Struggling Beneil Dariush considers Welterweight move after latest knockout loss

It’s been a rough couple years for Beneil Dariush.

Back in 2023, the Lightweight contender was riding an eight-fight win streak that saw him knocking on the doors of an Islam Makhachev title shot. Instead, he fought Charles Oliveira in a title eliminator matchup and lost via first-round knockout (watch here). It’s been mostly downhill since then, as a decision win over Renato Moicano is sandwiched between further knockout losses to Arman Tsarukyan and Benoit Saint-Denis.

The Saint-Denis defeat came recently at UFC 322 and also saw Dariush miss weight for the second time in his UFC career. Given the weight miss and losses in three of his last four fights, Dariush recently Submission Radio that he’s now considering a move to 170-pounds. Dariush believes the cut may have been the reason he “wasn’t able to take a punch,” which resulted in the 16-second “BSD” defeat.

“I was thinking to myself, ‘Maybe I’m going to move to 170,’” He explained (via Sherdog) “… I did some testing here and I did what’s called a DEXA scan. Basically I was at 185, 186 at 10% body fat. Which means I have like 19 pounds of fat to lose. Getting to zero is kind of dangerous — injuries become very common. I’m just going through the process to see if 155 is reasonable for me. I got the info from them and then I reached out to the UFC, so I’m going to go there this week and do some testing over there. Just to make sure.”

Recently, Dariush was linked to a potential bout opposite surging Lightweight prospect Quillan Salkilld for UFC 325, which is scheduled for January 31, 2026. Since then, the potential bout has been delayed due to Dariush’s recent loss and related suspensions, but it could be canned outright if Dariush opts to try his hand at Welterweight.

If the 36-year-old veteran commits to a new weight class, who should he face first?