Joseph Benavidez knows that his last shot at the UFC Flyweight title was on Saturday.
The MMA veteran stepped into the main event against Deiveson Figueiredo for the vacant belt and was surprisingly dominated by the Brazilian until he was forced to submit in the first round at 4:48. Going in, this was Benavidez’s fourth shot at the flyweight belt, with the 35-year-old previously dropping two title matches to Demetrious Johnson and Figueiredo back in February.
Following his championship fight, Benavidez expressed disappointment in his recent loss and truly feels that he blew his last opportunity at the 125-pound belt (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting):
“My goal in this sport is to be the best, be the champion,” Benavidez said. “I knew last fight was my last title attempt. It wasn’t ‘cause of circumstances but this one certainly was. I wasn’t fighting in this sport from the beginning for any other reason than to be the best. I’ve been close. I’ve been lucky. I’ve been in that top-two, -three for 11 years at two weight classes. It’s been a crazy journey. It’s been awesome.
“I’m not going out like that. Nothing’s guaranteed in this sport for sure. But I’m not going to get another title shot and I don’t want to go out on that. I just want to go out with another fight. After that, there’s nothing else for me to do. I’m not going to beat 10 guys again. I know that was my last title shot but like I just said, I don’t want to go out on that.”
Benavidez doesn’t make excuses for his loss against Figueiredo and admits that the new UFC Flyweight Champion was simply the better man:
“I felt good in there. I felt focused and present, even with no crowd. Fights go fast but I could see just little movements, felt focused. That’s the hard part. The last time was devastating because I couldn’t control it. It was out of my control. Going into this fight, I just want a fair fight. I wanted the guy to freaking make weight and I don’t want anything weird to happen. He went out there and proved he was the better guy. It’s hard. You can’t sit here and feel sorry for yourself.”
Despite knowing that he’ll never get another opportunity at the belt, he’s grateful for the opportunity given to him and commends Figueiredo:
“I sit here humbled. Impressed by him,” Benavidez said about Figueiredo. “Grateful I got the opportunity to go out there and display what I prepared for.”