Joseph Rolando Benavidez was born on July 31,1984 and is an American former professional mixed martial artist.
54 Facts About Joseph Benavidez
2.
Joseph Benavidez competed in the Flyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
3.
Joseph Benavidez grew up with his single mother and two brothers.
4.
Joseph Benavidez attended Las Cruces High School, where he began training boxing.
5.
Joseph Benavidez continued to wrestle for one semester at William Penn University before dropping out.
6.
From college onwards Joseph Benavidez struggled with alcohol and drug abuse before becoming sober, subsequently turning his interest into mixed martial arts.
7.
Joseph Benavidez has since fought in Dream, WEC and most recently the UFC.
8.
Joseph Benavidez's fighting style has drawn comparisons to training partner and former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber.
9.
Joseph Benavidez's flight was then canceled, giving him the chance to meet up with Faber as he had hoped.
10.
Joseph Benavidez impressed Faber enough to offer him a job at the front desk of his gym, enabling him to leave New Mexico to come train with him and his team.
11.
Joseph Benavidez then went back to New Mexico, "jammed everything into his car" and moved to California.
12.
The bout was canceled only days before the fight, and Joseph Benavidez was instead matched against Junya Kodo whom he defeated by guillotine choke submission.
13.
Joseph Benavidez faced Jeff Curran on April 5,2009 at WEC 40.
14.
Joseph Benavidez dominated Curran from the opening bell with superior grappling and striking, knocking the opponent down in the first round.
15.
Joseph Benavidez fought Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Rani Yahya on December 19,2009 at WEC 45.
16.
Joseph Benavidez defeated former WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres on March 6,2010 at WEC 47.
17.
Joseph Benavidez dominated the former Bantamweight Champion before opening a huge cut on Torres' forehead and submitting the bloodied Torres via guillotine choke.
18.
Joseph Benavidez fought Dominick Cruz in a rematch for the WEC Bantamweight Championship on August 18,2010 at WEC 50.
19.
Joseph Benavidez lost to Cruz for a second time via split decision.
20.
Joseph Benavidez faced Wagnney Fabiano on November 11,2010, replacing an injured Brian Bowles.
21.
Joseph Benavidez next fought Eddie Wineland on August 14,2011 at UFC on Versus 5.
22.
At the UFC 140 post-fight press conference, Dana White announced that Joseph Benavidez would be a participant in a four man tournament to crown the new newly created UFC Flyweight Championship.
23.
Joseph Benavidez faced Yasuhiro Urushitani on March 3,2012 at UFC on FX 2 and won via TKO in the second round, earning Knockout of the Night honors for his performance.
24.
Joseph Benavidez faced Demetrious Johnson on September 22,2012 at UFC 152 for the inaugural UFC Flyweight Championship.
25.
Joseph Benavidez faced Ian McCall on February 2,2013 at UFC 156.
26.
Joseph Benavidez then faced Darren Uyenoyama on April 20,2013 at UFC on Fox 7.
27.
Joseph Benavidez won the fight via TKO in the second round.
28.
Joseph Benavidez faced Jussier Formiga on September 4,2013 at UFC Fight Night 28.
29.
Joseph Benavidez won the fight by TKO in round 1 after dropping Formiga with a knee to the body and following up with punches.
30.
Joseph Benavidez lost via knockout in the first round, the first time he has been stopped in his MMA career.
31.
Joseph Benavidez faced Tim Elliott on April 26,2014 at UFC 172.
32.
Joseph Benavidez won the fight in the first round via modified guillotine choke.
33.
Joseph Benavidez faced Dustin Ortiz on November 22,2014 at UFC Fight Night 57.
34.
Joseph Benavidez faced John Moraga on May 23,2015 at UFC 187.
35.
Joseph Benavidez was briefly linked to a bout against former Olympic Gold Medalist Henry Cejudo on September 5,2015 at UFC 191.
36.
In turn, Joseph Benavidez faced Ali Bagautinov on October 3,2015 at UFC 192.
37.
Joseph Benavidez faced Zach Makovsky on February 6,2016 at UFC Fight Night 82.
38.
In May 2016, the UFC announced that Joseph Benavidez would be one of the coaches, opposite Henry Cejudo on The Ultimate Fighter 24.
39.
Joseph Benavidez won the back and forth fight via split decision.
40.
Joseph Benavidez faced Sergio Pettis on June 9,2018 at UFC 225.
41.
Joseph Benavidez lost the back and forth fight via split decision.
42.
Joseph Benavidez was expected to face Ray Borg on November 10,2018 at UFC Fight Night 139.
43.
Joseph Benavidez faced Alex Perez on November 30,2018 at The Ultimate Fighter 28 Finale.
44.
Joseph Benavidez won the fight via technical knockout out in round one.
45.
Joseph Benavidez was briefly scheduled to face Deiveson Figueiredo on January 19,2019 at UFC Fight Night 143.
46.
Subsequently, Joseph Benavidez indicated that he would like to compete on the card, so while being an alternate for the headliner, a rematch with Dustin Ortiz took place at the event.
47.
Joseph Benavidez signed a new, four-fight contract with the UFC before the fight with Ortiz.
48.
Joseph Benavidez faced Jussier Formiga in a rematch on June 29,2019 at UFC on ESPN 3.
49.
Joseph Benavidez won the fight via technical knockout in the second round.
50.
Joseph Benavidez fought Deiveson Figueiredo for the vacant UFC Flyweight Championship at UFC Fight Night 169 on February 29,2020.
51.
Joseph Benavidez rematched with Deiveson Figueiredo for the vacant UFC Flyweight Championship at UFC Fight Night 172 on July 19,2020.
52.
Joseph Benavidez lost the fight via a technical submission in round one.
53.
Joseph Benavidez faced off against Askar Askarov on March 6,2021 at UFC 259.
54.
In September 2021, Joseph Benavidez announced that he was retiring from MMA.