Getty Image
The UFC has never really been much of a meritocracy.
Just ask welterweight contender Belal Muhammad, who recently voiced his displeasure with Colby Covington getting a shot at welterweight champ Leon Edwards before him.
But if anyone deserves a title shot at any weight, it would have to be lightweight star Beneil Dariush.
Dariush is currently riding an eight-fight win streak that dates all the way back to March of 2018. He’s finished four of those eight fights, including a pair of knockouts.
But yet he’s still been forced to weight.
Dariush has a shot to make a major statement at UFC 289 in July when he squares of with former lightweight champ Charles Oliveira.
A win over Oliveira should, in theory, put Dariush in line for a shot at Islam Makhachev’s lightweight title. At least, that’s what Dariush has been told.
“UFC is not the type to often give their word,” Dariush told MMA Fighting. “Before I fought Mateusz [Gamrot], I had a feeling they weren’t going to give me the title shot, so I said, ‘Hey, if I beat this guy, I get a title shot right?’ They said, ‘We don’t know,’ basically.
“This time when I was talking to them, they said if I beat Charles Oliveira, I am the No. 1 contender. It’s not often they give me their word. This time they did.”
But if the UFC and Dana White renege on that promise, Dariush says he’s prepared.
“I’m going to take them at their word,” Dariush said of the UFC. “If it’s not so, I’m going to take Justin Gaethje’s advice and possibly riot.”
Dariush is, of course, referring to Gaethje saying he’d quit the company if Conor McGregor got a title shot should he beat Michael Chandler.
That feels a bit extreme. But given the UFC’s track record, it’s hard to blame he or Dariush.