Over seven years after his most recent flyweight title shot, Joseph Benavidez will contend for the belt once again at UFC on ESPN+ 27.
LAS VEGAS – When [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag] takes on Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC on ESPN+ 27, it’ll be the third time the perennial contender has challenged for the promotion’s flyweight title.
In September 2012 at UFC 152, Benavidez squared off against Demetrious Johnson in the promotion’s inaugural 125-pound title fight. That night in Toronto, Benavidez dropped a split decision.
Fifteen months later, Benavidez took on Johnson once again for UFC gold. Johnson knocked out the then-Team Alpha Male member in Sacramento just 2:08 into the opening round.
More than seven years down the road, Benavidez (28-5 MMA, 15-3 UFC) is still right near the top. On Feb. 29, he’ll contend for a UFC title for the third time against Figueiredo (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) in a matchup for the vacant championship.
How has “Joe Jitsu” managed to stay relevant so long? Saturday, Benavidez was a guest fighter at UFC 246 at T-Mobile Arena. He spoke to reporters backstage during the event and attributed his success to two factors: luck and gratitude.
“Honestly, (I’ve had) a lot of luck,” Benavidez said. “I think everything is luck. Just the fact that one person can do this and another person can do that, it’s easy to say, ‘I was able to do this or do that or worked hard.’ That’s not a recipe, you’re just lucky along the way.”
[lawrence-related id=477400,472823]
Through luck, Benavidez has found gratitude. Waking up every morning next to his wife, getting into a nice car, and driving to a world-class training facility isn’t something Benavidez takes for granted.
“My main source of longevity is gratitude, because I honestly feel lucky every day to do this,” Benavidez said. “At the end of the day, you’re just like, ‘I’m so lucky to do this.’ When you feel lucky for something, you really want to hold onto it.
“In fighting, it obviously takes inspiration. You need that inspiration every day. Sometimes you lose it if it’s just like, ‘I had a bad childhood.’ You can only be motivated by that for so long. ‘My dad was an (expletive).’ You can only be motivated by that for so long. For me, I find a new motivation with the gratitude every day.”
UFC on ESPN+ 27 takes place Feb. 29 at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Va. The card will stream on ESPN+.
To hear more from Benavidez, check out his full UFC 246 media scum above.
The UFC returns to Virginia with a fight for the vacant flyweight title between Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo.
The UFC returns to Norfolk, Va. on Feb. 29 with a vacant flyweight title fight between No. 1 contender [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag] and [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag].
After UFC current bantamweight and former flyweight champion Henry Cejudo relinquished the 125-pound title, a fight between Benavidez (28-5 MMA, 15-3 UFC) and Figueiredo (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) was set to crown a new flyweight champ.
Benavidez has won three in a row and is coming off a “Performance of the Night” finish over Jussier Formiga. He has been on standby for a title shot ever since, and will finally get his third crack at UFC flyweight gold. Benavidez twice lost to former champion Demetrious Johnson, most recently in 2013.
Figueiredo is coming off back-to-back wins over Alexandre Pantoja and Tim Elliott, and only has one career blemish. Fourteen of the Brazilian’s 17 pro wins have come by the way of finish.
[lawrence-related id=475329,472462,471944]
Tickets for UFC on ESPN+ 27 are on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. ET through chartwayarena.com. There is an eight-ticket limit. Ticket prices have not been announced.
UFC Fight Club members can purchase tickets Wednesday via ufcfightclub.com beginning at 10 a.m. ET. UFC e-newsletter subscribers can purchase tickets Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
UFC on ESPN+ 27 takes place Feb. 29 at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Va. The card will stream on ESPN+.
The UFC on ESPN+ 27 lineup currently includes:
Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueiredo – for vacant flyweight title
Having already beaten Henry Cejudo, Joseph Benavidez is not bothered that he won’t be facing him for the title.
Winning the UFC flyweight title will have the same value for [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag] whether it’s against [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] or not.
After Cejudo vacated his 125-pound title, Benavidez (28-5 MMA, 15-3 UFC) will now take on Deiveson Figueiredo (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) for the vacant flyweight title at UFC on ESPN+ 27, which streams live on Feb. 29 at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Va.
