#16: Joseph Benavidez
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
There is no unified criteria among MMA fans or analysts in determining the all-time greats of the sport. I personally believe the closest we can get to objectivity is to attempt to rate quality wins, rather than symbolic accomplishments or contribution to the sport. For a more in-depth explanation of that system, you can check out my section of our collective rankings page, or this document containing my own list, which includes the individual ratings of each quality win for dozens of candidates, with explanations for a few.
Today, we’ll be looking at the resume of the perennial contender at both flyweight and bantamweight for nearly 10 years, Joseph Benavidez.
It may be odd to some that a fighter who never won a title could make an all-time great list, especially when many decorated champions were excluded. If you reference the above criteria, it makes perfect sense. Why penalize a truly elite fighter because he had Demetrious Johnson and Dominick Cruz (both of whom he pushed to the brink) in his way? If you look purely at the fighters Benavidez has defeated, not only do they measure up to the best wins of accomplished champions, they’re better.
The Resume of Joseph Benavidez
If you’re looking to get a profiling of Joseph Benavidez’s skills directly, this is the wrong article. However, I’ve written a detailed breakdown of how Benavidez wrestles in MMA by examining his rematch with Dustin Ortiz, and will be explaining the depth of Benavidez’s skill set in my upcoming article on Dominick Cruz.
In this article, indirectly, Benavidez’s ability as a fighter will become apparent.
The essential questions to answer are, “how good was (Fighter X) at the time Joseph Benavidez defeated them? How tough were they to beat in that specific fight?” If we’re lacking data, “what form were they in at that stage of their career?” Method of victory, dominance, or other measures, would only add layers of subjectivity and muddy the process.
At the most basic level we’re evaluating how hard that fighter is to beat, in a pound-for-pound sense. The curve is based on the best MMA fighter(s) we’ve ever seen to this point, so the goalposts to reach “100” status will move as the sport continues to age and evolve.
In divisions like bantamweight and flyweight, it’s easy to take this too far. The average skill level across the board is observably higher than that in the heaviest weights in MMA, but you have to be careful not to automatically write them in as quality opponents. While I do factor in physical and athletic factors, it’s easy to be blinded by speed and volume and miss the mechanical, technical, or strategic deficiencies that do still exist in most of these fighters.
While they’re still subjective, to get remotely accurate ratings I had to watch each individual fight and determine what kind of threat they were in that moment. It’s for this reason that a fighter like Miguel Torres, who at one point was legitimately fantastic, did not warrant a rating. Against Benavidez he was hesitant, slow, his tools were limited, he looked nothing like the best versions of himself. Torres wasn’t quite “shot”, he went on to have deep performances where he was worthy of rating, like against Demetrious Johnson, but he showed nothing of promise against Benavidez.
Someone like Rani Yahya, whose grappling skill is undeniably elite, had not yet figured out how to fully incorporate his style in MMA, his striking was nowhere near competent at that point, and physically he was completely outclassed. Yahya was still a good fighter, but “quality” is a high standard, the complete product between skill and physicality has to measure up to the best we’ve seen in the sport.
Oddly enough, the first win of Benavidez’s career that meets this criteria is the first-ever WEC bantamweight champion, janky wrestle-boxer Eddie Wineland.
Quality Win #1: 2011 Eddie Wineland (74)
To even enter consideration as quality, a fighter needs to be able to offer something significant offensively and defensively as both a striker and grappler in some capacity. The fighter who is tough to beat is the one who has the tools to deal with a variety of deep games and implement their own.
One year prior to their meeting, Eddie Wineland closed out his WEC career on a four-fight win streak over decent enough competition. The second half of that streak included two-straight Knockout of the Night awards due to a single body shot and a brutal slam as Ken Stone attempted to pull guard.
That sentence alone should give you an idea of what kind of threat Eddie Wineland was, and still is in many ways. In his UFC debut one fight prior, he was matched up with Urijah Faber, who struggled immensely to take Wineland down from upper-body positions before switching off to lower level leg attacks. Faber was able to control the fight from Wineland’s guard, productive grappling from bottom is not a strong area for Wineland.
