"Diamond" Retirement Fight Leaked?

03/10/2025 08:00 AM

Dustin Poirier's final fight is expected to be 'Legends only,' and Dariush just let slip who it might be.

It's a strange time for UFC lightweight contender Beneil Dariush, who would really like to fight someone ahead of him in the rankings.

Dariush was flying high just a few years ago, coming into the contender's circle with an impressive 8-fight winning streak. But two quick first round losses to Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan in 2023 followed by no fights in 2024 have dropped him down to No. 9. A fight with No. 10 ranked Renato Moicano at UFC 311 was scrapped when the UFC needed "Money" to step in against lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

Now "Benny" is wondering who there is above him that he can fight to get back into the title run. He discussed the situation during an interview with Submission Radio, and might have let the cat out of the bag regarding one of the biggest unannounced fights at lightweight in the process.

"My understanding is Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway are gonna fight," Dariush said. "That's what I'm hearing. I don't know if it's 100% sealed and done, but that's what I'm hearing."

Poirier and Holloway have fought twice, with "Diamond" beating "Blessed" via submission in 2012 and dominant decision in 2019. That five round beating killed any talk of Max competing at lightweight for years, but things changed after the Hawaiian's big win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. With Dustin Poirier saying 'Legends only' for his final UFC fight, there's few better options than a third fight with Max Holloway.

Too bad that leaves Beneil Dariush without many fresh options to fight.

"Ahead of me, all that's left is Gamrot, which he's he's ranked number [eight]. We've already fought ... I would just rather fight somebody else. At this point, the only person I can think of is is is is Dan Hooker, but I don't know how long his hand is is gonna keep him out and and wondering he's gonna wanna come back."

Then there's Mauricio Ruffy, who sent King Green into the shadow realm with a knockout of the year contender at UFC 313 (watch it here). Ruffy followed that up with a callout of Dariush, which doesn't really appeal to him because Ruffy isn't ranked.

"You can call out whoever you want, I don't really care," he said. "It's Dana [White], Sean Shelby, and Hunter [Campbell]. It depends on who they want me to fight. Right? Because that's kinda where I'm at right now. Plus if you're in the rankings. Because at this point, man, there was a period where I fought guys a lot outside of the rankings, and it didn't really move me that much forward."

"So at this point, I want the fights that are gonna get me to the title the quickest. So that's really what I'm waiting for is to get that call and be like, 'Okay, you're fighting this guy who is ranked.' That's the ideal situation. But if they call me to fight him, then then so be it. Then we're fighting him."