A 31-year-old UFC fighter looked like a video game come to life when he scored a brutal, spinning back-fist KO
- Beneil Dariush finished his "UFC Vegas 6" opponent Scott Holtzman with a spinning back-fist Saturday.
- The extraordinary move was inspired by his friend's young son, Billy, who messaged him on Instagram to say that he'd been doing it on a video game and that it worked really well.
- Dariush decided to use it in his 158-pound catchweight match, and it proved to be a winning strategy.
- Watch the first-round knockout below.
A 31-year-old UFC fighter looked like a video game come to life when he scored a brutal spinning back-fist KO, and it was a move he was told to use by his friend's son.
Beneil Dariush won in style in his "UFC Vegas 6" 158-pound catchweight match against Scott Holtzman behind-closed-doors at the UFC Apex on Saturday.
Dariush, an American-Iranian specialist in Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, was told before the fight by a young boy on Instagram to hit Holtzman with spinning back-fists.
The lightweight was unsure about taking advice from someone with no experience of fighting, let alone the UFC, mainly because his friend's son said he'd been trying the strikes out on a computer game.
But, regardless, Dariush did so anyway. And it is a strategy which proved to be a winning one.
Watch the move right here:
Or here if you're in a different region:
Explaining the back-fist knockout, Dariush said: "My friend's son, Billy, sent me a message on Instagram and he was like: 'Hey, you should try to knock him out with a spinning back fist. I've been playing the video game and in the game, you do it really well.'
"And I was like 'I'll think about it, buddy.' He goes: 'Try it two times. If it doesn't work, it's ok.'
"And here we are, so, Bill, I love you buddy. I do it a lot in training, I used to do the spinning back kick a lot, but then again, I was wild.
"As you get older, you try to clean things up. If you watch the beginning of the fight, I'm trying to be sharp with my boxing, hands up, don't drop your hands, slip, counter … don't get wild."
With Saturday's win, Dariush advanced his record to 19 wins (five knockouts, eight submissions, and six decisions) against four losses.
But though he's now had 24 matches, many of those in the UFC, he remains scared of fighting.
"Another thing is they always say is supposed to get easier with each fight," Dariush said. "It's not getting easier for me. I'm literally terrified before the fight.
"On my way, the song I listen to is a worship song because it allows me to just forget everything and walk in that octagon and walk with God.
"Just forget about the fight, because when I fight, it just happens. I don't even think about fighting. I can fight at any minute. It's like nature, like a second language, you just do it."
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