At UFC on Versus 5, Joseph Benevidez and Eddie Wineland will collide in a bantamweight bout.
Benavidez, who is currently riding a two-fight win streak, looks to make it three in a row over Wineland, who is entering the bout off a loss to Urijah Faber at UFC 128.
Benavidez said he doesn’t understand being matched up with Wineland, but he said he will make his opponent regret accepting the bout.
“You hear all the fighters say they want to fight the best guys out there, and maybe that’s something he wants to do, but I just think it was not a good decision,” Benavidez told Heavy.com.
Benavidez, whose only two losses were to UFC Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, is rebuilding himself and preparing to earn another shot at the title. Despite collecting two consecutive wins, Benavidez was not slotted into a title eliminator in his next bout and the opportunity was given to Urijah Faber and Brian Bowles, slated for UFC 139 in November.
The Team Alpha Male product currently finds himself in limbo; however, he said he understands why the decision was made.
“I kind of expected that to happen,” he said.
“I mean, they are probably the two more likely prospects when they announced Demetrious (Johnson) to go for the title; I thought that only left Bowles and Faber.”
However, Benavidez said he was motivated when he learned of being challenged by Wineland. He is now determined to earn a win over the former WEC bantamweight champion. In fact, Benavidez has required some assistance from fellow teammate, Faber.
“It’s one thing watching video and seeing what he does, seeing his tendencies. It’s a whole other thing having someone who has been in there in the heat of battle with the guy; knows exactly how strong he feels, knows how he feels in this situation; that’s a huge advantage,” he said.
And in addition to working with Faber, Benavidez hopes to succeed in defeating Wineland as a result, and make him pay.
“I don’t know if he thought that he gave Urijah a good fight—so maybe this fight would be easy–I don’t really know, but I can’t wait to go out there and show him that he made the wrong choice there,” Benavidez said.
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