Will the third time be the charm for Joseph Benavidez?
There’s no denying Benavidez is one of the best to ever do it in the flyweight division. But in two tries, a UFC title has eluded him thanks to Demetrious Johnson.
The two fought for the inaugural UFC 125-pound belt in 2012, but Johnson took a split decision at UFC 152. A little more than a year later, the two met again – but “Mighty Mouse” shut down Benavidez with a first-round knockout. It remains the only time Benavidez has been stopped.
Johnson headed for ONE Championship, where he’s not the titleholder, after a close loss to Henry Cejudo, who went on to become a two-division champ. He recently vacated the flyweight belt, though he remains the bantamweight champ.
And that sets up Benavidez (28-5 MMA, 15-3 UFC) to fight Brazil’s Deiveson Figueiredo (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) for the title next month at UFC on ESPN+ 27. The event takes place at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Va. The card streams on ESPN+.
Tuesday, the UFC released the official poster for the event featuring the two headliners. Benavidez has won nine of his past 10 fights – including one over Cejudo. Figueiredo has just one loss in his career.
Check out the official poster below:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
- Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueiredo – for vacant flyweight title
- Zarah Fairn vs. Felicia Spencer
- Grant Dawson vs. Chas Skelly
- Megan Anderson vs. Norma Dumont
- Brendan Allen vs. Tom Breese
- Kyler Phillips vs. Gabriel Silva
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 5 p.m. ET)
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Ion Cutelaba
- Serghei Spivac vs. Marcin Tybura
- Giga Chikadze vs. Mike Davis
- Aalon Cruz vs. Steven Peterson
- T.J. Brown vs. Jordan Griffin
- Sean Brady vs. Ismail Naurdiev
- Alex Munoz vs. Luis Pena
