In front of hundreds of the greatest professional fighters in history, inside a packed T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, UFC lightweight Beneil Dariush was honored on June 27 for his extraordinary community service.
He was named this year’s Forrest Griffin Community Award winner, an annual UFC Hall of Fame recognition given to a fighter who demonstrates exceptional volunteerism and charitable impact.
“I became interested in community service after I became a Christian, my focus was really just winning, fighting and winning,” Dariush said. “The more I spent time in church and then traveled, I started to see the world, I realized fighting is such a small thing and there’s so much more to this world.”
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In 2018, Dariush partnered with the Shlama Foundation to support Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac comunities in Iraq recovering from ISIS devastation. A black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai, he held meet-and-greet events and training sessions, donating a portion of the proceeds. Later, he was widely praised for using his first $50,000 fight bonus to fund two orphanages in Haiti through Promise Child Ministries.
“Charity has to be something that God leads you to,” he said in his acceptance speech. “It can’t be one of those things you just write off, you give the money to someone and you just forget about it. It’s got to be personal, you’ve got to have relationships, you’ve got to know who you’re working with. You’ve got to have accountability.”
The Forrest Griffin award — named after the UFC Hall of Famer — is personally selected by UFC President and CEO Dana White.
“Beneil does an incredible job giving back to his community,” White said in a statement. “Beneil sets a perfect example of how athletes should use their platforms to raise awareness for the charitable causes they care about the most while helping those who are less fortunate. It’s an honor to present him with this award.”
Born to Assyrian parents on a farm near Urmia, Iran, Dariush emigrated to the United States at age nine.
Today, he is one of the top lightweight mixed martial artists in the world, ranked seventh in the division as of May. He also teaches jiu-jitsu and self-defense at Kings MMA in Huntington Beach.
“Jiu-jitsu is one of the the best ways to really give confidence to the people who are being belittled,” he said. “My goal is to create a good culture where you will naturally get better.”
As part of the award, UFC donates $25,000 to the winner’s charity of choice. Dariush will direct the funds to Promise Child Ministries.