Joseph Benavidez Praises Dustin Ortiz’s Resilience Following UFC on ESPN+ 1 Win

Joseph Benavidez spoke with reporters following his decision win over Dustin Ortiz at UFC on ESPN+ 1. Highlights are below via MMAjunkie:

On being familiar with Ortiz’ strategies: “Dude – Dustin Ortiz, man: The guy stay’s choppin’. Look at his Instagram. That’s how it is fighting him.”

On the fight going to decision: “I went out there in our first fight, hit the guy literally with everything – there’s like 200 significant strikes to the head and body. The guy wouldn’t go down.”

On picking up the win: “I was like, ‘I can expose him on the ground.’ Felt good there. I literally hit him with everything the first fight – I’m not going to knock him out (the second fight). So I went in there, felt good, still dropped him, found some clean shots on the feet, but I knew I could expose him on the ground and just give him a different look than he expected. He probably went in there knowing, ‘I have to improve on the feet; that’s where he beat me (the first time).’ I put him down a little bit, got him there, and I think that’s ultimately what got me the win.”