Beneil Dariush Reveals Gaethje’s Path to Victory Against Topuria

Beneil Dariush believes Justin Gaethje’s best chance against Ilia Topuria is to drag the fight into chaos.

Gaethje (27-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC), the interim lightweight champion, is set to face undefeated lightweight king Ilia Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) in a title unification bout that will headline UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 in Washington.

Although Topuria enters the matchup as a heavy favorite after knockout wins over Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira, Dariush thinks Gaethje’s awkward and unpredictable style could make the fight far more competitive than many expect.

“Justin needs to make it ugly because he's able to do that,” Dariush told MMA Junkie. “When he fought Dustin Poirier, Dustin has very good boxing. It visually looks very good, and Justin Gaethje was somehow able to make it look ugly. So I think he needs to do that. He needs to get in there and make it look ugly.

“Everybody he fights – Michael Johnson has beautiful striking and then when he fought Justin Gaethje, it looked messy. I think Justin needs to create what he calls car crashes. I think he needs to create a bunch of car crashes, make it as messy as possible, and as awkward as possible.”

Gaethje showed that exact style in his most recent fight against Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 in January. “The Highlight” dropped Pimblett twice on his way to a dominant decision victory, handing him the first loss of his UFC career.