Five months later, he tangled with Joseph Benavidez in Milwaukee.
Rating
As noted, physical abilities are factored in to a fighter’s rating. Wineland’s strength, power and durability are huge weapons for him, they’re exactly what allow him to play the wild boxing game that makes him so dangerous.
I’ve already used the term “wild”, and a fighter who carries their hands low and throws with power is going to automatically be disqualified as “technical” by a great deal of fans. This is wrong, of course.
Already separating himself from the majority of fighters in the UFC, Wineland makes active use of feints and stutter steps, showing looks with his head, hands, shoulders, feet and hips. Well equipped to deal with shorter fighters, Wineland often steps and pivots around his opponents body while jabbing or crossing, high or low, keeping his optimal range while searching for a dominant angle.
In my opinion, Wineland’s real depth comes as a counter-striker. He has a variety of tactics and tools, he can plant and intercept, he can parry and punish, and more often he will throw looping, accurate combinations while backpedaling against a charging opponent. Retreating counters were his weapon of choice against a constantly bursting Benavidez.
CLIP: Eddie Wineland fights counters and scrambles with Joseph Benavidez (2011)
As a wrestler, Wineland is stingy, using his height to jack up his opponent’s posture with whizzers and underhooks, helped in part by his impeccable balance. On top of this, he’s dog-tough in a scramble, turning his back but posting hard on the head to free his legs and get back to a defensible position against the cage.
With so many weapons at his disposal, Wineland’s ability to take shots allowed him to threaten in almost every exchange, while largely keeping the fight on the feet where he was most dangerous.
At his best, it took an athletic, powerful, varied fighter to find consistent success against Eddie Wineland. There are gaps in his game, his head often stays square in place while throwing, he doesn’t have many answers if he decisively loses a scramble, and he can suffer when there’s a speed disadvantage at play.
Quality Win #2: 2013 Ian McCall (80)
Perhaps because he spent many of his best years as a flyweight outside the UFC, Ian McCall is sometimes regarded as more of a flash in the pan. In truth, he was elite for several years, a physical, talented wrestler who picked up a fleet-footed muay thai game with enthusiasm.
After being picked apart and outwrestled by Dominick Cruz at bantamweight, McCall dropped to flyweight, defeating then #1-ranked flyweight Jussier Formiga. Formiga has developed into an all-round threat, but even then his grappling skill alone made him a worthwhile opponent. Victories over a scrappy wrestler in Dustin Ortiz and well-rounded Darrell Montague earned him his place in the UFC’s inaugural flyweight championship tournament.
McCall had the misfortune of meeting an already fantastic Demetrious Johnson in his semifinal, but shocked the world when he gave Johnson all he could handle, taking down the former bantamweight title challenger and challenging him on the feet. Their rematch saw Johnson control the bout more decisively, but McCall was clearly a championship caliber fighter. Less than a year after the first Johnson fight, McCall met Benavidez.
Rating
While his striking was less focused than that of Wineland, Ian McCall demonstrated technical proficiency rarely seen even at the championship level in MMA. While smaller than Wineland, McCall boasted incredible strength and speed only rivaled by the likes of Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson. McCall is as tough and durable as they come, his first knockout loss came in his last fight, 16 years into his career against a pound-for-pound tier knockout artist in Kyoji Horiguchi.
What’s even more impressive is that McCall was able to instantly transition between between striking and wrestling, when he got the right feel. Seeing Benavidez loading up, McCall slipped outside an overhand then hit a short duck to work his way to the back. As Benavidez backed away and turned to face, McCall quickly changed levels and switched to attack a double leg against the cage.
CLIP: Ian McCall threatens Joseph Benavidez in all stages (2013)
As a striker, McCall often seemed at his best while finding creative entries and varying his combinations. If you gave him room to work, McCall could cruise. Benavidez, nearly impossible to deter, charged him repeatedly, looking to take away precious space and time whenever possible.
Forced to rely on what could be considered his “B” game on the feet, McCall still proved to be well-schooled and effective.
