LAS VEGAS — [autotag]Scott Holtzman[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Beneil Dariush[/autotag] will be making a big mistake if he overlooks him.
Holtzman (14-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) faces Dariush (18-4-1 MMA, 12-4-1 UFC) Saturday at UFC on ESPN+ 32 and, while he may not be the ranked opponent Dariush was looking for, Holtzman still sees himself as a worthy adversary.
A winner of five of his past six outings, Holtzman is coming off a unanimous decision win over veteran Jim Miller in a “Fight of the Night” effort at UFC on ESPN+ 25 in February.
“I think we’ve seen it time and time again,” Holtzman told reporters at the UFC on ESPN+ 32 virtual media day Thursday. “You underestimate a guy, you go in there, you look past him, next thing you know you get beat. So he’s gotta face me man-to-man in there, he’s gotta get in there and pay the piper so I’m not worried about that one bit.
“It’s a fight, I’m confident in myself. He’s already been up in the rankings, he fell out and now he’s trying to climb back in, but I haven’t seen him beat any ranked opponents lately either, so it’s a good matchup.”
Dariush is known for his slick grappling skills, which he has used to finish the likes of Drew Dober and Frank Camacho in recent matchups. He’s also shown off his knockout power, most recently in a wild finish of Drakkar Klose at UFC 248, which earned Dariush his third-straight “Performance of the Night” bonus.
Dariush may be on an impressive run, but Holtzman said he’s identified sees holes in his opponent’s game, especially defensively, and he’ll look to exploit them when they stand and trade. And while Holtzman is wary of Dariush’s threat on the ground, he won’t back down if the fight ends up there.
“I don’t want to put on a pair of spats and grapple with him, that would be silly,” Holtzman said. “I don’t want to put on a wrestling singlet either, but there are some intangibles there in MMA, and I like my odds there. I like my takedown defense, I like my get-ups, but he’s no slouch on the ground. He’s a world champion, he’s got all these wins so it’d be silly for me to just want to grapple with him, but I’m not scared to go there. I’ve been there before, I’ve been taken down, I always get up. I’ve never been submitted, I work my way out, so I’m confident there.
“It’ll be a little bit of everything. From his last fight, he did have a big knockout, but what I saw was he was almost knocked out just before that, and a couple of mistakes from the other guy led to that knockout. So I see a lot of key takeaways that can help me (get) that knockout.”
UFC on ESPN+32 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.
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