UFC lightweight contender Beneil Dariush has admitted that he "feels for" Conor McGregor as the Irishman continues his road to recovery from a broken leg.
By the time the Irishman steps back into the cage, even for a sparring session, he will have been out of competition for over a year after suffering a gruesome injury against Dustin Poirier last summer. And despite previously mocking Dariush, who is ranked No.6 in the lightweight division, the Iranian-born fighter has expressed his sympathy for his rival.
McGregor called Dariush "the biggest nobody" in the UFC, which prompted major backlash on social media for the Irishman, who deleted the tweet. But Dariush insists that he did not even see the tweet, as he spends very little time on Twitter or Instagram.
"To be honest with you, I feel for the guy," Dariush said of McGregor during an appearance on UFC Unfiltered. "Because, man, he’s been fighting the last couple of years and it hasn’t been going so well. If I was in his position it would be horrible.
"Because the thing that makes you who you are is fighting. That’s who he is, you can see it in the way he speaks, the way he talks. It’s got to be hard for him to not be doing well right now and on top of that, to break his leg and be out for so long.
"Then, you have to imagine, he’s surrounded by so many people that are new, who showed up after he got famous. I got the same five, seven, 10 people that I had before I was even in the UFC. If I was to put myself in his shoes, he’s gotta be feeling like c**p all the time because he doesn’t know what’s going on."
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After McGregor's tweet about Dariush, top middleweight Marvin Vettori took aim at the Irishman in defence of his pal. Vettori tweeted: "What a b****. You couldn’t last two minutes with Beneil and that’s just a fact. You are s***bag, I hope to see you soon."
And Dariush joked that everybody needs a friend who will defend them like Vettori, adding: "I don’t go on social media, I don’t go back and forth, but I was telling all my friends: find yourself somebody who will protect you like Marvin protects me on Twitter. What a guy. Marvin was so fired up. He calls me and he’s like 'this f***ing guy, blah, blah, blah,’ I’m like, ‘Marvin, relax bro, it’s Twitter.'
"The weird thing is, what the heck? Where did that come from? What did I do to that guy? I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned his name outside of like, when people ask me about him. I’ll just take the fact that he deleted it as a form of apology."