Off the back foot, McCall took his lumps, but he also found spots to slip, roll under, and intercept the shots of Benavidez, he slid back and dented the body with round kicks, he used his own leads to cut and turn away from the fence when the pressure of Benavidez put him out of position.
In no situation did McCall look out of place, he had answers at every stage, although Benavidez was ultimately forcing the fight he wanted and getting the upper hand.
Even more impressively, McCall proved himself to be nearly equal to Benavidez as a mat wrestler, hitting a slick go-behind after Benavidez shot himself out of position and finding dominant positions and sticking when Benavidez looked to scramble out. Considering Benavidez is perhaps the greatest scrambler in UFC history, this is quite a statement for McCall.
For McCall’s ability to adjust his game, threaten on the lead and on the counter as a striker, scramble with and take down Benavidez, a much higher rating is warranted.
Quality Win #3: 2013 Jussier Formiga (75)
A drastically different version of Jussier Formiga will be expanded upon later, but even in 2013 the Brazilian was a massive threat as a jiu jitsu specialist, specifically known for his back-taking ability.
Formiga’s essential flaw will always be his athletic type. He’s agile, strong, poised, and does not lack pop, but his durability only goes so far and without better defense, he can be broken down. In 2013, Formiga’s ability as a ground artist with a knack for finding his way to grappling situations was enough to warrant a ranking. It’s rare that a relatively one-dimensional fighter gains that distinction, but if the individual is able to enforce their fight against quality opposition, it holds up.
Quality Win #4: 2014 Tim Elliot (71)
Okay, hear me out.
On one hand, “janky” doesn’t begin to describe Tim Elliot’s striking. He turns his back, switches his feet for no reason, and carries his hands by his thighs. It’s funny, but not good that he does that. It sometimes freaks opponents out enough that they don’t engage, keeping him safe in a way, but it hardly ever puts him in a defensively capable position. I’m not awarding rating points for being weird.
Rating
On the other hand, when he’s in “serious mode”, Elliot is able to leverage his absurd strength and wrestling ability to pressure in a low stance, force counters then change levels and finish shots with surprising finesse.
As a wrestler, Elliot’s game works. Even when an opponent crashes in while he’s standing sideways like a goof, he has the aptitude to work from underhooks for hip throws against elite MMA wrestlers like Benavidez.
CLIP: Tim Elliot ragdolls and traps Joseph Benavidez before being outfoxed (2014)
My praise for Joseph Benavidez’s grappling and scrambling is likely looking thin, now that I’ve provided back-to-back examples of him being put in trouble in one of his strongest areas. However, it’s truly a testament to the athletic qualities and craft of these opponents that they were able to find that success.
The same viewers questioning how significant it is for Tim Elliot taking down and briefly controlling Joseph Benavidez likely hold Dominick Cruz in much higher esteem. Cruz struggled badly to wrestle with Benavidez in 2010 with a significant size advantage. Fighters contending with Benavidez in wrestling and scrambling situations later in his career, when his skills had developed even further, should be taken seriously.
Quality Win #5: 2014 Dustin Ortiz (73)
As discussed in regards to Ian McCall earlier, it’s a fantastic show of depth when a fighter can find success with their “B” game against an elite opponent.
Rating
It wasn’t particularly polished, but Ortiz showed the craft to step back, sometimes retain his base and throw check hooks at the charging Benavidez. He even incorporated teeps and push kicks to keep Benavidez from closing in. Fighting off the backfoot was clearly unnatural to the hyperactive wrestler Ortiz, but the looks he showed were enough to give him a little breathing room and space to move forward and work his own game.
While this was a lesser version of Ortiz than we see today, he was still showing off his ability to feint his way in, kick the body, legs or head on a retreat, and level change and enter on powerful doubles if Benavidez planted to counter.
CLIP: Dustin Ortiz survives the A-game of Benavidez to find his own spots (2014)
Wrestling exchanges allowed Ortiz’s athletic ability to shine, he used his power to lock his hands on doubles and lift, control when he switched off to singles, and pop and return Benavidez to the mat when he got to rear-standing.
