Beneil Dariush reveals good-cop bad-cop routine played by Dana White and Hunter Campbell in recent pay raise talks
Beneil Dariush is a streaking lightweight in search of his first crack at the divisional throne. Unfortunately, title fights have been hard to come by for the Iranian-American grappler. But it is not just title fights that he is after. He also hopes to improve his overall pay and recently spoke about his experience negotiating with Dana White and Hunter Campbell.
He was scheduled to face former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira in a title eliminator. Unfortunately, 'do Bronx' withdrew from the bout due to injury, causing it to become the topic of conversation in a meeting between Beneil Dariush and the UFC that was originally about a pay raise.
In an interview with Submission Radio, he detailed his experience negotiating with the UFC and divulged the initial nature of the meeting.
"Initially it was about like a pay rise basically. I was like 'You know, I like the contract you guys gave me, and in my contract if I fight for a title I get paid more, right? And the only reason I'm not fighting for a title is because you guys aren't giving me the title shot. I think I've earned it'. So that was kind of my thing. I was like 'Hey, I, just because of that, I wanto basically be paid my purse that I'd get for a title fight'."
When asked how receptive the UFC was to his idea, Beneil Dariush elaborated on how Dana White and Hunter Campbell are during negotiations.
"So it was almost like a good cop-bad cop because Dana was in a meeting with somebody in the other room. I could hear him yelling. And then I was speaking with Hunter. I like both guys. Both guys are awesome. Hunter in this situation had to be the bad guy, which is whatever, I get it. But afterwards I talked to Dana about different things. But overall, looking back at it, the meeting was good. I'm happy with the meeting, but at the time I was pretty upset."
What is Beneil Dariush's current win streak?
While a title fight has eluded him, Beneil Dariush is currently riding an eight-fight win streak dating back to 2018. The Iranian-American has used his exceptional grappling skills and underrated punching power to embark on an unbeaten run that includes a win over Tony Ferguson.
Beneil Dariush could be the next challenger for the Lightweight title if he defeats Mateusz Gamrot.
A victory against Gamrot would make it 8 straight wins in the Lightweight division for Dariush.
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After defeating the former interim lightweight champion, he faced Mateusz Gamrot, who 'BMF' champion Jorge Masvidal once touted as a future world champion. The bout featured several high-level scrambling sequences on the mat, with Dariush emerging victorious with a unanimous decision.