After a bad loss to Erick Silva at UFC on Fuel TV 10 Jason High has rebounded with a pair of dominant victories. Adlan Amagov looked to be a strong step up in competition after defeating UFC newcomer Anthony Lapsley at UFC 167, unfortunately an unspecified Amagov injury has seen the Russian pulled from the fight and the step up in competition gone with him. The Kansas City Bandit reported, via Twitter, that he will now be fighting undefeated newcomer Beneil Dariush.
The 24 year old Iranian, Dariush, is a Kings MMA team member with a 6-0 professional record. He's training under the tutalege of Rafael Cordeiro and alongside UFC notables in Jake Ellenberger, Mauricio Rua, and Fabricio Werdum. While Dariush's record looks nice with six wins and five stoppage victories, it's heavily manicured with his opponents carrying a combined record of 23-41. Training under Bruno Paulista in BJJ, Dariush was considered one of the worlds better prospects on the Jiu Jitsu circuit, placing well multiple times at the Pan Ams and Worlds as a blue, brown, and purple belt. Upon receiving his black belt he made the decision to retire from BJJ and start his MMA career.
In the cage, Dariush is the classic green high level BJJ grappler. He uses leg kicks to try and control distance and punches to try and close distance. He's been gifted, so far, with opponents who want to punch into the clinch and grind away at him, so he hasn't shown much of a wrestling game one way or another. He does trip well from the clinch, as you'd expect from a high level grappler and looks to be a complete octopus on the ground. Beyond an underdeveloped all around game, his biggest flaw is going to be his striking defense. He drops his hands a lot when he punches and when he kicks and his footwork is nothing special. This may still make for an interesting fight with High as KCB only tends to finish fighters by submission and in the first round. I don't know that he'll be able to tap Dariush, so we may have a 3 round kickboxing battle on our hands. High and Dariush are set to face off at UFC Fight Night 35 in Duluth, Georgia, on January 15.
To get us better acquainted, here's Dariush's most recent fight against Jason Meaders:
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