Beneil Dariush hopes to fight Charles Oliveira after missionary work in Haiti
Beneil Dariush should have fought Charles Oliveira last weekend at UFC Fight Island 4 in a battle of two streaking lightweight contenders. Instead Dariush has been sitting around waiting for someone ranked in the top 10 fight him after Oliveira withdrew from the fight.
Once Oliveira pulled put of the fight, Dariush (19-4-1) was looking to rematch Diego Ferreira, who Dariush beat in 2014. According to Dariush, Ferreira was calling for the fight, but then chose to fight Drew Dober instead.
Now with no fights in the works, Dariush is hoping to rebook the fight with Oliveira some point this year.
With no fights being offered, Dariush, who defeated Scott Holtzman in August with a highlight reel knockout, has been keeping himself busy by doing missionary work in the country of Haiti. Recently Dariush opened an orphanage there and now he’s going to take a quick visit to the Caribbean and check on his project.
Once Dariush finishes fighting, he plans on doing missionary work full time, but for the time being he’s ready to make a run toward the lightweight championship. Right now he’s won five fights in a row, which he credits to being healthy and training smarter. He has also learned a lot from his friend in former lightweight Rafael Dos Anjos and from helping Justin Gaethje prepare for Tony Ferguson.
In the video above, you can Dariush’s full interview with MyMMANews in which he discusses Oliveira, his missionary work, his future and more.
