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Joseph Benavidez Discusses His Position In UFC’s Flyweight Division

September 3, 2015 | Posted by Joseph Lee

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Joseph Benavidez spoke about his position in the UFC after losing to flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson twice but still being near the top of the division. Here are highlights:

On the position he’s in: “Being in the position I’m at, there’s not many fights where I have anything to gain. That’s why you never hear me calling anybody out, because of the fact that it doesn’t make sense for me to call anybody out. When you’re the No. 2 guy, you’re not going to say, ‘hey, I want to fight the No. 8 guy.’ Because why do you want that?”

On if he should be more vocal about another title shot: “It goes back to the logic part of it. I know that I’m not going to be able to be like, ‘oh, I just beat John Moraga, give me Mighty Mouse right now.’ Even though I don’t think it was too far-fetched, being that me and (John) Dodson were there, and a lot of people said I was more impressive than Dodson. That was kind of the thing. But Dodson has only had one shot, so I knew. That’s the main thing for me about being vocal. It’s funny, it’s more of a mental thing. Like, I’ve obsessed over the title for so long, my whole career. It’s more of a thing of putting it on the backburner and looking at it as, ‘alright, yeah, that’s my main goal, but it’s not something I’m going to just obsess over every day and look at every morning when I wake up.’ Like, I know it’s there, but I know the things in front of me are the things I have to take care of, the things in my power. Going for title is not in my power. (No matter what I do) people can say, ‘he’s already fought Johnson twice, he’s already done this. We have to give it to other guys.’ So that’s not in my power. The stuff that’s in my power is, hey, give me the next guy. Give me the next guy and I’ll prove I’m worthy of the shot. I’ll prove I’m worthy of this. I’ll prove I’m better than anybody else until I do get the title shot.”

On taking fights with anyone: “Everything now is, hey, this is what I know I have to do. Business-wise or logic-wise, this is what I have to do. I have to take this fight. Personally, of course I want Demetrious. But I don’t have to say it, because it’s something I’m just working on, the smaller parts it takes to get there. The fight in front of me. The practice in front of me. Whatever it may be.”

article topics :

Joseph Benavidez, UFC, Joseph Lee