UFC 289: Beneil Dariush no longer the most avoided fighter as bout with Charles Oliveira provides huge opportunity

It’s a title that says a lot about a fighter’s skill and potential, but it’s also a title that no one in his or her right mind wants.

For a long time, Beneil Dariush was the most avoided fighter in the UFC. While it speaks to his overall game and his elite skills that fighters with much to lose didn’t want to risk it against him, it was also beyond difficult.

Dariush on Saturday will finally take that next, huge step forward when he meets ex-champion Charles Oliveira in a key lightweight bout in the co-main event of UFC 289 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The winner is likely, though not guaranteed, to face champion Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi in October.

These are the kinds of fights Dariush has been chasing for years: Impactful bouts against the best of the best that could punch one’s ticket to the Hall of Fame or show you don’t quite measure up.

That’s what Dariush has wanted for so long and, despite an impressive string of victories, wasn’t getting until Oliveira said yes.

“It was frustrating because they guys were talking [publicly] about fighting the best and fighting anybody and I was sitting there waiting,” Dariush told Yahoo Sports. “It was really weird.”

Dariush didn’t hide his frustration, either in public comments or behind closed doors when he spoke to UFC officials. They couldn’t provide any assistance.

In the fight game, it takes two and no one can force an athlete to fight if he or she isn’t interested. And to all of those that Dariush wanted and/or were on his wish list, he was getting a quick, “thanks, but not thanks,” response.

“Every time I’d talk to the UFC about it and said, ‘Hey, I want to this certain fight,’ they’d go, ‘Well, he’s not interested and wants to fight this person instead,’ ” Dariush said. “And they’d say, ‘We like that fight, too.’ It just never made sense. It was just a pain in the ass. At the same time, the UFC was like, ‘Well, why don’t you fight some of these up-and-comer guys who are very good?’ ”

Dariush, of course, would say yes. He loves to fight and also has a deep belief in himself, and he didn’t want to be that guy who iced someone else out.

So even when there was disagreement within his own camp, he’d agree to these fights. And so he took on guys like Mateusz Gamrot and Carlos Diego Ferreira en route to reeling off an eight-bout winning streak he brings into Saturday’s fight with Oliveira.

“My management and my team weren’t fans of a lot of those fights, but I loved it,” he said. “Like Gamrot. Everyone was talking about him and how tough he was and how great he was — and he is — and so hey, even though he isn’t in that ranking spot that I wanted to see, he was a tough, hard fighter and it was one I’d like to take.”

Dariush brings a 22-4-1 overall record and a 16-4-1 UFC mark into the fight with Oliveira. Many of those losses, he believes, could have been avoided. He fought with injuries or before he was ready and it wound up costing him.

In a year’s span from March 11, 2017, to March 3, 2018, he went 0-2-1, getting knocked out by Edson Barboza and Alexander Hernandez with a majority draw with Evan Dunham in between.

He believes it may have cost him a bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov, the former champion whom he referred to as “the best lightweight of all time.” But he puts much of the blame on himself for it.

“If I had been smarter; if I had not been so prideful; if I had not tried to chase the record of how many fights I could get in a year or just trying to stay extremely active or this or that instead of taking my time, look, I know I’ve missed out on some opportunities, I believe,” he said. “I don’t know for sure because I can’t see a different past, but here’s what I will tell you: If it wasn’t for those moments, if it weren’t for the lows of my life, I would not be the man that I am today.

“I wouldn’t be in the place I am today and most importantly, I wouldn’t be the family man I am. Through those dark times, I was forced to spend more time with my wife and my family. That [allowed me] to recognize what I had there. There are things I think about [having done different], but I wouldn’t change a thing because this is where God has brought me.”

A win over Oliveira, which is no easy task, will likely see him facing Makhachev for the title on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi at UFC 294. He’s not ready to look ahead because he knows how dangerous Oliveira is.

This is one of those fights which could help increase the popularity of the ground game because they’re both athletic ground fighters and there figures to be plenty of fast scrambles.

So much of what he wanted could come with a win, though it will also bring fame and notoriety and that’s the one thing he could live without.

“I hope [a win over Oliveira] doesn’t affect [my life] too much, to be honest with you,” Dariush said. “Ultimately, I prefer a quiet life. I don’t want to chase fame or money. What I want to chase, obviously, first is God, but then I am concerned about my family. I understand in order to provide for them that I need to put myself in these positions.

“Really, my goal is to raise my family and to work for my community. Ultimately, I’ll pull back as much as I can because I don’t want to be in the limelight as much as people would typically want. That’s the way I’m going to approach this.”