Beneil Dariush likes what he sees from UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.
Strickland (31-7 MMA, 18-7 UFC) is expected to run things back with Nassourdine Imavov for his first title defense – if he can sort out his pay dispute with the UFC. Strickland defeated Imavov in a short-notice light heavyweight bout in January 2023.
Dariush has known Strickland for a long time and has even trained with him. He accurately predicted that he’ll dethrone Khamzat Chimaev, and he now makes his pick for the Imavov rematch.
“49-46 Sean,” Dariush told Helen Yee. “Very specific because I know Sean’s game. He’s a little bit of a slow starter, but man, once he starts going, it’s really hard to stop him because he builds momentum and then he finds the holes in your game. He’s so good at conserving energy. It’s like a snowball effect. The first round, you’re like, ‘Im doing fine.’ The second round, you’re like, ‘That wasn’t as good as I’d hoped.’ And then in the third and fourth round, you just kind of lose hope.”
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So, if not Chimaev or Imavov, then who beats Strickland?
“As long as Sean is Sean that I know, where right after a fight he can’t stay home, he’s either going shooting his guns or doing something stupid, or he’s in the wrestling room,” Dariush said. “As long as he’s that guy – people don’t realize he wrestles more than he does striking. He’s constantly in the room. He’s constantly working. On his days off he goes to train. On his days off he goes to help people.
“Sean, the way he speaks and the character, you’re like, who’s this guy? But if you see him in the gym, if you just press the mute button on him, and you just see him work, people are going to be like, ‘This is the hardest working guy I ever met.’ Absolutely, and it’s not even close. So, with that being said, as long as Sean keeps that same mentality, no one’s touching him at 185.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Why Beneil Dariush sees prosperous UFC title reign for Sean Strickland