Joseph Benavidez has a key bout with Jussier Formiga set for this Saturday night at UFC on ESPN 3.
And Benavidez, who has challenged for UFC gold in the past, knows this could be his shot at earning another crack at the gold.
During a recent appearance on Submission Radio, Benavidez was asked if he believes he’ll be the No. 1 contender to Henry Cejudo’s flyweight title with a win, and also discusses Cejudo’s “callouts” of the bantamweight division.
“Well, at this point he is the biggest fight. He’s the champion at both weights. So, if you look at bantamweight and flyweight, he kind of controls both divisions. And if he wants to fight at bantamweight – which he got to, he won the belt – but now he’s the champion. At the end of the day, it’s kind of up to the bosses, and I don’t know really, but I think they’re changing, they’re shifting their thoughts on the flyweight division as of late. But the way I look at it is, I’m the only person – t he people he called out were great callouts, but they just don’t necessarily make sense at the moment. Like, great fighters, great callouts. Obviously everyone knows what he’s doing, he’s calling out the more popular names. But unfortunately, those popular names don’t make sense for a title fight, which is what you’d be fighting Henry for right now. So, you look at the scale of the division, what fights do make sense? He beat Marlon for the title. TJ’s out. The guys he called out aren’t necessarily in title contention. You look at the number one guy at bantamweight, which would be Aljamain Sterling. And you look at the number one guy in flyweight, which would be me and Formiga. And having me come out of that, I make more sense than anybody right now. If he’s the real double champ and wanting to defend at both weights, it’s the flyweight’s turn to get the action. He hasn’t fought in there, it’s been a while since he fought in there, since he did bantamweight last, and I just make the most sense. Nobody else has history with Cejudo – and not only history, a win over him. So that’s what makes the most sense, is no one can say they’ve got a win over him. That last win, he has to avenge that loss. And I love all the guys, but I think number one contenders, I make more sense than him and Aljamain, him and Yan. I think even playing from the outside, just flyweight in general, Formiga has a split decision loss against Cejudo, so he’s working to get back there as well. Obviously you’re talking to me, so you know, I’m confident that I’m gonna win and get it. But of the two contenders at flyweight, he has a split decision loss to and a split decision win to. So, a lot of history and already close matches. Whereas at bantamweight, he took out two guys. And the now other guys, he has contenders, but I think he has some history and some unfinished business at flyweight.”