The matchup with Figueiredo may not generate the same pre-fight buzz as a fight with former double-champ Cejudo (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC), but the goal remains the same for Benavidez, he said.
That’s because he already holds a win over current UFC bantamweight champ Cejudo, when the two met at the The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale back in 2016, where Benavidez edged him out via split decision.
[lawrence-related id=474743,472860]
“It’s almost like an undisputed or whatever because I already beat Cejudo,” Benavidez said on the latest “UFC Unfiltered” podcast. “Figueiredo is challenging me, whatever you want to look at it. Basically, a title is a title. The goal wasn’t to beat a certain person, it was to win a title, and that’s happening. This one, I think in any other, like, way this could have happened, you could ask these questions, that it could be but, having already beat Cejudo, who vacated it, at the end of the day, he’s the one not putting up a fight, not trying to avenge the loss.”
Cejudo never seemed too keen on avenging his loss to Benavidez and has instead been focused on defending his 135-pound strap, calling out the likes of former champions Jose Aldo and Dominick Cruz.
So with Cejudo now relinquishing the flyweight belt, Benavidez doesn’t see it as a lost opportunity.
“Like I said, the title’s the title,” Benavidez said. “I already beat the guy that has it now. The way I look at it is he gave it up without even a fight.”
The past decade has proven incredibly intriguing for the sport of mixed martial arts, and these moments explain why.
The past decade has proven incredibly intriguing for the sport of mixed martial arts.
While organizations continue to come and go across the global scene, the UFC remains the dominant brand, but the changes even the sport’s leading promotion has undergone over the 10-year span stand testament to how much the landscape continues to evolve.
In 2011, the UFC was still partnered with Spike TV for its U.S. broadcast deal, and prelim broadcasts bounced around between the likes of Facebook, Ion Television and UFC.com – if they aired at all.
The entirety of the UFC’s next broadcast deal, which saw the promotion move to network television courtesy of FOX, ran its course during the decade. And as the 10-year span closed, the UFC signed on with ESPN, one of the most recognized brands in sports and a leading digital distributor in the space.
And that’s without even speaking of what happened in the cage.
[lawrence-related id=475134,475128]
The decade started with the UFC hosting fights in five different weight classes. Ten years later, that number has grown to 12. Promotional stalwarts such as [autotag]Anderson Silva[/autotag] and [autotag]Georges St-Pierre[/autotag] gave way to names like [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] and [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag]. Women stepped into the octagon for the first time, and new markets around the globe were visited.
We could probably list 20 of the biggest moments from each year along the way, but you don’t have time for that, so here’s a sampling of 20 defining moments from 2010 through 2019.
Without further ado …
****
July 3, 2010: Brock Lesnar defeats Shane Carwin at UFC 116
Whether it’s boxing or MMA, there’s just something special about a heavyweight title fight. In MMA, you don’t get much heavier than [autotag]Brock Lesnar[/autotag] and Shane Carwin. Say what you will about the WWE star’s skills as a martial artist, the man moves the needle, and this was the absolute peak of his popularity, with Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena absolutely buzzing for this battle of behemoths.
After a tense opening minute, Carwin hurt Lesnar and sent him toppling to the canvas, seemingly destined to wrap the belt around his waist. But Lesnar was able to stay just busy enough for referee Josh Rosenthal, somehow lasting until the bell. Carwin was clearly gassed, and Lesnar capitalized on it in the second, taking his opponent to the floor and cinching in an arm-triangle choke, scoring the submission win and adding to his legend – though it would be the last time he ever proved victorious in the octagon.
Aug. 7, 2010: Anderson Silva defeats Chael Sonnen at UFC 117
Every great fighter needs a rival to be pushed to the limit, and for longtime UFC middleweight champion and future Hall of Famer Anderson Silva, that man was very clearly [autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag], who in just four UFC appearances – and some 13 years into his professional career – went from relative journeyman to absolute star through an incredible ability to promote fights through his quick with and sharp tongue. Sure, it was his wrestling that helped propel him to victories in the cage, but it was his mouth that made him a star.
