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Beneil Dariush is the 2024 Forrest Griffin Community Award winner.
Given out annually as part of the International Fight Week honors, the Forrest Griffin Community Award is personally selected by UFC CEO Dana White and recognizes fighters for their charitable efforts. On Saturday, UFC announced Dariush as the 2024 recipient for his work with the Shlama Foundation and Promise Child Ministries.
“Beneil does an incredible job giving back to his community,” White said in a press release. “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.”
Per its website, the Shlama Foundation is a non-government organization that funds “humanitarian aid and community projects that will promote the survival and prosperity of the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac people in their ancestral homeland.” An Assyrian American, Dariush began working with the organization in 2018 to raise funds and awareness about its mission. Also a devout Christian, Dariush started working with Promise Child Ministries in 2019, using Performance Bonus checks to fund orphanages in Haiti.
Dariush reacted to the announcement in his traditional humble fashion.
“Thank you UFC [and] Dana White. I’m humbled and honored to receive this. Praise the lord!”
Started in 2020, Dariush is the fifth winner of the Forrest Griffin Community Award, following in the footsteps of Dustin Poirier, Max Holloway, Giga Chikadze, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and his brother Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. He will be honored during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony on June 27 in Las Vegas, and receives a $25,000 donation to the charity of his choice.
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