Saturday’s UFC on FOX 15 card featured several fights of veterans facing fighters working their way up the rankings and one of those matchups saw Beneil Dariush continue his rise up the lightweight rankings with a decision win over Jim Miller.
Dariush and Miller had a tremendous grappling match inside a MMA cage and both fighters attempted multiple submission attempts.
Miller went for two submission attempts in the opening moments of the fight, which Dariush was able to defend. After defending those submission attempts, Dariush would take over the fight and score a decision victory.
Following the conclusion of the fight, some people said it was a dominating victory for Dariush. However, the Kings MMA fighter does not call it a dominating victory. He is happy to walk away with the victory but wishes he could have done better.
“I do not know if I would say I dominated Jim Miller,” Dariush said during the post fight press conference. “He is very tough. As far as passing of the torch, I think if Jim Miller wants to get back to the top ten, I really think he can do it. He just has to make sure his focus is good. I am just happy with the performance. Wish I could have done a little better.”
Because of both of their backgrounds, this was a matchup that most people figured would be decided on the feet. Dariush knew the type of attacks Miller would bring on the ground and what he needed to accomplish to stay out of trouble.
“The goal was to beat him everywhere in the jiu-jitsu,” Dariush explained. “Stay on top, but keep the pressure. I knew if he got on top, it would be really difficult to be able to sweep or submit him. He is a black belt in jiu-jitsu. He likes to do for a lot of submissions. He goes for the knee bar all the time and guillotine. I just made sure I was ready for those things and just stayed sharp every where else.”
The victory over Miller marked the fourth straight win for Dariush and it was his second fight in 35 days as he defeated Daron Cruickshank at UFC 185 last month. This is the fastest turnaround for Dariush in his MMA career and being consistent in taking fights is important for him.
“Fighting consistently has been really important for me,” he said. “I feel like I am improving really fast but this fight I felt a little stale. I think the short notice — I am going to have to take a little bit more time between fights. Thirty days is a little too short. Consistently is important in this sport. If you don’t fight — you are a fighter, you should fight. If you do not fight, you are going to slow down.”