Conversely Ortiz’s reactions and hips were typically ready for the shots of Benavidez, and when they hit the mat he could hustle right along with him. From disadvantageous positions Ortiz showed off all sorts of neat looks that created scrambles like limp arms, peak-outs and even headlocks.
Like Tim Elliot, most of Ortiz’s rating in 2014 derives from his athleticism and deep wrestling skill, but he showed enough competency on the feet to give an aggressive striker second thoughts.
Quality Win #6: 2015 John Moraga (73)
Finally, Benavidez got a break from dangerous, athletic wrestlers.
Just kidding, John Moraga placed twice at University Nationals in freestyle in college, and had demonstrably better hands than both Elliot and Ortiz at the time.
One of the toughest things about being Joseph Benavidez is that he usually had to fight flyweight contenders after they had faced Demetrious Johnson. Moraga was thrown to Johnson four years into his MMA career and only after two UFC wins.
Preparation for a fighter of Johnson’s caliber, especially takedown defense and shutting down grappling, can lead to significant development in a short period of time. Two years, later Moraga was streaking again and ready for another test in Benavidez.
Rating
As a striker Moraga picked up speed as the fight went on, starting with well-timed single kicks, punching off those kicks and finding his footing for boxing combinations once he was comfortable with the advances of Benavidez. The low kicks Moraga broke the base of Benavidez as he planted to begin a burst. As a result Benavidez hesitated after leading, preparing for a kick, and Moraga was able to take short, linear evasive maneuvers and pop back in for counters.
CLIP: John Moraga holds on and surges against Joseph Benavidez
Once he found success, Moraga started to chain his attacks. Rolling in on combinations off the motion of his kicks and even punching on the same side as the kick retracted. When he felt urgency to advance and finish the fight, Moraga pressured in aggressively with varied, powerful combinations, keeping his feet set and adjusting to cut Benavidez off as he tried to change his trajectory away from the cage. He hooked and kicked round on lateral movement attempts, and crashed forward and attacked from the clinch as Benavidez attempted to intercept with strikes of his own.
Before he was able to get his offense going on the feet, Moraga had to withstand the wrestling assault of Benavidez. While Benavidez was able to ground Moraga early, the former Division 1 wrestler thrived when he could get to underhooks, using them to wall-walk, turn Benavidez and hit a beautiful back arch off a bodylock. He even capitalized on a slipped headlock by Benavidez and avoided disaster in the scrambles, attacking a standing arm triangle as they rose to their feet.
While his technique wasn’t perfect, I was truly impressed with the depth and competency of Moraga’s game, his punching power, durability, and his cardio.
Quality Win #7: 2015 Ali Bagautinov (76)
It’s a testament to all of the fighters above that they were able to show off their skills, even when their strengths directly clashed with those of Benavidez.
Dagestani sambist Ali Bagautinov was essentially a wrestleboxer, but his boxing was fairly limited to his right hand, he leaned much more on his grappling and the takedown threat. Typically that looked like Bagautinov stalking his opponents and looking to bomb on them, changing levels and hitting his takedowns when they loaded up to fire back.
After his title loss to Demetrious Johnson, where neither aspects of his game were effective, Bagautinov began to add some depth to his striking. His drug test failure for EPO gave him some extra time to prepare and adjust his style to be less cardio intensive.
Rating
With his immense power and the threat of the reactive takedown, Bagautinov gave Benavidez reasons to keep his distance from the jump. What really stood out was the coiled, booming counter-punching Bagautinov unleashed off the advances of Benavidez.
CLIP: Ali Bagautinov throws at Joseph Benavidez with Dagestani fury (2015)
He was able to plant and hit intercepting straights, strike aggressively off clinch breaks, walk Benavidez into overhand missiles, level change and at the very least circle himself off the cage with reactive shots.
Even with what was likely diminished conditioning, Bagautinov still showed remarkable explosivity in his lead hooks and his power never dwindled. He was poised and ready for any naked low kicking and countered with no hesitation.
While Benavidez was able to scramble himself out of trouble, his forward momentum fed into several Bagautinov takedowns, he was manhandled and sometimes even sent airborne when the two tied up in earnest.
