Joseph Benavidez on Urijah Faber’s Loss, Don Frye’s Influence & More

Ahead of the fight, he joined the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show to discuss a variety of topics.

On Urijah Faber’s stoppage loss to Renan Barao: “I don’t agree on the stoppage at all. That’s basically all you can say about something like that is I don’t agree with it. I think everyone knows that it was a little premature. [Faber] got up fine. Obviously he was hurt before, but at the time of the stoppage he wasn’t hurt. He was defending himself in a perfect shell really. It’s not like his hand was down or fading. He was holding onto [Barao’s] leg tight. I just don’t know what else [referee Herb Dean] wanted him to do. He gave him a thumb’s up. Most importantly, he told him to do something and he did. It was real unfortunate the way that happened, but Herb’s a great ref and he was just trying to do his job out there.”

On where Faber stands after the loss: “For Faber it sucks to lose that way, but also it’s not like he lost and now he has to go back a bunch. I think everyone knows kind of that was taken away from him, so maybe he just wins one more fight and gets to go back at it. I don’t think people would even disagree if he got an automatic rematch with the way it ended.”

On watching early UFCs: “This was one of my favorite videos I used to watch was the David and Goliath tournament with Don Frye, and Don Frye won it as the David. I forgot who he went against, but he was a small guy at that time, which is crazy because now I just met him the other day. He was eating Chinese food and drinking beer by himself. I had to go up to him and tell him he was one of the first guys I really loved. Being a small guy and seeing him win the David tournament was huge for me.”

On whether he’d fight in a tournament like UFC 8: “Back then I think the reason that size didn’t matter was because it wasn’t really a big guy versus a small guy; it was a style versus a style. Like if I was fighting a giant boxer in a wrestling match, oh yeah, that’d be great to take it, but I’m not going to fight a giant wrestler against a small wrestler. It’s not going to work out. It was more the styles, I think, is why that worked out. … Now it would just be insane, where you’re going to fight a guy that’s really good at everything and then he just happens to be 100 pounds more than you too? Probably not a good idea.”

On whether he’d fight multiple times in one night: “I think I could do it definitely. It’s kind of weird because it is so foreign to think that, but thinking back on how the guys used to do it … I really think I could. I think I was fighting at the time that some of that was going on and I remember thinking if I had to fight in a tournament, I’d be good. … I know it’s in me. I was already for it. Now, as far as the UFC goes, it’s absurd to think of a guy fighting two times in one night, but I think it would be cool and I think I could definitely do it and some guys could do it. It’s just, things can always get skewed in between with injuries and stuff. It’s almost easier to wait a few months and get the fights you want.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 1:31:30).