COUNT ME IN SAYS BENEIL

THE numbers are finally adding up for Iranian-born American Beneil Dariush, who tackles Russian Rashid Magomedov at UFC Fight Night 98 in Mexico City a week on Saturday.

But his present Octagon occupation is a far cry from his college days where he was on course to become an accountant. Dariush (below) said: “I was at college where my focus was on a career in accountancy and the studying was going really well.

“While I was there, I tried jiu-jitsu as a hobby to keep me in shape and things suddenly started changing and I was doing less school studying and more training.

“It started as a hobby but then it took over and it then seemed a natural thing for me to move into the world of MMA.”

He made a successful UFC debut in January 2014 with a victory over Charlie Brenneman and now has a record of 7-2.

Dariush, 27, goes into the Magomedov fight on the back of a stunning first round KO of James Vick in June.

But Magomedov, 32, is on a 12-fight winning streak.

Dariush said: “I need to make sure that I go out there and use all of my skillsets like striking, wrestling and jiu-jitsu.

“In all honestly, I don’t feel uncomfortable in any aspect of it all and I am more than ready for this latest challenge. “I love fighting tough guys. My last opponent was 5-0 in the UFC and Rashid is also unbeaten in it.

“As long as they keep giving me tough guys like this, I don’t really care. I just want to fight the best guys in the world and.”