Beneil Dariush has reached the point in his career every fighter must face. After 12 years under the UFC’s banner and nearly a decade fighting the best lightweights on the planet, the veteran is openly admitting he doesn’t know how many chapters are left. That’s the reality of a 36-year-old who’s been through wars and is now staring down the cost of them.

Dariush has gone 17–7–1 in the UFC since debuting in 2014. He’s shared the Octagon with names like Charles Oliveira, Tony Ferguson, and the new wave of killers at 155 lbs. But the last stretch has been rough. He’s dropped three of his past four, all by first-round knockout. The most recent one? Sixteen seconds against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 322, the sixth-fastest KO in lightweight history. When losses start piling up that fast, questions about the future come quickly.

Speaking to RealMMAToday, Dariush didn’t duck the reality of it. He said, “The truth is man, I’ve been in the UFC for 12 years and that’s where I’m at. I just, I just take it one fight at a time. My next fight could be the last one. I honestly don’t know.”

That’s not a retirement speech. It’s a guy being honest about where he’s at. He made it clear he isn’t rushing anything, saying he’s still “preparing very hard and trying to do my best.” But he also admitted he’s thinking about what comes next. “I’m excited for the future, whether I’m fighting or coaching or whatever, I still plan on being part of MMA.”

Against Saint Denis at Madison Square Garden, the veteran ate a left hand over the top and was face-first on the canvas before the crowd could even get loud. One more punch and it was done. He also missed weight that week, coming in at 157.2 pounds, and then paid a 20 percent fine. None of that screams retirement when you look at it individually. But together, it paints a picture of a tough stretch at the worst possible time.

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With seven losses by finish on his record and three quick stoppages in his last four fights, the margin for error is thin. Lightweight isn’t slowing down. It’s getting faster, younger, and more ruthless. So, could a move up to welterweight be the answer at this stage in his career?

Beneil Dariush shows interest in a move up to welterweight

The weight cut might be the quiet villain in this story, and Beneil Dariush is finally saying that part out loud. After the Saint-Denis loss at UFC 322, he didn’t just look at the punch that finished him in 16 seconds. He looked at everything that came before it, including the scale.

That was his second weight miss in the UFC, and for a 36-year-old who’s already taken damage, it forced an uncomfortable question: is 155 still worth it? Speaking to Submission Radio, Dariush admitted, “I was thinking to myself, ‘Maybe I’m going to move to 170.”

Then he walked through the numbers that made him pause. After getting a DEXA scan, he found himself at “185, 186 at 10% body fat,” which, in his words, means he’s got “like 19 pounds of fat to lose.” That’s the kind of math that makes any fighter rethink a brutal cut. After all, he acknowledged that getting to a low-fat percentage spikes injury risks.

There’s also the punch-resistance angle. Dariush openly wondered if the drain to 155 played a role in how his chin held up against Saint Denis. He didn’t frame it as an excuse, more like a red flag he can’t ignore anymore. “I’m just going through the process to see if 155 is reasonable for me,” he explained, adding that he’s already reached out to the UFC to do more testing on their end.

This is the tightrope Beneil Dariush is walking right now. Stay at 155 and keep gambling with brutal cuts against a division that only seems to get faster. Or change the equation, move up, and see if a healthier version of himself buys him a few more meaningful fights before walking away. Neither option comes with guarantees, and that’s the uncomfortable truth in the fight game.