Will the third time be the charm for [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag]?
There’s no denying Benavidez is one of the best to ever do it in the flyweight division. But in two tries, a UFC title has eluded him thanks to Demetrious Johnson.
The two fought for the inaugural UFC 125-pound belt in 2012, but Johnson took a split decision at UFC 152. A little more than a year later, the two met again – but “Mighty Mouse” shut down Benavidez with a first-round knockout. It remains the only time Benavidez has been stopped.
Johnson headed for ONE Championship, where he’s not the titleholder, after a close loss to Henry Cejudo, who went on to become a two-division champ. He recently vacated the flyweight belt, though he remains the bantamweight champ.
And that sets up Benavidez (28-5 MMA, 15-3 UFC) to fight Brazil’s [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) for the title next month at UFC on ESPN+ 27. The event takes place at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Va. The card streams on ESPN+.
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Tuesday, the UFC released the official poster for the event featuring the two headliners. Benavidez has won nine of his past 10 fights – including one over Cejudo. Figueiredo has just one loss in his career.
Check out the official poster below:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
- Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueiredo – for vacant flyweight title
- Zarah Fairn vs. Felicia Spencer
- Grant Dawson vs. Chas Skelly
- Megan Anderson vs. Norma Dumont
- Brendan Allen vs. Tom Breese
- Kyler Phillips vs. Gabriel Silva
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 5 p.m. ET)
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Ion Cutelaba
- Serghei Spivac vs. Marcin Tybura
- Giga Chikadze vs. Mike Davis
- Aalon Cruz vs. Steven Peterson
- T.J. Brown vs. Jordan Griffin
- Sean Brady vs. Ismail Naurdiev
- Alex Munoz vs. Luis Pena
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