I have a hard time seeing this fight being competitive because of how their styles clash. Both are very good fighters, but either Johnson pieces him up on the feet and uses his footwork and positioning to avoid the TDs. Or Johnson might get too tentative worried about getting taken down and backed to the cage (though he can box off the back-foot and the Tibau fight was a showcase for his TDD), or Dariush gets it to the mat and likely finishes the fight. Dariush doesn't react well to pressure despite being a pressure fighter himself, gets on his back-foot but has no craft there, covers up, or tries for a clinch. He doesn't have the durability or reacts to strikes as well as the other Cordeiro fighters like RDA or Werdum, nor their footwork or RDA's positioning, and he would likely get knocked out if he stayed in the pocket with Johnson who was some of the best work there in MMA.
But Blackzilians are really vulnerable to things like RNCs because of how they let their back get taken when they try to get back to their feet. And Dariush is the best grappler Johnson will have faced by a margin, imo. He has crafty wrestling and a cerebral approach to getting TDs mixing with his grappling. And his grappling is at a very high level, could legit compete at ADCC or Metamoris, dude gave Kron Gracie a tough match a couple years ago (swept him and Kron couldn't pass his guard). He was dancing in Ferreira's guard and dominated Jim Miller on the ground for the most part as well. But Dariush is inferior physically in almost every department. It's an interesting match-up because one guy's strength is the other guy's exact glaring weakness and vice-versa.
