UFC Fight Night 35 results, photos: Beneil Dariush floors Brenneman, earns quick tap

DULUTH, Ga. – It didn’t take long for Beneil Dariush to make a statement in his UFC debut. In fact, it only took about a minute for him to land a big left hand that floored Charlie Brenneman in the opening round, giving Dariush the perfect opportunity to follow him to the mat and lock on a rear-naked choke for the submission victory at 1:45 of the first round.

The lightweight bout opened up the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 35 event at Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass ahead of additional prelims and a main card on FOX Sports 1.

Dariush came into the bout with a highly touted submission game, but it was his standup that caught Brenneman by surprise early. The left hand landed flush in the opening moments, sending “The Spaniard” tumbling to the mat in his first fight back with the UFC since 2012. From there, Dairush said in his post-fight interview, he knew to be careful of the wounded Brenneman.

“I noticed in his other fights, he gets hit and he goes down, and it’s not really that he’s really badly hurt, it’s his hair,” Dariush told UFC commentator Jon Anik. “It makes him look like he’s more hurt. I’m not saying that to be rude. I didn’t want to be overzealous with it. I wanted to follow up, pick my shots, and then finish him when he gives me an opportunity.”

That’s precisely what Dariush did, peppering Brenneman with ground-and-pound before taking his back and latching on the choke to force the tap.

Brenneman (19-6 MMA, 4-5 UFC) suffers his first defeat since the 2012 loss to Kyle Noke that heralded the end of his first run with the UFC. Dariush (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) keeps his perfect record intact with the victory in his UFC debut.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 35 results include:

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 35, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

Matt Erickson contributed to this report on-site in Duluth.