A title hopeful is fighting down the ladder at UFC 322.
This weekend, the UFC returns to Madison Square Garden with among the best fight cards of the 12 months.
Two title fights headline UFC 322 with former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev going for a second gold belt against welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena within the predominant event.
The co-headliner features the pound-for-pound best female fighters on the planet as Valentina Shevchenko defends her flyweight strap against the oncoming Zhang Weili.
Also on the predominant card, former top-3 contender Beneil Dariush looks to maintain his title dreams alive when he takes on the lower-ranked Benoit Saint-Denis in a light-weight bout.
Coming off a win over Renato Moicano at UFC 317, it wasn’t that way back Dariush had considered one of the longest winning streaks within the UFC.
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Beneil Dariush’s hot streak included wins over Tony Ferguson and Mateusz Gamrot
After he got knocked out by a debuting Alexander Hernandez in 2018, Dariush dusted himself off by occurring a powerful eight-fight win streak.
As of this writing, Dariush’s previous streak is healthier than another fighter’s currently within the lightweight division, which is commonly said to be the hardest weight class within the UFC.
Paddy Pimblett holds the longest lively win streak at 155 lbs with seven wins in a row, one victory wanting Dariush. That’s not counting Makhachev, who left the division earlier this 12 months.
During his run, Dariush beat the likes of former headliner Thiago Moises, Drew Dober, Frank Camacho, Drakkar Klose, Scott Holtzman and Diego Ferreira.
Dariush nearly finished legendary lightweight Tony Ferguson by heel hook of their fight at UFC 262, but the previous interim champion refused to tap and ended up losing a choice.
In his eighth-straight win, Dariush snapped Mateusz Gamrot’s four-fight win streak at UFC 280 after ‘Gamer’ had just defeated the present No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan.
Beneil Dariush never saw title shot coming despite win streak
Dariush’s win streak abruptly ended when former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira knocked him out at UFC 289 in 2023.
Despite his performances over fighters like Ferguson and Gamrot, Dariush never received a title opportunity from the UFC as featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski fought then champ Islam Makhachev twice in 2022.
“Sooner or later, I used to be on an eight-fight win streak and I never, it never felt like I used to be gonna get the title shot,” Dariush told Helen Yee in a recent interview.
“And so they didn’t, it didn’t seem to be they were gonna give it to me…
“So now, yet another fight,” Dariush said ahead of Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 322.
“I don’t know where it puts me, however the goal is to simply dominate. I actually have to place myself to a position where there’s no other alternative [than to give me a title fight].
“That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna give them no other alternative,” Dariush added.
Dariush is ranked #9 within the lightweight division while his opponent Benoit Saint-Denis holds the #13 spot.