Dariush Puts Coaching Ahead of Any Fighting Return

Beneil Dariush says he has no plans to fight right now. He has not announced a retirement, and what he does have is a gym full of fighters and a job as their head coach.

The door left ajar

"If I feel like it, maybe next year," Dariush said. He added that he is not jumping back in soon unless something big happens.

He is 37 and turns 38 in May. His record stands at 23-8-1, and 17-8-1 of that came in the UFC, where he debuted in 2014. If this is the end, that is the line he leaves behind.

His last fight was a TKO loss to Quillan Salkilld. It was his second defeat in a row. Before it, he had hinted it might be his final bout, but said he wanted to see how it went.

Grappling is the exception he mentions

Dariush brought up calls he has received for grappling. He named RAF and said it looks fun. He also said he would like to wrestle.

Part of the appeal is the people on the mat. He pointed out that some competitors get to face Jordan Burroughs, and that you share the mat with Olympians. He said he loves that part.

Still, coaching comes first. In his words, his goal is coaching, and if the timing does not mix with it, he will not even grapple.

From training partners to a team

The coaching job was not planned. Dariush said it was not something he wanted to do. His coach Rafael Cordeiro went over to Tyson's, and many of the fighters began showing up at Dariush's gym. He first saw them as training partners. The relationship slowly turned into coaching. He went from cornering one or two people to working with 20 to 25.

He will be chief corner for Uros Medic at Medic's upcoming fight. He also helps coach Kelvin Gastelum, Marvin Vettori and other UFC fighters. He said he has a few fighters in the UFC, while many others are coming up. He has people on his schedule in November and again in December.

The hardest part, he said, is dealing with personalities. What he would say to one person does not work as well for another. He noted that people saw this with Vettori, and that he would not handle most of the others the same way.

Our view

Dariush talks like someone who has already ranked his priorities. Coaching is first, and fighting is a maybe. What could shift that is a large UFC offer or a grappling event, though he mentioned a grappling offer from RAF as something that looks fun. His November and December commitments with his fighters will show how much room his week leaves for his own training.

Source: BJPenn.com