Talented UFC lightweight standout and No. 10 contender, Beneil Dariush will have a quick turnaround fight Saturday evening at the LA forum after a disappointing submission loss to Michael Chiesa in the latter part of April. He'll face undefeated James Vick in what looks to be a very promising, action-packed fight.
Often we see decorated jiu-jitsu aces experiencing difficulties in putting their complete MMA game together. Finding ways to make their grappling work in concert with other important key elements can be a daunting task, but Dariush has found the key to a harmonious blend of grappling and striking. In a recent interview with the Three Amigos Podcast, he discussed how he puts the pieces of his impressive skillset together, as well as why he was so keen for a quick turnaround fight against a dangerous opponent like Vick.
"When I train jiu-jitsu now, one of the things I always make sure to do is to incorporate punches. It really changes the grappling. If you're grappling with punches involved, you start realizing you only use certain guards. There are 3-4 different guards that you use--half-guard, open guard, and closed guard--the majority of the time. With jiu-jitsu where it is right now, if you watch some jiu-jitsu matches you'll see a ton of variations on multiple different guards, and a lot of those won't work in MMA. So you have to find what works for MMA and kind of zone in on that and focus on that to be able to compete at the highest level of MMA and also just being able to take a punch. That's going to be important."
After his fight with Chiesa, Dariush admitted to having a hard time dealing with that loss, so in his eyes, his decision to get right back in the fray was the best possible way remedy that "miserable" feeling.
"I'm coming off a loss, and it just doesn't sit well with me. Also, with my last fight, I made some mistakes inside the Octagon, and they're mistakes I can only fix inside the Octagon, so I want to get back in there as quickly as possible and work on those mistakes.
I don't want to say that I did [overlook his grappling] because I knew he was a good grappler, I knew that was his best position. I think he was the better man that night and I showed lack of focus. I had a good 1st round, and in the 2nd round, instead of coming out stronger, I didn't. I came out not as strongly as I should've, and not enough focus. He came out stronger and more focused, and I think that was the difference. A couple of days after the fight, it was miserable. It was nice that I had my family and friends there to help and encourage me, but overall it was terrible. It's really hard losing, especially losing when you know you could've won the fight. That was one of the reasons I wanted to get right back inside the Octagon."
There was more of this excellent interview which included the following discussion points:
- His willingness to take short notice fights
- Why he took such a fast turnaround fight
- His approach to adjusting to height and reach disparities with fighters like Vick
- How he successfully incorporates his high level grappling into a well-rounded skillset
- His thoughts on the Chiesa fight
- Thoughts on upcoming weight-cutting regs
- How he sees Rockhold/Bisping going
- His breakdown and prediction for his own fight
You can check out the entire interview here at the 56:00 mark of the audio, or via the embedded player below. Remember, if you're looking for us on SoundCloud or iTunes, we're under the MMA Nation name. Follow our Twitter accounts: Stephie Haynes, Three Amigos Podcast, Geroge Lockhart, Iain Kidd and Mookie Alexander or our Facebook fan page, Three Amigos Pod.