As a physical threat, Bagautinov was uniquely dangerous at flyweight. His improved boxing and powerhouse wrestling are significant threats, but his approach was fairly limited and his volume was insufficient.
Quality Win #8: 2016 Zach Makovsky (78)
For most of his early career, Zach Makovsky got by on being a stud wrestler with a Division 1 pedigree and developing grappling. He dispatched fairly competent competition to become the Bellator bantamweight champion before he ran into a true threat in Eduardo Dantas. Anthony Leone, a fellow credentialed wrestler was competitive enough to take Makovsky to a split decision.
A change was needed.
After moving to Tristar Gym in Montreal, Makovsky began to put his athletic ability and wrestling skill to work in earnest.
After a drop to flyweight and two straight wins, Makovsky made it to the UFC. He took out a tough veteran and Division 1 wrestler in Scott Jorgensen, then controlled the scrappy Josh Sampo before meeting a superior grappler whose striking was coming along well, Jussier Formiga.
A victory over the decidedly quality opponent Tim Elliot and a close fight with title contender John Dodson kept Makovsky in the conversation with elites, leading him to Benavidez.
Rating
Training at Tristar typically leads to clever outfighting and proficiency in advanced grappling systems, this works for some and is a bad look on others. For wrestlers who thrive in reactive takedown situations and like to be able to get a read on their opponents’ entries, becoming a frustrating outfighter can be a perfect fit.
The ability to gameplan and stick to a strategy that works can definitely contribute to a fighter’s rating, some call it “Fight IQ”. Knowing that Benavidez usually enters high with hooking combinations, Makovsky’s choice of the body jab as a tool to maintain distance was excellent. For the same reasons, Makovsky was wise to implement the low line side kick to disrupt Benavidez’s base when he planted to throw and move in.
After seeing how eager Benavidez was to counter off naked kicking, Makovsky showed a beautiful entry. He skipped up with the lead leg low kick, then retracted the leg and blasted through on a penetration step as Benavidez leapt in to punish.
Not only was this tactically brilliant, Makovsky’s speed and explosion were on full display.
CLIP: Zach Makovsky presents a complex puzzle to Joseph Benavidez
A highly technical wrestler, Makovsky ran his feet then popped his hips with his head outside, lifting and returning Benavidez flat on his back in side control. Makovsky’s ability to set a trap then execute perfectly on a physical sequence like that was outstanding.
Makovsky had answers for much of Benavidez’s game, he was prepared to catch and counter or shoot off single kicks, used his jab to disrupt the rhythm of Benavidez’s entries, and level changed as a last resort when he had no counter for the charge or was not prepared to escape laterally.
This is all even more impressive when you consider Makovsky took the fight on short notice (according to commentary.)
In the second round Makovsky built off his success, dropping right hands over the top as he lowered his level, capitalizing on Benavidez’s reaction to what had been a body jab or penetration shot in the past.
But it’s hard to fight off the back foot for so long, especially on short notice. Makovsky looked for takedowns more and more often, and while they were effective, he relied a lot on explosion to look for solid positions, and Benavidez forced him into wild scrambles that led to his escapes. This was all very tiring, and Makovsky had little to offer in the third round.
As a technician and an athlete, Makovsky was one of the best opponents Benavidez had ever seen. He could have been more comfortable in the pocket and relied less on linear retreats, but he looked outstanding for as long as he had gas. It may not seem fair to penalize Benavidez for Makovsky having limited cardio, seeing as he pushed him to cause the fatigue in the first place. However, it’s all about the product you’re up against, and a fighter with only two hard rounds in them is going to lose points.
Quality Win #9: 2016 Henry Cejudo (85)
Were you aware that Henry Cejudo won a gold medal at the Olympics in freestyle wrestling? Well, when he represented the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, as a freestyle wrestler, he won all his matches, earning him a gold medal.
It’s easy to forget, I’ll sprinkle in reminders.
After his 2008 Olympic championship run that led to a gold medal, Cejudo used his serviceable boxing, developing ground game, otherworldly athleticism and gold medal-level wrestling to fuel his 10-0 run to a title shot.
