Dennis Bermudez manages to impersonate Hendricks and Chiesa in one sentence

A “kind of pissed off” Dennis Bermudez thinks he could have made Tatsuya Kawajiri into a highlight reel at Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 83 event, but he’s on to bigger and better things – namely, his next fight.

Bermudez (15-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) unwittingly found a way to sound like the lovechild of ex-welterweight champ Johny Hendricks and Michael Chiesa in calling for his next matchup, telling MMAjunkie Radio, “Realistically, I want to fight someone that’s got a number in front of their name that’s (higher) than mine. I would like a rematch with Ricardo Lamas.”

If you’ve ever heard Hendricks, you know he starts just about every sentence about his future with a “realistically,” while Chiesa recently made headlines for making ranked opposition a requirement for his next booking (he got Beneil Dariush, who’s ranked No. 8 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings, at UFC on FOX 19).

Bermudez, currently No. 12 on the featherweight list, recently made headlines by calling out UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn. But with Penn (16-10-2 MMA, 12-9-2 UFC) shelved due to a pending investigation, he has good reason to at least follow Chiesa’s example. Not too long ago, he was a dark horse in the 145-pound division, on track for a title shot after seven straight wins.

Of course, UFC title shots have been earned with fewer accomplishments. But as Bermudez now admits, his resume wasn’t filled with marquee names, though they were all just as tough.

“Now that Max Holloway is a bigger name, and Clay Guida has come back, I’ve gotten myself on the radar,” he said. “With that being said, I think the guys I was fighting weren’t super popular guys.”

But after a pair of losses to Ricardo Lamas and Jeremy Stephens, any argument Bermudez had to be promoted was rendered moot. His fight against Kawajiri (35-9-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) didn’t just offer the opportunity to get back in the hunt – it may have also saved his job.

Although Bermudez out-grappled the Japanese vet to secure a unanimous decision, it wasn’t the type of fight that captures the UFC audience’s imagination, which is why he’s a little bit salty about the outcome.

“I just felt I could have been more exciting for the fans,” he said. “We won and we’re moving forward. But I think I could have made a highlight reel out of him, but we played it smart and we got the win. That’s what we came in there to do.”

Now, he’d like to get the opponents and exciting wins that will bring him his ultimate goal of winning a title. To him, that ideally starts with a second go-around with a former opponent.

“He’s ranked ahead of me, and I lost to him. I know I can beat him.”

Bermudez said there’s no animosity between the two, and even said onetime title challenger Lamas (16-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) is “a sweetheart.” But they both have the same goal, and that’s to win a belt.

With Lamas coming off a win this past November over Diego Sanchez, the time to book the rematch might be now.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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