Beneil Dariush says there’s nothing great about him, but in his UFC debut, he seemed to prove otherwise.

Dariush took a short-noticed fight against veteran Charlie Brenneman in January and wound up pulling off a quick first-round submission at UFC Fight Night 35 in Georgia.

Next up, Dariush (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will get another solid test when he meets Ramsey Nijem (8-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 39 next week in Abu Dhabi.

A win over Nijem, the “TUF 13” runner-up, would do a lot to counter some of what Dariush thinks about himself.

“I’m not special in any way. The only talent I have is working hard,” Dariush told MMAjunkie.

For Nijem, he’s preparing with that hard work in mind, naturally.

“I’ve watched tape on him, and Ramsey’s getting better at everything – and that’s a dangerous guy,” he said. “He’s improving in every aspect of the game. So that’s something in my mind. Part of my strategy is to go in there and expect the unexpected because I know this guy is improving.”

Hear what else the Kings MMA-trained Dariush had to say about his fight against Nijem and his beginnings in the sport in the video above.

Then don’t miss UFC Fight Night 39 next Friday on UFC Fight Pass.

For more on UFC Fight Night 39, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.