Beneil Dariush has nothing but praise for Charles Oliveira.
Dariush is set to take on Oliveira in the co-main event of UFC 289 in a pivotal fight for both men. The winner could very well get the next title shot so the stakes are high for this one. Although Dariush is confident he will get his hand raised, he knows it won’t be easy as he believes Oliveira is the second-best lightweight of all time.
“I’m confident in my skillset, I’m confident in what God has given me. I recognize how good Charles is, it’s not something I see in him that is a flaw. I just believe in myself and what God has given me,” Dariush said at the UFC 289 press conference. “I’ve said this before, in my opinion, Charles (is the) second-best lightweight of all time, right behind Khabib. But, it doesn’t matter for me, I want to fight the best guys in the world.”
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Oliveira is the former UFC lightweight champion but only defended his belt once. However, he has beaten many notable fighters like Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, and Michael Chandler, so he is up there as one of the best lightweights of all time but Dariush ranks him second ahead of the likes of BJ Penn or Frankie Edgar among others.
If Dariush does beat Oliveira, it would be a massive fight for his legacy and he also expects to not only beat the Brazilian but will finish him.
“It never really came up. With a guy like Charles, you don’t really need five rounds,” Dariush said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “He either kills or is killed within three rounds, I don’t think we need five rounds, but I wouldn’t mind five rounds. With me and Charles, we don’t hide anything, we are going to go out there and do our thing… That is how I see it playing out, kill or be killed. Either I end up killing Charles in this fight or he kills me, there is no other way around me.”
