Joseph Benavidez - What's in a (Nick) Name?
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- Category: UFC News
- Published on Wednesday, 10 August 2011 05:00
- Written by By Jordan Newmark
Joseph Rolando Benavidez has earned himself a litany of names over the years. “President Jobama”, “Jokozuna”, “The Beefcake” and, on March 19th, Bruce Buffer introduced Benavidez to the UFC faithful as “Joe B Wan Kenobi” as he made his Octagon debut against the rough and ready Ian Loveland. At the end of the fight, Benavidez maintained two other names that have become synonymous with this bantamweight: “winner” and “#2 ranked in the world”.
In Newark, New Jersey at UFC 128, the WEC veteran successfully made his highly anticipated inter-company transition with a unanimous decision over Loveland.
“That fight will always be special to me for being my first UFC fight ever,” says Benavidez, who distinguished himself as one of the best and brightest during his seven fights in the WEC before making the jump to work on his new legacy. “It was honestly awesome just to get to fight in the UFC. It's been a dream of mine. I'm happy I came away with the win.”
Although, he ended the fight with his hand raised, Benavidez, now 14-2, did receive his fair share of adversity from his opponent, “The Barn Owl”.
“He was really a lot tougher than I thought he was and I think he is going to make some noise in the future and get some good wins,” admits Benavidez, who previously had only two decision victories amongst his staggering 11 finishes. “I think my cardio and just my will to win were big factors in the fight. In the first round it was tough. In the second and third round I ground him out and kept the pace up on him.”
Regardless of the how, Benavidez proved yet again he is a nearly unstoppable bantamweight force. At 28 years old, “Jonan the Barbarian” has not only defeated, but finished a who’s who list of 135ers like the pair of ultra impressive guillotine chokes that took care of Wagnney Fabiano and Miguel Torres or the TKO over Rani Yahya. It’s not just that Benavidez is a winner, it is his relentlessness in the cage that typifies the best of this division and that will create more “Jomosapians” with each fight of his in the UFC.
