Joe Benavidez is likely one step away from a WEC title shot

Published by Zach Arnold on July 3rd, 2009 in Current Events

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He’s one win away from a potential title shot against the winner of Miguel Torres vs. Brian Bowles, and yet there’s a lot of work left for young prospect Joseph Benavidez to do to gain the respect of MMA fans around the world.

Benavidez has trained with WEC ace Urijah Faber in Sacramento for a while now, but it wasn’t until an offer made by DREAM last year that Benavidez’s name started to gain traction publicly. He had been offered a fight against Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto last Summer. It was going to be, by far, his biggest and most high-profile fight ever. Instead, Yamamoto would soon suffer a knee injury and be out of action for nearly a year. Benavidez was being marketed as “a protege of Faber vs. Yamamoto,” since K-1 was heavily pushing a storyline of wanting to book Yamamoto vs. Faber in a dream match.

Benavidez would instead have to settle for a win over Junya Kudo. After the one fight in DREAM, Joe signed a deal with WEC to fight in the 135 pound Bantamweight division. His first two WEC fights, against Danny Martinez and Jeff Curran, were decision wins. In his previous 8 fights, Benavidez had finished everyone. Now on the WEC stage, the competition is tougher than he has ever faced.

After his last fight with Curran, Benavidez expressed some disappointment with not being able to finish off the veteran. In comments made in a recent Versus.com interview, Joe clarified his post-fight remarks.

“I felt really good. After the fight, you know I made a comment that I wasn’t satisfied with it but that’s just me, I’m never satisfied. I want to go in there and finish him and stuff, but you know watching it I mean Curran’s just a competitor you know and he’s a great fighter that I went in there with, so, getting the win over him is the biggest you know getting the W and I was impressed by my performance you know. Of course I always look and think that I could have done things different and stuff, but overall I was impressed by him and I think that fight made be better as a fighter and better than my last fight so I’m just going to keep getting better.”

“I just wish I would have finished him, you know. You know maybe landed some cleaner shots and you know capitalize on the ground more, but like I said he’s just tough, he’s just a really good survivor you know, I could feel his experience in there more than anything, you know, people say how strong a guy he is and everything but I could feel his experience every time he was in danger. You know he put a stop to it and he’s just seeing everything so that was it. I had a pretty good pace for the fight but I’d even like a faster pace, so.”

The young star has major-league wrestling credentials, as he was a big-time star in New Mexico high school circles. Eventually he landed in Sacramento after missing Urijah Faber for a scheduled meeting. The two would soon form a close bond and become training partners. After earning a win over the tough Curran (who Faber previously beat), Benavidez thinks he deserves to be ranked.

“I know on the some of the rankings you know it definitely threw me into the Top 10, you know, but I definitely think I’m one of the Top 10 in the division. There’s so many tough guys and there’s guys out there that people, a lot of good fans don’t even know about who should be in the Top 10. My next opponent I think should be in the Top 10, but you know I’m definitely up there and I think I’m a contender. I can give anyone in the division a really good fight and beat pretty much anyone at my weight. I think I can beat anyone in my weight but at the same token anyone at the weight can beat me, just everyone’s that good so pretty practical.”

Benavidez has a lot of respect from hardcore MMA fans and insiders. According to the latest rankings by the Independent World MMA Rankings committe, he is ranked the 5th best Bantamweight in the world. A look at the current rankings:

Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)

1. Miguel Torres (37-1)
2. Brian Bowles (7-0)
3. Takeya Mizugaki (11-3-2)
4. Masakatsu Ueda (9-0-2)
5. Joseph Benavidez (10-0)
6. Akitoshi Tamura (14-7-2)
7. Will Ribeiro (10-2)
8. Rani Yahya (14-4)
9. Damacio Page (11-4)
10. Manny Tapia (10-2-1)

Benavidez’s name has surfaced recently as a possible replacement for Brian Bowles in the upcoming August 9th WEC title fight against Miguel Torres. The Bowles/Torres fight was originally scheduled for April 5th, but Bowles had to back out due to a training injury. Takeya Mizugaki would end up being Bowles’ replacement that night and ended up in a Fight of the Year candidate bout with Torres. Bowles is back and says he is 100% ready to fight Torres. Joe says that he has no hard feelings about not getting a title shot against Torres right away.

“No, I’m not disappointed. No, I just take everything in stride and look at everything as a positive. If I would have got the title shot after Curran, you know in my mind I would have thought, ‘Oh this is a great thing, I’m going for the title” and not getting the title shot, you know, I just kind of in my mind like, “Alright, I’m getting another fight. This is good, too, more experience and I’ll be better when I get the title” so, just trying to look at it as a positive either way you know, it would have been good either way. You know, another fight against another great opponent can’t hurt me, so, you know I’m ready to do that.”

Benavidez will be facing a tough opponent in Dominic Cruz, a man whose 13-1 record is only blemished by a loss to… Urijah Faber. There are clearly some advantages for the young star to be able to train with Faber in order to prepare for the upcoming fight against Cruz.

“You know I think that’s a good thing, you know, it’s me and Urijah have similar styles as people know and you know Urijah’s the only guy to beat him (Cruz). You know, that prepares me a lot mentally seeing Urijah beat him and you know we train the same every day, same coaches, same trainers, so in my mind I’m like there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to beat the guy. I put that in my mind, just that I’m go out there and get the win, I’m going to do it. As far as him as an opponent, I think he’s as dangerous an opponent as anyone in the division, you know, besides the two top Torres and Bowles, you know, but he’s as dangerous as anyone and you know lots of people haven’t seen him because he’s been on the undercard and winning his decisions but I mean anyone that’s seen Dominic Cruz fight live are really impressed by him and know how bad of a guy he is, so I’m looking forward to it. He has a great pace, I have a great pace, and it’s going to be a fun fight. I’m looking forward to it.”

“The most is his pace and cardio, you know, he has the physical gifts of his reach and stuff, he just uses that to a good advantage. Besides that, the guy just I don’t I’ve seen anyone in MMA throw more punches than him you know so I’m going to have to get away to slow that down somehow and you know, but I can throw a lot of punches myself so that’s what impressed him about me, his cardio and no one’s seen his wrestling and it’s impressive that no one’s really heard of the guy and how good he is.”

Given the track record of both men, expect this fight to be exciting but to go the distance and go to the scorecards. Benavidez’s two WEC fights are decisions and Cruz’s last three fights in WEC are all decision wins as well. Sherdog.com’s Jordan Breen thinks that three round fights may actually be a detriment to Benavidez’s skill set.

“I think [Joe] can finish him, but I expect a points win. Cruz is much improved and is tough, and really Benavidez isn’t a guy well-suited for three rounds. He’s an active fighter, but he’s a grinder in that he wears guys out. But he isn’t suited to the 15-minute bout. A Tyson Griffin sort of deal.”

Benavidez is confident in his ability to beat Cruz on August 9th in Las Vegas.

“My fight, I’m going to definitely you know win, beat Dominic Cruz, I got a lot of respect for him, but all I can really think and say in my mind I just can’t think about being defeated so you know, of course I’m going to go in there and win. My prediction for the most part is that it’s going to be a great fight, you know. Definitely looking for the finish. I’ve finished all of my fights before I got into the WEC and now I’ve had just two really good opponents that are really good at surviving and you know Dominic Cruz is going go in there and mix it up so I want to look for the finish but I just want to get the W either way and I think that’s going to happen. Improve my record, stay undefeated, and you know hopefully go for the title after that.”

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