In a new interview, newly-retired Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight great Joseph Benavidez explained making his decision official, and the overwhelming appreciation he has received from fans after the retirement news broke Wednesday evening.
The revelation that Benavidez, 37, was officially hanging up his MMA gloves for good was not a shocking development for observers of the sport. After losing three straight, two of those in title fights, it seemed likely that the long-time 125-pound talent could call it a career. In a new interview with TSN reporter Aaron Bronsteter, “Beefcake” explained how he had mentally retired a while ago, but only put in his paperwork to make it official this week.
https://twitter.com/aaronbronsteter/status/1438307327648616451
I’ve actually known I was going to retire for a while, but you have to make it official, I guess, to retire and do all that stuff,” Benaviez said. “Like, tell the people that it concerns, like [UFC matchmaker] Mick Maynard, that you’re going to retire, and USADA and all that. So I actually just had to kind of do that yesterday because I was bored. I was like, ‘I should probably make this official.’ I’ve kind of been retired, in a way.
So I talked to Mick, and he was like, ‘Yeah, you’re probably going to be out of the rankings here soon, so people will probably know what’s happening.’ I said ‘cool.’ He said it’ll probably be until Monday, but then I got out of a workout, and I had a few people messaging me, and I was like, ‘Well, here we go. That’s how it is.’ In all honesty, I hadn’t really had time to post and to really take it all in.
The news of his retirement reached the public much quicker than next week’s new UFC rankings. Especially, after his wife, UFC backstage reporter Megan Olivi tweeted, “Retirement adventures are gonna be fun. My king forever [Joseph Benavidez].”
The tweet spread rapidly and the Californian was quickly inundated with messages of love and support for a memorable career as one of the best flyweights in UFC history. Benavidez admitted the messages made him emotional, and that eventually making an official statement on decision will be a difficult process to undertake.
https://twitter.com/MeganOlivi/status/1438227670253203462
“I hadn’t even had time to post and really take it all in. Just been looking at everyone’s messages and a lot of the posts; actually, I’ve known I’ve been retired. I didn’t also think it would be an emotional thing. But [from] reading a bunch of stuff, I was just like crying in the backyard out here,” said Benavidez.
“So yea, it’s been a good day. I haven’t been able to put anything myself out yet. I feel like they’ll never be anything good enough. Like, if I have hard enough time posting what picture I think is the best it’s gonna be really hard to put into just how much 15 years of this, and everyone in the sports meant.”
In a career that spanned 15 years — 13 of those under the UFC and WEC banners –, Benavidez finished his career with a record of 28-8. He came up short in championship bouts against Demetrious Johnson [twice], Deiveson Figueiredo [twice], and against Dominick Cruz for the WEC bantamweight title. Although he did not win UFC or WEC gold, he was constantly ranked in the UFC flyweight division’s top-10 and scored wins over many of the best talents of his time. Including future champion Henry Cejudo, Jussier Formiga [twice], Ian McCall, and Eddie Wineland.
