Beneil Dariush is not sure he believes in Alexander Volkanovski‘s ability to follow through on his champ-champ promises.
Dariush accepted his fight with Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 280, under the expectation that he would serve as the backup fighter if something were to happen to either man competing in the lightweight title main event between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev. So naturally, he was disappointed to learn that the UFC had instead flown featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski out to Abu Dhabi, to provide him an opportunity to become a coveted champ-champ should the need arise.
Beneil Dariush Questions Alexander Volkanovski
It has been since revealed that regardless of the outcome of the UFC 280 main event, Volkanovski would be fighting for the lightweight title in his next outing. This is something that Beneil Dariush is not entirely happy about.
Speaking to Submission Radio, the number 6 ranked lightweight contender explained that he understands that Volkanovski has every intention to back up the promises he has made to defend both titles, should he win them. However, Dariush believes that is too difficult a task for anyone to reasonably do without backing up one or both divisions.
“My only thing with Volkanovski getting the title shot is, bro, having two belts sounds awesome but defending two belts is not the same thing. What I think would happen, is that it would stall both divisions, and that’s such a pain in the ass. We had Conor holding up the division for such a long time and now it’s going to be Volk?” Dariush said.
“I know he’s an active fighter, but it doesn’t matter how active you are… You would have to fight every three months in order to defend both belts twice a year. I’m sure he’s capable of it, but there’s these things called injuries, and getting burnt out. I don’t think he’s going to be able to pull that off. So if he really does want to come to 155, just move to ’55, if you win the belt, drop the ’45 belt.”
This is not an unreasonable take from Beneil Dariush, as nearly every champ-champ the UFC has had ended up giving up one of their titles at some point or another, with the only exception being Amanda Nunes, who reigns over two of the notoriously weaker divisions in the sport. Time will tell if Alexander Volkanovski is even able to capture a second title, much less need to think about defending it.
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