Dariush, Tsarukyan battle to climb lightweight ladder

Beneil Dariush and Arman Tsarukyan will battle to climb the UFC’s lightweight ladder when they meet in the main event of a Fight Night set for the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, on Sunday morning.

Dariush (22-5-1) will be looking to bounce back from a first-round TKO loss at the hands of former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 289 in Canada back in June of this year. The Iranian-born fighter had racked up eight successive wins prior to that defeat and remains one of the division’s top contenders, as the fourth-ranked competitor.

Dariush is expecting a tough battle at this Fight Night: “I think he’s going to be looking to go low and go high. By low I mean takedowns, and by high I mean striking,” he explained.

“But that’s what I prepare for every day. I prepare to fight guys that can do it all. I don’t know if he does anything that would surprise me.

“Once I get in there, I’ll have a better idea. I will say I need to get a better idea of his strength. That’s something that could be out of my expectations. When I went with [Mateusz] Gamrot, he was strong, but I didn’t feel, ‘Oh man, this guy is overwhelming me.’ Let’s see if Tsarukyan is going to be the same thing.”

Tsarukyan (20-3) is number eight on the rankings and chasing a third straight win after he defeated Damir Ismagulov (unanimous decision) and Joaquim Silva (third-round TKO) in December 2022 and June of this year respectively.

“I believe my conditioning is better, and I’ll finish him,” Tsarukyan noted. “I’m the best young fighter in our division. Beneil, he has like more than 20 fights in the UFC, and he has a lot of experience. So, young wolf vs. old wolf. We’ll see who’s going to win.”

The rest of the main card features a lightweight co-main in which Jalin Turner will battle Bobby Green; a bantamweight clash between Rob Font and Deiveson Figueiredo; Sean Brady v Kelvin Gastelum in the welterweight division; a middleweight match pitting Punahele Soriano against Dustin Stoltzfus; and a light heavyweight opener between Khalil Rountree Jr and Azamat Murzakanov.

UFC Fight Night: Dariush vs. Tsarukyan main card

- Main event: Lightweight: Beneil Dariush v Arman Tsarukyan

- Lightweight: Jalin Turner v Bobby Green

- Bantamweight: Rob Font v Deiveson Figueiredo

- Welterweight: Sean Brady v Kelvin Gastelum

- Middleweight: Punahele Soriano v Dustin Stoltzfus

- Light heavyweight: Khalil Rountree Jr v Azamat Murzakanov