His loss to Demetrious Johnson was a wake-up call. The king of his division was elite in every position, he could have no glaring holes if he wanted to be able to implement his strengths. And so, more than six months later, Cejudo returned as a new man to face Joseph Benavidez.
Rating
Part of this is certainly technical development, part may be because Cejudo hated Benavidez for bullying him on The Ultimate Fighter with hurtful, accurate insults about his personality. Regardless of the reason, Cejudo learned to push his greatest advantage on the feet - being a power-punching gold medal-winning tank.
Cejudo was known to crash into the clinch with lead straights and hooks in the past, but it usually lead to more static ties where Cejudo would work to the fence or slowly separate. Now, Cejudo was blazing forward and immediately backing off to looser ties, swinging his brick fists in the pocket off short separations. Typically iron-chinned, Benavidez was in huge trouble within 30 seconds.
But he wasn’t all pocket-crashing flurries, Cejudo showed off his newfound kicking game as well.
CLIP: Henry Cejudo turns into a kickboxer vs. Joseph Benavidez (2016)
Given the distance Cejudo could cover on boxing entries up high, he gave Benavidez reason to raise his guard and expose his midsection to round kicking, and low kicks on his retreat. On Benavidez’s entries, he was able to find some short intercepting counters with a fair bit of success, and even more importantly, he was more deliberate with his clinch tie-ups, latching onto more offensive positions like the double collar tie.
The fight was absolutely wild, for as many successful Cejudo exchanges I’ve captured in the above clip, there were twice as many where Benavidez was able to evade the power and counter in bundles.
Cejudo’s gold medal wrestling pedigree was an ever-present threat, but his control on the mat was not nearly enough to hold down MMA’s best scrambler.
Despite the work that still needed to be done technically and strategically then, and today, Cejudo is one of MMA’s best athletes, with an outstanding skill set in one facet, a highly threatening attack on the feet, and the tenacity to break down nearly any opponent on earth. Benavidez’s ability to not only survive, but figure out and slow down Cejudo, spoke volumes about him as a practitioner and competitor.
Quality Win #10: 2018 Alex Perez (73)
Alex Perez is one of my absolute favorite rising fighters. A Team Oyama product, the Californian wrestler has developed a vicious, volume-based boxing attack to complement his front-headlock choke series and folkstyle-rooted control.
A sign of depth and things to come was that the young veteran employed a brutal body punching attack to hurt and disarm Jose “Shorty” Torres before going Baroni-Menne on him against the cage.
I was so impressed with Perez, I wrote an article breaking down his skill set before his fight with Benavidez.
Read here!
Rating
To my dismay, Perez dropped the ball tactically. He lead with long, naked kicks from the outside, constantly opening himself to powerful counters.
The level changing, feinting boxing entries I had grown to love from Perez were nowhere to be found, and he found himself in trouble early and often.
For the form he was in, I still rate Perez, considering his raw ability, but that strategic mistake and the defensive holes that made it such a blunder definitely dropped Perez a few points. It’s a credit to Joseph Benavidez that most mistakes can end your night early against him. A physical, technical grappler with depth to his striking weapons, Perez is still worthy.
Quality Win #11: 2019 Dustin Ortiz (82)
It was such a pleasure to watch Dustin Ortiz grow into his own in the UFC.
The aforementioned discomfort on his feet faded, and Ortiz settled in, focusing on athletic, high motion footwork, a few specific power-focused combinations, and finding his timing on counter hooks.
To fully grasp the depth of Ortiz’s skill as a wrestler and scrambler, I do recommend checking out the Benavidez wrestling piece, which focuses on this fight specifically.
After his first fight with Benavidez, Ortiz went through some growing pains, consistently losing to superior grapplers, especially when they got to his back.
Perhaps it was confidence Ortiz needed to truly find his momentum as a complete fighter. In the summer of 2017, Ortiz recording a draw-dropping 15 second KO over Hector Sandoval, ruining the promising Team Alpha Male product with a crunching hook.
Next was redemption, Ortiz navigated an aggressive striker and elite grappler (and back-take artist) in Alexandre Pantoja, proving that he could deal with what appeared to be his stylistic kryptonite.
