Iranian-Born MMA Fighter Doubles Down On Gospel-Fuelled Call For a Free Iran
Iranian-born MMA fighter Beneil Dariush sparks renewed interest after resurfacing 2022 comments expressing solidarity with Iranians fighting for freedom and sharing his Christian faith.
2022 comments from mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Beneil Dariush are resurfacing thanks to fresh support for a free Iran.
After defeating Pole Mateusz Gamrot in Abu Dhabi, Dariush spoke to victims caught up in Iran’s Islamic slaughter of dissidents.
Dariush gave full credit to God for freedom, telling Iranians that no one could rob them of their liberty, because God has secured our freedoms in Christ.
A Message of Freedom for Iran
Iranian-born American Dariush declared,
“My people in Iran, I know you’re struggling. I know you’re fighting for freedom. I know it’s a tough struggle.”
“I want you guys to know we’re praying for you and we love you.
“Let me tell you one more thing. This might be the most important thing you’ll ever hear.
“There is true freedom. A freedom that no one can take from you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Don’t ever forget that.
“If you remember one thing I say, remember that.”
Faith Over Fear
True enough, Dariush’s remarks are dated.
However, the five-times MMA knockout winner reshared them on X via Tommy Robinson in January.
This strongly suggests the MMA Assyrian Christian hasn’t retreated.
Neither has he retracted the 2022 morale booster for those suffering under the thumb of Iran’s bloodthirsty Islamist regime.
Expressing solidarity with the persecuted in Iran through Instagram, Dariush said he “hoped the revolution is successful,” adding that he also “hoped the new leader will be a person of high morals, integrity, and God-fearing.”
He then ended this with a quote from Amos 5:24,
“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24, ESV)
At the time, Dariush said,
Overall, “the body of Christ has been really supportive.”
With regards to the “Muslim community their pushback has been either very harsh, or it’s been like, hey, you know, we understand. We just don’t agree with the son of God part.”
Then there’s the “silence from the rest of the world or just kind of a disdain.”
“I consider myself an American. I’ve spent most of my life here. I’ve had freedoms here that I didn’t have in Iran, and I’ve been able to use that,” he stated.
“Those are my people back there,” Dariush said.
“I still have family in Iran, and it’s just not them in general. I want to recognise their suffering and want to love on them.
“In Iran, the way my parents would explain it, they didn’t have freedom.”
Liberty is such a “privilege because it’s not normal. Freedom doesn’t happen all over the world,” he continued.
“I recognise the privilege, and I am very grateful for it.”
Love Thy Opponent
On the burden Dariush feels for a free Iran, he “puts himself in somebody else’s shoes because the Lord says to love God with all your heart and then love your neighbour.”
“If I can’t do that, if I can’t love my neighbour, then how do I expect him to love me?”
While being an MMA fighter might seem to contradict his faith, Dariush explained that becoming a Christian changed his perspective on the sport.
Before Christ, he would utilise hate to fuel joy in breaking his opponents.
Now Dariush says he applies the same made-in-the-image-of-God view of his opponents as he does about Iranians living under the shadows of Islam.
“I have to just recognise that I’m on the battlefield and the same people I’m battling I’m supposed to love.”
Stated simply, he no longer sees his opponents as a piñata.
He sees a person who “probably has a family just like you do, trying to support them, trying to make a life for himself.”
Fighting for an Audience of One
Commenting on what brought him to God, Dariush recalled being drawn in by Jesus.
“When you read the scriptures and see that He didn’t have that brokenness. [He didn’t have] all the things that I have that I know are wrong.”
Quoting 1 John 4:18, he shared,
“On top of that, Jesus was willing to give up His life for us. He gives up everything for me.
“His perfect love casts out all fear. His perfect love casts out the brokenness in me.”
Asked how he resolves being in the MMA with Matthew 5:38-40 — “turn the other cheek” — Dariush said, “We have to be servants. I’m a leader, but I’m a servant in my house.”
“I understand what it means to turn the other cheek. And when the time is right, you just have to know the difference.”
“We do what God tells us to do,” he added.
“So, if I have to serve and turn the other cheek, I will. If I have to be a savage, I’ll be a savage.
“I’m constantly in battle.
“The Lord told me to make disciples. So that’s what I plan on doing. And after I’m done fighting, I plan on being a missionary, Lord willing.”
Dariush finished the 2022 interview by saying, “Even though I do fight for my family, I always put the Lord first.”
Ultimately, he said, “I fought for an audience of one.”
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Every night I pray that Iran becomes free again. The Shah wanted to nationalise foreign oil producers inside Iran , so, the Islamic Revolution was engineered with UK, CIA and French and Russian Communist assistance. The World has lived for years , and, continues to live today with that policy of Western Greed which has sponsored wars in the Middle East , murdered its own people and destabilised the World. . Many people are living double lives in Muslim countries –going to the mosque to mouth the words which mean nothing to them, while secretly being Atheists, or Christians or some other faith. They risk their lives . Their “crime” is a desire for freedom –, especially freedom of conscience. No one should be forced to be any religion or to vote in a particular way. While Islam is dying in the Middle East, enclaves of radicals have been deliberately planted in not just Western Europe, but, in USA, Canada, UK , New Zealand and Australia ready for the moment to take over our countries and impose Sharia Law. Eastern Europe which has experienced Islam wants no Muslim Migrants.
A Christian MMA fighter who pummels opponents heads in knocking them out and killing their brain cells!
A cage fighter like the ungodly colosseum fighters of the godless Roman empire of blood sports.
Monkey see monkey do is the old saying.
Back before MMA people who usually got into fights in the streets stopped when the opponent hit the deck. It was rare they carried on attacking them on the ground. It pretty much was like a boxing match where they stopped when they hit the deck. Now we have MMA where they often see the opponent hitting the deck like the dinner bell and ramp it up beating them to a pulp whilst defenceless. They use elbows to smash their heads, knees, kicks to the head.
That is not and never will be the action of any follower of Jesus. The youth today are brought up on this thug violence as entertainment and emulate it in their own lives. This is why you see them attacking defenceless victims on the ground any way they can, just like their violent idols in MMA. Some erroneously use the Bible verse where Paul refences boxers, but Paul used that reference to people where he was as a metaphor, not as a green light to violence. Where he was they did for sports many things and this was one of the popular ones so he used it. He wasn’t condoning violence nor recommending it. He referenced something they would understand, that’s all it was. Does anyone think Paul or any of the others would seriously condone violence in any form other than protection!? Does anyone really think Jesus would?
Does anyone really think Jesus would be happy to see you pummeling another person’s head and face in causing serious gashes where blood spurts out and killing their brain cells as entertainment? I actually yesterday listened to a conversation of a lady talking to another whilst I was in a waiting room. Her sister was an MMA fighter here in Victoria and is why im writing these comments. She now has brain damage as a result and in this own womans words “is now loopy”. That’s the reality of this gross and godless blood sport.