Joseph Benavidez came up short in his 3rd attempt at capturing UFC gold this past Saturday at UFC Norfolk, losing via 2nd-round TKO from Deiveson Figueiredo.
The two men were originally scheduled to compete for the vacant UFC Flyweight title, but Figueiredo was ineligible to win belt after he missed weight for the contest, stepping onto the scales at 127.5 pounds — 2.5lbs above the 125-pound limit for Flyweight title fights.
Since then, Joseph Benavidez has address this tough loss with a post on his Instagram “now that the dust has settled.”
“Now that the dust has settled…” Benavidez started of. “Appreciate everyone’s love and support. I’m good (definitely been worse) and even though I set out to achieve greatness, good has to be ok for now. Shit hurts and probably will forever but I chose this and choose to take these risks. A lot of people have to face a lot worse issues with no choice to be had. It can’t always be attained but being able to chase greatness is a choice I’m lucky to have … at the end of the day I have what I need and will continue to work for what I want. Love you guys.”
While Benavidez did not specify any plans regarding his fighting future, it does appear that he plans on continuing to chase his career long dream of becoming a UFC champion. Deivison Figueiredo has already stated that he is happy to give Benavidez a rematch.
Figueiredo’s manager, Wallid Ismail, is also open to a rematch between the two fighters:
“Joseph Benavidez was a warrior for accepting to fight him one kilo overweight and deserves the rematch. We like the guy, but on fight week it’s war, man. Since the UFC isn’t satisfied and wants another fight, it’s all good, the war continues,” Wallid Ismail told MMA Fighting. “We just wanna know when Benavidez wants to fight. But, please, don’t take too long.”
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 4th March, 2020.
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