Beneil Dariush Brands Charles Oliveira a ‘Hypocrite’ for Chasing a Money Fight Against Conor McGregor
The lightweight division is without a champion at the moment. While most fans and pundits recognize Charles Oliveira as the champion, officially, on paper he is not the champion of the 155-pound division in the UFC after missing weight in his most recent title defense against Justin Gaethje.
Following an impressive win over ‘The Highlight’ Oliveira called out Conor McGregor for a fight. This has not sat well with the likes of Islam Makhachev and Beneil Dariush, who believe they have a rightful shot at the UFC title.
Needless to say, there is no shortage of opponents at lightweight for Oliveira. In the post-fight interview Dana White stated that he would most likely book Oliveira for a fight against Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi later this year.
Beneil Dariush brands Charles Oliveira a ‘hypocrite’
In a recent interview, top lightweight Beneil Dariush slammed the champion Oliveira for chasing a money fight against Conor McGregor instead of defending his belt against a legitimate top contender. He said, “He’s talking about wanting to fight Conor, and he talks about how these guys never gave him a shot when he was outside the top five, blah, blah, blah. We were supposed to fight October of 2020. I have a fight contract, I can post a picture of it. I was supposed to fight Charles, and he pulled out of the fight, and then a couple months later, instead of fighting me, he fought Tony Ferguson. He said something about family issues and I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, he didn’t fight me, I can’t believe it.’ Family comes first, I understand that. But the same thing people did to him, he’s doing to me.”
Dariush continued, “He was supposed to fight me, bailed, ran and fought Tony Ferguson. Now, instead of fighting actual contenders, he wants to go fight Conor? He wants to go fight Nate Diaz? This is hypocritical. This is the only thing that’s bothering me. I understand the media has their thing, the UFC has their part, but for him to be chasing a unicorn, it’s super frustrating,” he said. “There’s two clear contenders in front of you, and you’re trying to chase a unicorn. No one knows when Conor is going to fight again. The guy might not even fight this year. Make it make sense. It just doesn’t make sense.”
