Beneil
Dariush recently revealed that Dustin
Poirier was a potential opponent for his upcoming main-event
assignment.
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Dariush (22-5) is slated to take on up-and-coming contender
Arman
Tsarukyan (20-3) in the main event at UFC on ESPN 52 on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
“Benny” claims Poirier’s name was also mentioned as an alternative
opponent, but the booking never came to fruition. Dariush recently told Submission Radio:
“They called me for that and they said, ‘Hey, would you be
willing?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, of course. My weight’s good, I’m
obviously in camp right now, I can do a fight with Dustin
Poirier.’ And they said, ‘Okay, we’ll get back to you.’ It
didn’t materialize and then they called me again and they said,
‘Okay, what about Dustin
Poirier for December 2?’ I said, ‘Okay.’ Then I just waited and
it didn’t materialize.”
“Afterward they said they were going to stick with Arman and it’s
gonna be five rounds. I never hear the other side. I’m not really
sure what happened with Dustin. I would love to hear what he has to
say about it, but no one has asked him in the interviews or
anything like that or he hasn’t mentioned it.”
Dariush also believes that while the No. 3 ranked Poirier (29-8)
might be the bigger name on paper, the No. 8 ranked Tsarukyan is
the tougher fight.
“If we’re talking about visibility, I would pick Dustin
Poirier. If we’re talking about who’s the tougher challenge, I
would pick Arman
Tsarukyan and that’s my opinion. So, I’m kind of excited to be
fighting Tsarukyan, to be honest with you. I’ll always pick to
fight the tougher guy, that’s my goal.”
Dariush is coming off a knockout loss to former champ Charles
Oliveira in a title eliminator earlier this year that marked
the end of an eight-fight winning streak. Meanwhile, “Ahalkalakets”
is on a two-fight win streak with his only promotional losses
coming against reigning champ Islam
Makhachev and top contender Mateusz
Gamrot.
UFC on ESPN 52 takes place at Moody Center in Austin on Dec. 2. The
13-fight slate is headlined by the Dariush-Tsarukyan lightweight
tilt, with another lightweight scrap featuring Bobby Green
against short-notice opponent Jalin
Turner as the co-main event.