HE DID IT AGAIN!!@beneildariush with ANOTHER HUGE FINISH!! #UFCVegas6 pic.twitter.com/1gja1ynL8b
— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) August 9, 2020
Lightweights
No. 10 | Diego Ferreira (17-2) vs. No. 13 | Beneil Dariush (19-4-1)Ferreira has been underappreciated throughout his UFC career, but the Brazilian might be on the verge of a run towards the lightweight elite. Ferreira announced himself as someone to watch quickly in his UFC tenure thanks to wins over Colton Smith and Ramsey Nijem, but things quickly went sideways. After suffering a clear loss to Dariush, Ferreira was charged with the unenviable task of welcoming Dustin Poirier back to the lightweight division. Ferreira rebounded with a win over Olivier Aubin-Mercier, but he still wound up becoming a forgotten man at 155 pounds thanks to a drug test failure and subsequent two-year layoff. With that said, Ferreira put the time off to good use, as he has been a clear standout in the time since, particularly thanks to a breakout 2019 campaign. Wins over Rustam Khabilov and Mairbek Taisumov showed how Ferreira can effectively neutralize any sort of one-dimensional opponent; Ferreira’s defensive wrestling allowed him to outpace Khabilov on the feet, while his pressure striking forced Taisumov into an ineffective wrestling game. Ferreira kicked off 2020 with a win over Anthony Pettis to help raise his profile, but he has not been able to follow up since. Now, he returns for what should be a fascinating rematch against Dariush.
Dariush has had an up-and-down UFC stint, turning around a career-worst run into his current five-fight winning streak. Dariush came to the UFC as a decorated grappler but quickly developed a pressure striking game that helped him become one of lightweight’s rising talents. Even after hiccups against the aforementioned Nijem and Michael Chiesa, Dariush was capably able to turn around and get another win streak rolling. However, a rough three-fight stretch from 2017 to 2018 raised some concerns about Dariush’s ceiling and raised some questions about whether or not he was regressing. Dariush put on a strong performance against Edson Barboza before eating a sudden knockout knee, which raised some worry that Dariush did not have the athleticism or durability to be an elite lightweight. Then his two subsequent fights officially put Dariush on red alert. What figured to be an easy bounce-back fight against Evan Dunham turned into an ugly draw, and Dariush was quickly finished by promotional newcomer Alexander Hernandez. Dariush’s next few fights saw a more gun-shy approach that re-focused on his wrestling and grappling, which in turn made it even more shocking to see 2020 become the year when Dariush became a brutal knockout artist. It is hard to say the same fundamental problems for Dariush are no longer there—he is at his worst against better athletes who can match his own pressure and pace—but he has suddenly discovered a willingness to bite down on his mouthpiece and punch his way out of trouble, which led to memorably violent finishes of Drakkar Klose and Scott Holtzman. Dariush can do a little bit of everything but still manages to surprise, and a win here would give him as much momentum as he has ever had in his UFC career.
If the first fight between the two did not exist, this would be an easier call for Ferreira. As a relentless pressure artist who has shown both takedown defense and durability, his style seems tailor-made to take control of the fight and force Dariush to fight from behind. However, that 2014 bout does raise some concerns. While Ferreira enjoyed some striking success early in the fight, Dariush was successfully able to overpower the Brazilian in the clinch and dictate the terms of when the fight went to the mat. A redux of that scenario is entirely possible, especially given how often rematches wind up hinging on the same things as the initial fight. Ferreira’s pressure could just wind up getting him close enough to Dariush for the latter to turn things around and stall things out. Still, Ferreira looks like a physically stronger and overall much more effective fighter six years later, and while Dariush has added more tools to his toolbox, it feels like Ferreira has been the one who has developed in a way that will much better allow him to win this fight. The pick is for Ferreira to make the grappling a stalemate and take things over on the feet on his way to a decision victory.
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