UFN 39's Beneil Dariush says finishing mentality could eventually be downfall

The UFC loves fighters who fight as though wins and losses don’t matter, and it tends to keep them around longer than those who are chiefly concerned with walking away victorious.

Fighters such as Clay Guida, Diego Sanchez and Bobby Voelker are just a few who’ve eluded the chopping block due to a fan-friendly style. Those who’ve bored audiences have been shown the door upon their first setback.

So far, lightweight Beneil Dariush hasn’t even had to concern himself with the repercussions of a loss. in January he extended his unbeaten streak to seven fights with a first-round submission win over Charlie Brenneman.

Dariush, a decorated submission grappler, is on quite a hot streak. Since his professional debut in 2009, he hasn’t gone to the scorecards. He thinks there’s a reason for that.

“It’s the fact that I don’t really know how to fight for a decision,” he told MMAjunkie Radio. “I have a lot of finishing techniques. When I get even the smallest chance, I can finish a guy. That’s where I’m strongest. I guess you could call it good killer instinct.”

At the same time, Dariush, 24, senses there’s a time when the bill will come due for all his aggressive excursions inside the cage. Somewhere, someone down the line is going to block his submission attempts and force him to use every contracted round.

But right now, he’s not letting that inevitability get in the way of his fun.

“This one day might actually hurt me, but at this point, it’s been good to me,” Dariush said. “My first fight was a decision, but that was because I didn’t know any MMA. All I knew was jiu-jitsu, and I thought to myself I never want that to happen again.”

On Friday, Dariush (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) goes for another finish when he meets “The Ultimate Fighter 13? finalist Ramsey Nijem (8-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) on the main card of UFC Fight Night 39, which takes place at du Arena in Abu Dhabi. The entire fight card streams live on UFC Fight Pass.

“If you watch him fight, one, he’s grown up inside the UFC,” Dariush said of his opponent. “Every fight he’s gotten better, so that’s a very dangerous fighter, in my opinion. That’s something to watch out for, so I’m going in there expecting him to have something new for me.”

A surprise in the cage would present a new level of challenge for Dariush, who said patient study is one of the reasons he’s been able to find weaknesses and capitalize on them. In his debut, he was able to neutralize Charlie Brenneman’s ability to draw foes into a takedown and turned the tables to put the fight in his corner.

“I just made sure to study him really well,” Dariush said. “He did a couple of things that threw off all the other guys that he fought.”

Of course, you can’t really plan for an unexpected moment in a fight, but you can prepare yourself to find your bearings and fight back with whatever tools are at your disposal. For Dariush, that’s no longer simply grappling, but striking techniques. Against Brenneman, a stiff punch set up the finish.

Fighting Nijem, he feels like he’s getting the chance to right a wrong. The last time he was in Abu Dhabi, he said he lost a grappling match to Kron Gracie by decision. He hopes this time around, he doesn’t have to put judges to work.

Nijem might be the guy to give him pause, but Dariush approaching it as though he’ll run through the opposition.

For more on UFC Fight Night 39, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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