Sonnen went hard on Silva, bordering, at times, on a line of indecency, as he helped first to book the fight, then to promote it. Still, few thought he had a real chance to unseat the reigning pound-for-pound great. Then the unthinkable happened: Sonnen’s aggression saw him walk forward and take Silva down, time after time for four-and-a-half rounds. Then the really unthinkable happened, and Silva pulled off one of the most miraculous comebacks in UFC history with a fifth-round triangle armbar. The fight was one of the biggest of the year and made stars of both men.
Oct. 28, 2010: Dana White announces UFC-WEC merger
Old school fans will tell you all about the fantastic fights that took place on the blue canvas of the WEC, both before and after the promotion was purchased by the UFC’s parent company in December 2006. But running a secondary MMA brand proved to be only so effective. The real value of the company came when UFC president Dana White announced the brands would be merged, adding both the featherweight and bantamweight divisions to the UFC ranks.
Of course, this would later open the door to the addition of flyweights, as well. But the initial run saw [autotag]Jose Aldo[/autotag] crowned the UFC’s first featherweight champion, while [autotag]Dominick Cruz[/autotag] earned the first UFC bantamweight belt. Both remain marketable commodities to this day. So do names like [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag], [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag], [autotag]Urijah Faber[/autotag], Chan Sung Jung, Ricardo Lamas, Anthony Pettis, Dustin Poirier, and Cub Swanson, who all came over as part of a massive talent migration to the UFC.
Feb. 5, 2011: Anderson Silva defeats Vitor Belfort at UFC 126
It’s a highlight that is still played ad nauseam, and it isn’t likely to disappear anytime soon. Anderson Silva’s front-kick-to-the-face knockout of [autotag]Vitor Belfort[/autotag] was one of the most stunning finishes in UFC history, and it had lasting ramifications. First, while front kicks had largely been used as pushing strikes and range setters, Silva showed what an effective concussive blow it could be. But the impact on the global MMA scene was massive as well.
This bout is largely recognized as the moment MMA gained modern mainstream notoriety in Brazil, one of the UFC’s biggest markets in terms of financial revenue, as well as talent creation. Consider this: Prior to this fight, the UFC had held one event in Brazil, a 1998 card that marked the organization’s only visit to South America until the octagon returned to Brazil six months after UFC 126. In the time since Silva’s iconic KO, Brazil has hosted 35 UFC cards, with the promotion also visiting Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
March 12, 2011: UFC purchases Strikeforce
While the UFC has been the dominant name in MMA since the promotion’s launch in 1993, Strikeforce had acquired an impressive amount of talent despite operating on a much tighter budget. As the UFC looked to ramp up the number of events it was producing for prospective TV partners, the organization needed as many marketable stars as it could find, and the promotion’s parent company, Zuffa, made a major play.
Buying Strikeforce, which was shuttered less than two years later, gave the UFC access to a stunning number of athletes, including future UFC champions such as [autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] and [autotag]Luke Rockhold[/autotag]. It also shut down the company’s chief rival at the time.
The UFC flyweight division is moving on without Henry Cejudo and a matchup for the vacant belt is being targeted.
The UFC flyweight division is moving on without [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag].
There are plans in place for the UFC to strip Cejudo (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) of the 125-pound belt in order to set up bout for the vacant championship between [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag] and [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] for UFC on ESPN+ 27.
MMA Junkie confirmed the information about the plan to strip Cejudo, as well as the planned title fight booking, with multiple people close to the situation following an initial report about the matchup from BJPenn.com.
UFC on ESPN+ 27 takes place Feb. 29 at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Va. The card will stream on ESPN+.
Benavidez (28-5 MMA, 15-3 UFC), who’s on a three-fight winning streak, has been on standby waiting for a title shot since beating Jussier Formiga at UFC on ESPN 3 in June. He wanted the rematch with Cejudo, who he beat by split decision in December 2016, but was OK taking a different fight if he wasn’t returning to 125 pounds.
[lawrence-related id=472266,471761,471523]
He indeed won’t be, and now Benavidez will take on Figueiredo (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), who has lost just once in his 18-fight career. The Brazilian is coming off a first-round submission win over Tim Elliott at UFC on ESPN+ 19 in October.
Cejudo manager, Ali Abdelaziz, indicated to MMA Junkie his fighter, who will continue on as bantamweight champion, is ready to move forward.
“We haven’t been told anything official yet, but the UFC got to do what they got to do,” he told MMA Junkie. “We move on.”