Las Vegan Joseph Benavidez gets another shot at UFC title
Joseph Benavidez hopes the fourth time is a charm.
The Las Vegan has lost all three of his UFC title fights, but he will get another shot when he meets Deiveson Figueiredo for the vacant flyweight title in the main event of the UFC on ESPN+ 30 card
The bout will take place early Sunday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, airing live at 5 p.m. PDT on Saturday.
Benavidez knows he’s running out of chances.
“Even the last one, I thought that was my last title fight,” he said on a video call. “So this one definitely is as far as title attempts. I win it, obviously, you have title defenses.”
This will be the second time the two top 125-pound contenders fight for the vacant belt in 2020.
Figueiredo scored a second-round knockout of Benavidez in February, but didn’t win the title because he had missed weight by 2.5 pounds.
“Yeah, for sure, I did win the fight, and unfortunately I couldn’t get out of the octagon with the belt, but it is going to be different this time,” Figueiredo said Thursday. “My weight is a lot better than before, and so making weight is not going to be a problem and the win is going to be the same.”
Figueiredo feels fortunate to be in Abu Dhabi after a false positive test for the coronavirus almost canceled his trip.
But both fighters made it to “Fight Island” and hit the mark at Friday’s weigh-ins, so a champion should be declared this time.
In their first fight, Benavidez had success early only to have the momentum shifted when he was busted open by an accidental head-butt.
It was the latest setback for one of the UFC’s most accomplished fighters to never have been a champion.
The 35-year-old was part of the tournament to crown a champion when the division was created in 2012, only to lose a split decision to Demetrious Johnson in the championship match.
Benavidez won nine of his next 10 fights, including a win over Henry Cejudo. The loss was in a rematch against Johnson, one of the UFC’s longest reigning champions.
After a split-decision loss to Sergio Pettis, Benavidez ran off another three-fight winning streak to set up a bout with Cejudo, who had dethroned Johnson. But Cejudo moved up to 135 pounds and vacated the title.
“I fought 10 fights to get here for my second chance,” Benavidez said.
The main card includes a middleweight bout between Jack Hermansson and Kelvin Gastelum, who looks to halt a two-fight losing streak that began with an interim title bout against middleweight champ Israel Adesanya in April 2019.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.