While a much more wily and careful striker in Matheus Nicolau puzzled Ortiz early on, the power and timing of Ortiz allowed him to knock out Nicolau through his hand with a stiff head kick. Displaying some craft, Ortiz played around in the handfight with Nicolau on the lead side, encouraging him to prepare for a boxing exchange with his rear hand, gluing it to his chin. With that hand in place, Ortiz kicked over it with malicious intent.
Rating
With that in mind, Joseph Benavidez had to have been aware that Dustin Ortiz was a more complex, challenging opponent than in their first meeting.
He was able to parry kicks and counter with combinations, mixing to the body then head. He threw round kicks to cut off lateral movement then immediately punched at the exposed side on the retreat. With more confidence than last time, he used teeps to stifle the entries of Benavidez and moved in aggressively thereafter. His offense was thoughtful, his defense was sharp, and he was always ready to rip the appropriate counters after each defensive action.
He was even boxing up Benavidez in the pocket at times, clanging him with hooking combinations after intercepting an entry with shorter punches. It’s not always true that in a rematch, you get a better version of your opponent, one that is doubly prepared for you, but Ortiz had answers for almost everything, his game had developed impressively in response to the flaws that had been exposed in the UFC.
Of course his strength, cardio, tenacity, wrestling and scrambling ability never left.
CLIP: Dustin Ortiz competes phenomenally against Joseph Benavidez (2019)
In what is likely a mix of pure physicality and leverage, Ortiz was able to escape from being flat on his back in half guard by reaching back and posting, freeing a leg then cartwheeling and hipping over the back of Benavidez into a front headlock position.
He competed in every exchange, chain wrestled and switched up his efforts at the perfect times, going from posting on the head and limp legging to pressuring the hips and sprawling out in an instant.
Ortiz really outdid himself scrambling into dominant clinching positions, beating Benavidez to the feet and bodylocking or shrugging to the back off double underhooks on numerous occasions. Those weren’t static positions, even deep in the fight, Ortiz was able to pop his hips and mat return, taking the back of Benavidez with hooks in.
His hips looked outstanding, his striking was keyed in, his cardio was unimpeachable, he gave a perennial elite a run for his money, challenging him where he was at his best.
And Benavidez still came out on top, winning the scrambles more often than not and sticking to control positions when he could get them. After such a fantastic showing, how did the UFC reward Dustin Ortiz?
THEY CUT HIM. I’m not one to tell you what to do or think, but please be angry about this.
Quality Win #12: 2019 Jussier Formiga (84)
Jussier Formiga’s development into a well-rounded threat and elite fighter is too interesting to be confined to a brief blurb in a greater article.
Please read this breakdown of Formiga’s striking, his “B” game, to gain a full appreciation for his depth of skill. Also included were my thoughts on how he matched up with Benavidez in the rematch, which I was totally right about.
Concluding Thoughts
What was the point of all of this, you ask? By highlighting the successes of Benavidez’s opponents against him, it may seem to some that I am in fact hindering his argument for greatness. But why is it necessary for him to have dominated these fighters? It would be incredibly impressive, but very few (see the top five of our lists) are able to put on a master class against the highest quality opponents in MMA. I demonstrated just how tough to beat these fighters were on the night that Benavidez defeated them, adding context to his resume, which already looks like that of a great fighter on paper.
This will strike many as a peculiar way to assess a fighter’s greatness.
But, from my perspective, to analyze the skills of Benavidez himself would be a judgment of “best”, not “greatest”. Greatest is a measure of achievement, and in MMA, the basic unit of achievement is a win.
The ratings themselves are certainly arbitrary. Even among analysts with whom I share many opinions with, there will be rampant disagreements about where exactly a fighter falls on a 0-100 scale, who is worthy of the minimum “70” rating, and so on. What I can do is establish a baseline, and provide evidence to justify ratings comparatively.
As my own articles on the greatest of all time come out, you will be able to reference more and more examples of rated fighters. I hope you enjoyed some newfound context on the best wins of Joseph Benavidez’s career, next up for me is arguably the greatest lightweight of all time - keep reading The Fight Site to find out who that is.