Though the UFC’s flyweight eliminator tournament remains unfinished, there is little doubt who is poised to become the promotion’s inaugural 125-pound king.
Joseph Benavidez entered the four-man tournament as a favorite and did nothing to shake the label when he obliterated Japanese standout, Yasuhiro Urushitani, at UFC on FX 2 this March.
Few expected Benavidez to falter in a match where he was so obviously the superior fighter, but the manner in which he handled his first-round adversary was impressive in spite of the expectations.
If there was any hope for Urushitani to pull out an unlikely victory, it had to come by strikes. Benavidez, however, beat his opponent to the punch. At just 0:11 of the second round, the California native splayed out his foe with a counter right hook that dashed the Japanese import’s hopes and placed Benavidez in the tournament finale.
Beating a fighter at his own game is by no means a new move in Benavidez’s repertoire. The Team Alpha Male product has made his mark in the sport by throwing hands with strikers and frustrating grapplers on the mat.
Miguel Torres and Wagnney Fabiano are two of the best grapplers the bantamweight division has to offer. Benavidez owns submission wins over both of them.
Eddie Wineland is regarded as one of the most dangerous strikers at 135 pounds. He fought Benavidez last summer and was able to keep the bout on the feet essentially the entire match. He suffered a decisive unanimous decision loss, along with about a gallon of blood and a properly functioning nasal passage.
Benavidez even gave bantamweight deity, Dominick Cruz, a run for his money. Twice. The second time the two squared off, “The Dominator” won a hotly contested split decision that featured extensive time in Cruz’s realm—on the feet.
Though he came up short against Cruz, Benavidez was able to establish himself as the second-best bantamweight on the planet, disposing of a bevy of top contenders and challenging one of the pound-for-pound greats to an extent no one has managed for years.
With the drop to flyweight, the UFC better start fitting his waist for a new belt.
The drop in weight class signifies a new era for Benavidez, one in which he has done away with physical disadvantages and shifted his focus from an old foe.
The most obvious advantage garnered by dropping in weight is that he will be bigger in comparison to the competition he faces. Though some of the newly minted division’s makeup will be comprised of other former bantamweights, Benavidez will be able to avoid some of the heftier 135ers. And, most importantly, he will avoid some of the taller and longer 135ers.
Benavidez stands at a diminutive 5’4″. At bantamweight, he regularly gave up three, four, five inches to opponents like Eddie Wineland and Dominick Cruz.
Right now, the tallest fighter in the UFC flyweight division is 5’5″. A nice divisional characteristic for a short fighter with a big right hook.
The next advantage Benavidez gains by dropping to 125 is that he avoids Cruz, the only man to defeat him at 135. Aside from his bouts with Cruz, Benavidez was able to weather a size disadvantage against world-class fighters. Now, he no longer has to worry about that either.
In fact, there is no champion, Cruz or otherwise, waiting to thwart the aspirations of Benavidez in the flyweight division.
When the time comes that there is a champion, it will be Benavidez himself. The American is a talented wrestler capable of controlling where a fight takes place and has the reserve skills of vicious submissions and powerful striking, rare in lower weight classes, in case he can’t play to his opponent’s weakness.
Both Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson are good wrestlers themselves—perhaps as good as Benavidez. McCall’s secondary attribute is his striking while Johnson’s is his grappling.
But here’s the thing: Benavidez is a better striker than McCall and a better grappler than Johnson.
Regardless of who joins Benavidez in the flyweight tournament finale, he will win. He can grind decisions, he has one-punch knockout power and submissions that have foiled top BJJ practitioners. He will win because he is better than either potential opponent at every aspect of fighting.
After he stakes his claim to the 125-pound throne, the UFC will have to bring in some more contenders. When that happens, Benavidez will beat them. All of them.
Nothing is sure in MMA so take this as the hyperbole it is—the only thing that may potentially separate Joseph Benavidez from the UFC flyweight title in the next five years is that he vacates his position.
If the prospect of once more challenging for the bantamweight crown becomes more appealing than dominating the flyweight division after awhile, perhaps we will see a different champion at 125 pounds. But a second flyweight champion will remain entirely contingent upon Benavidez choosing it.
Benavidez will become one of the most dominant champions the UFC has ever produced and will carve out a name for himself alongside Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, Junior Dos Santos and Dominick Cruz as the one of the pound-for-pound best in mixed martial arts.
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