UFC flyweight Joseph Benavidez breaks down struggles to get another top name in front of him

It ain’t easy being Joseph Benavidez these days, at least in terms of trying to find someone to stand across from him for a fight.

Benavidez (25-4 MMA, 13-2 UFC) next will meet Australia-based Ben Nguyen (17-6 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 110 on June 11 (June 10 in the U.S.) in Auckland, New Zealand. And while Nguyen was the one who stepped up for the fight, it wasn’t a matchup Benavidez was going after.

Benavidez, a two-time UFC flyweight title challenger, tried to get a bout booked with Sergio Pettis (15-2, 6-2 UFC), but said Pettis turned him down in favor of a fight with Henry Cejudo (10-2, 4-2 UFC). And even with that, Benavidez would’ve taken a rematch with Cejudo, given his split-decision win over him is one the Olympic gold medalist disputes.

All this, of course, is because Benavidez can’t yet get a third fight against champion Demetrious Johnson (26-2-1 MMA, 14-1-1 UFC), and he couldn’t even get matched up with Johnson’s most recent conquest, Wilson Reis (22-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC).

“It’s all hearsay. I never saw anyone say, ‘Hey, I’m not gonna fight you because of this, and I wanna do this,'” Benavidez told MMAjunkie Radio on Friday. “You never know. I’m talking, at first, to fight Pettis, for instance. ‘Hey, it’s perfect – we’re both on win streaks, that’s a fight to happen …’

“They said, ‘How does that sound?’ and I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ I was told he was offered me and they said, ‘He’d rather fight someone else – if he’s going to fight someone above him, it’s Cejudo.’ I can’t speak for anyone else saying they turned it down, but they came to me and said, ‘He wants to fight Cejudo more, and we’re gonna let him do it because (Cejudo) is ranked above (Pettis).’ That doesn’t make any sense. Why are you going to let someone turn down a fight and then pick an opponent?”

So Pettis and Cejudo meet at UFC 211 next month in Dallas. Johnson will sit back and wait for another title challenger to emerge after submitting Reis. Reis goes back to the middle of the pack.

And then there’s Benavidez, who brings a six-fight winning streak into his bout with Nguyen, but despite wins over other title challengers like Tim Elliott, John Moraga, Ali Bagautinov and Cejudo in his run, getting another crack at Johnson has proven to be tough so far.

“It’s hard because that’s what I was working with – once that Pettis fight left me and the ‘Mighty Mouse’ fight left me, and the Reis fight left me, … those were the options I had,” Benavidez said. “Ben Nguyen was the one to step up.”

It’s not for lack of trying to get names higher in the rankings, though.

Benavidez is ranked No. 2 behind Johnson in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA flyweight rankings and is No. 14 on the pound-for-pound list. Cejudo is No. 3.

Despite efforts to get a rematch with Cejudo, whom he beat by split decision in December in a fight that saw Cejudo lose a point for low blows, he’s unsure the Olympian wants the rematch – especially given he signed on to fight Pettis, who is ranked at No. 9.

“I said I’d fight Cejudo next if it’s not ‘Mighty Mouse,'” Benavidez said. “That part of it was just annoying me. ‘If you think you won, we can fight again. You didn’t win.’ Now the question is, ‘Do you even think you won, or are you just happy having other people think you won?’ It’s that perception kind of thing. … I was ready to take that fight.”

So Benavidez will soldier on in New Zealand against Nguyen, an honorable mention selection whose biggest win to date is against Ryan Benoit. He no doubt will be hoping if his streak hits seven, he won’t be having this same conversation when he goes out in search of consecutive win No. 8.

For more on UFC Fight Night 110, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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