The UFC’s 155 pound division is certainly in the running as one of the deeper divisions in MMA, even discounting the top-talent tied up in other promotions (such as ACA), but it stands even further away from the field in terms of raw danger; while a division like featherweight might be slightly more rigorous in terms of entrance to the top-10, a low-firepower technician like Renato Moicano would be a massive anomaly as an elite presence in today’s lightweight. That sort of fighter isn’t far from the top of 155 in terms of skill, but while Moicano might be more equipped technically than someone like Paul Felder, the chances of him surviving a bout like Felder/Barboza 2 are drastically lower; similar to middleweight, the elite-tier of lightweight is defined just as much by overwhelming athleticism as it is by skill, and those with realistic aspirations to reach the top require both in massive measure.

This situation has created a tier of terrific fighters who are never in position to get their due, as they might not even ever enter the top-10; the public generally gauges the value of a win by the ranking of the loser, but a division like lightweight skews that considerably, as beating an unranked-155er like Bobby Green or David Teymur is at least as difficult as some ranked wins at weaker divisions. They're just of zero value to the public, purely because lightweight is uniquely unforgiving enough to keep them on the fringes.

Beneil Dariush isn’t just one of those fighters, but a man who has built a legacy (among keener followers of the sport, at least) beating that sort of fighter; some of his wins have appreciated and become more than what they were, but for the most part, Dariush has constructed a list of Ws where the difficulty far outpaced the name value.

This can seem like a bit of a backhanded compliment, a slightly softer way to frame having a clear ceiling, but in Dariush's case, it should be interpreted as the opposite; he was never in position to be an athletic powerhouse, but has become a fighter so genuinely great that he almost reached actual contention in a division where that's almost impossible. A number of lightweights (all differently-skilled and many with a higher athletic ceiling) simply couldn't deal with the wily southpaw, even if he was insurmountably outgunned at points. Dariush has essentially built the quietest all-timer resume to ever exist, right under everyone's noses, with his skills and wits his only aid.

A King of Kings

From the beginning of his UFC career, Dariush was aligned with Kings MMA, and his delevopment from-the-ground-up at that camp has been very clear; Rafael Cordeiro tends to create a fairly particular sort of striker out of grapplers, and Beneil checks most of those boxes. Dariush's essential process was most clear in his short bout against James Vick; while Vick went on a steep decline after his short time in the sun as a contender (including a win over the great Francisco Trinaldo), Dariush was the one who took his professional 0, and the way he did it couldn't have been more evocative of the classical Cordeiro model.