UFC
Joseph Benavidez mostly happy with UFC Fight Night 57 performance, explains why he's not calling anyone out after
Nov 24, 2014 - 2:20:29 PM Joseph Benavidez mostly happy with UFC Fight Night 57 performance, explains why he's not calling anyone out after

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Joseph Benavidez picked up yet another win in the flyweight division on Saturday night, defeating a tough Dustin Ortiz in a one-sided and entertaining decision. After the event, he said he was mostly pleased with his performance, though he would have liked to get the finish.

"The only thing I'm really not pleased with is not getting the finish," Benavidez said at the post-fight press conference (via MMAJunkie.com). "I'm pleased with the fight in that way because you take a positive out of it. You go in there, you fight 15 minutes, you see all the places you need to improve, and that's just a nice test, going 15 minutes with such a tough guy like Dustin. He definitely made me better tonight, so that's a positive."

The win keeps him among the elite in the division, but he's still just a year removed from a KO loss to Champ Demetrious Johnson. Because of that, he's not targeting anyone specific for his next fight, he's just hoping to continue getting exciting matchups.

"In the position I'm in, No. 2 in the world, it doesn't make sense to call anybody out. Like, 'Oh, I'm going to fight that guy. He's ranked No. 10.' That does nothing for you. So most of the fights, I'm comfortable with. I'm not going to have a ton to gain from them, but I've got to get in these little battles and things that motivate me, like beating him worse than anyone, just using it as a thing to get better."

"...There's no one in particular I want to fight. I know the matchmakers have done a great job since I've been in this position, matching me up in my last fight with Tim Elliott and this fight with Ortiz. So I'm just excited to see what they have on board for me next, and I'll be ready. I'm just going to keep doing my thing."

Penick's Analysis: Benavidez, along with John Dodson, are stuck at 2a and 2b under "Mighty Mouse" right now in this division. It's almost a certainty that Benavidez will beat anyone else the UFC gives him outside of those two names, and I'm not convinced he'd lose in a third fight with Johnson, either. But he's right that there's nothing positive to be gained by calling out fighters lower ranked than him, and when that's virtually the entire division, he'll just keep chugging along for now.