Beneil Dariush Issues Strong Warning To Alex Volkanovski

Beneil Dariush recently appeared on Submission Radio ahead of UFC 280.

Dariush was asked about Alex Volkanovski and not himself being the backup for the upcoming main event. That fight will pit Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev this Saturday night.

The card takes place from Abu Dhabi and the Etihad Arena, airing live on pay-per-view.

“Well, at first I was genuinely confused,” Dariush said. “And then I was pretty pissed. And then I started just kind of thinking about it, and I mean, I’m still kind of annoyed about it, I’m kind of butt hurt, but it makes sense if you think about it. So, it was never like a like written agreement, right? That I was gonna be the backup.

“But they said basically they’re gonna have me on the card fighting Mateusz, if something goes wrong they’ll put me in. And I was like, great. And then, a guy like Volkanovski, who’s currently, I believe, number one pound-for-pound, wants to volunteer and jump on that. It makes sense on their part.

“They’ll be like, oh yeah, we’ll take it. We’ll definitely take you as backup. So, I get it, bro. His stock is really high, so that’s why they picked him. It makes sense business-wise.

“Obviously, it sucks for me, but I get why they did what they did. And I could sit here and be just like butt hurt and angry about it. But I got a really, really, really tough guy in front of me, so I’m just gonna focus on him and then let the chips fall as they may.”