Benavidez a Forgotten Man at WEC 47

Swallowed up in the shadow of former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, Joseph Benavidez relishes his role as the forgotten man.

The once-beaten Benavidez will meet Torres in the WEC 47 “Bowles vs. Cruz” co-main event on Saturday at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Much of the pre-fight talk surrounding their encounter has centered on a potential rematch between Torres and the man who dethroned him -- reigning WEC bantamweight king Brian Bowles.

Benavidez takes it all in stride.

“I don’t look at it too much as disrespect when somebody’s done what [Torres has] done in the sport,” he said. “I’ve got to pave my own way. I like that role. Everything he’s had can be mine if I go out and do my thing.”

Benavidez bounced back from his unanimous decision loss to top contender Dominick Cruz with a brilliant 95-second shellacking of the world-ranked Rani Yahya in December. In Torres, the 25-year-old Team Alpha Male thoroughbred draws a proud former champion who had his 17-fight winning streak snapped in a knockout defeat to Bowles last summer. The stakes for both men have risen considerably.

“I feel like every fight just gets bigger,” Benavidez said. “Every fight is the biggest fight of my life. He’s definitely my most notable opponent. I’d say this is the most important fight of my career.”

Torres, an equally potent ground and stand-up fighter, figures to hold a significant reach advantage on Benavidez when the two meet, a fact to which the 5-foot-4 Urijah Faber protégé has grown accustomed.

“Everyone I practice with or fight usually has reach on me,” Benavidez said. “He does have an extremely long reach. That’s a way of life for me. Getting past somebody’s reach is pretty much the way I fight. I’m feeling good.”

Unbeaten through his first 10 fights as a professional, Benavidez struck a speed bump at WEC 42 in August, when the crafty Cruz outpointed him en route to a unanimous decision. The victory landed Cruz in the WEC 47 main event and sent Benavidez back to the drawing board.

“I think I lost a little focus,” Benavidez said. “Sometimes when you win, you feel like you don’t have to change anything. I always had the mentality that I’d be more athletic and faster and have better instincts. Then I went in there with a guy like Dominick, who is just as athletic, maybe a little bigger, and he had a game plan.”

The defeat, which cost Benavidez a shot at the 135-pound title, changed his outlook.

“It showed me that you can always improve,” he said. “It definitely refocused me. At this level, you need to do a few things differently. I would never have done that had I not lost.”