed his death certificate and that Dariush will do a job on him.
Speaking in a recent interview with the Schmo, Abdelaziz had no doubts regarding his Iranian client demolishing the Boogeyman. He claimed that Dariush was better in almost all the departments, ranging from striking to wrestling.
He concluded saying that Ferguson made a mistake, agreeing to fight the hard-as-nails Dariush.
The vastly experienced and ageing Ferguson will be looking forward to proving Abdelaziz wrong, come May the 15th.
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