Beneil Dariush Reveals How Dana White ‘Took Care’ of Him After UFC 311 Fight Cancellation

On By Littum

After what appeared to be a relatively quiet UFC 311 fight week, things unraveled this past Friday moments before the official weigh-ins.

Islam Makhachev was scheduled to defend his lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan in the highly anticipated main event, but just moments before Tsarukyan was due to weigh in, news broke that he was pulling out of the bout due to injury.

UFC boss Dana White then revealed that Renato Moicano would step in to fight Makhachev, as he was already on the card scheduled to fight Beneil Dariush.

Unfortunately for Dariush, after a long grueling fight camp, he will no longer compete at UFC 311 on Saturday.

READ MORE: ‘Tougher fight’… Demetrious Johnson shares his prediction for the new UFC 311 main event

(L-R) Opponents Islam Makhachev of Russia and Renato Moicano of Brazil square off during the ceremonial UFC 311 weigh-ins at the Intuit Dome on January 17...
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Beneil Dariush was paid show and win money for the UFC 311 fallout

Dariush’s last game came against the ‘Ahalkalakets’ in December 2023 and the 35-year-old was hoping to bounce back from back-to-back losses after over a year out.

‘Benny D’ has admitted that when he first heard the rumblings of the news that Tsarukyan was out, he thought he would get the opportunity to step in and fight the champion, Makhachev.

“So I got a text around 4:00 a.m. I don’t sleep when I’m slimming… I see Ali (Abdelaziz) texting me and saying “Hey, do you think you can make 155kg?” and I was like ‘Yeah I can,'” Dariush began to explain in an interview with The Schmo.

“I’m starting to hear more things about Arman basically not being able to make it because I was thinking, if it was Makhachev who had problems, they won’t put me with Arman, we’ve already fought so I assumed , that it was Arman.

“I’m making weight and then hearing more things that he’s not going to make, and part of me is like, ‘Man, I think I’m going to fight for the title,’ so I come back to my room and work on rebuilding. Ali comes in and says, ‘Hey, man, they’re giving it to Renato,'” Dariush continued.

With the change coming at the last minute, Dariush has revealed that the promotion pays him both his show and win money to soften the blow.

“It’s excellent, I can’t complain, they give me show and win money, so you know, a lot of people say, ‘I hope they take care of you,’ that’s who I appreciate Dana and the UFC.” Dariush explained.

While many fans expect that to be the minimum the promotion has to do, former middleweight champion Chris Weidman recently revealed that he was not paid his full purse when his UFC 309 bout fell through on fight night.

Dariush names potential next opponents by match fallout

Having already been out of the Octagon for over a year, the UFC veteran hopes to return to action sooner rather than later.

Following the fallout, Dariush claims he’s been promised a ‘good fight’ next time and has outlined a few potential opponents he’d like to share the Octagon with.

“I would ideally, if I’m super fast, it would be March… I think ideally I would fight in April, one person was ahead of me. When I look at the rankings, it goes to Dustin Poirier, Max Holloway and Michael Chandler.

“It’s the availabilities… Ideally it would be Dustin Poirier, I don’t know what it is, but lately he’s been bugging me too because you know there was talk of us fighting and then he said, ‘Nah me’ I’m not interested… He’s changed in my eyes,” Dariush admitted.

Dustin Poirier has continuously hinted at fighting once more, but it is unlikely to come against Dariush as he has previously turned down fights against the 35-year-old.

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