Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Flyweights

5. Joseph Benavidez

Benavidez is very likely the greatest fighter never to be the champion of a major organization, and I ranked him even higher, at fourth. A superlative grappler with outstanding wrestling and BJJ, he also developed fantastic striking, based around his aggressive boxing, charging forward with a series of huge power punches. He also had excellent cardio and intelligence, winning numerous battles against other greats, but never quite being able to overcome some of the greatest legends MMA has ever seen. Benavidez began his career as a very undersized bantamweight, but had success even there, starting 10-0, including decisions over Danny Martinez and Jeff Curran. He then faced Dominick Cruz, Sherdog's greatest bantamweight ever, and lost. Undeterred, he knocked out celebrated bantamweight grappler Rani Yahya in a little over 90 seconds and submitted Sherdog's all-time No. 6 bantamweight, Miguel Torres, in two rounds. That got him a rematch with Cruz for the title, though in what sadly become a habit, Benavidez came up short, losing a split decision that should have been unanimous. Benavidez continued fighting at bantamweight, going 3-0, including a decision over Eddie Wineland and a submission of Wagnney Fabiano, before dropping to 125 pounds and knocking out Yasuhiro Urushitani, the No. 10 entry on this list.

Benavidez fought Demetrious Johnson for the inaugural UFC flyweight championship and came closer to winning a title than he ever had before or would again, but still lost by split decision. Benavidez promptly rattled off three more wins, two against members of this list, a decision against Ian McCall and knockout of Jussier Formiga, and challenged Demetrious Johnson again. Unfortunately, the second attempt went far worse, as the reigning champion knocked out Benavidez in less than half a round, the first time he had been stopped. Once again, Benavidez was undeterred and went right back to winning. He would go an amazing 9-1 from 2014 to 2019 against superlative competition. This included a submission over Tim Elliott, two decisions over Dustin Ortiz, judges' verdicts over John Moraga, Ali Bagautinov, Zack Makovsky, another knockout of Jussier Formiga, a brutal first-round stoppage of Alex Perez and a split decision over Henry Cejudo that honestly could have gone to either man or even been a draw. The lone setback was a split decision loss to future Bellator bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis. Benavidez had once more gotten a title shot and was the favorite against Deiveson Figueiredo, who had recently lost to Jussier Formiga. Alas, the Brazilian scored a devastating knockout against Benavidez. However, since Figueiredo had missed weight, Benavidez got another chance, an unpredecented fifth title shot. Unfortunately, at almost 36 years old, Benavidez was well past his prime, and Figueiredo defeated him with ease, choking him out at the end of the first stanza. After dropping a decision to Askar Askarov, my personal choice for the No. 10 slot, Benavidez retired, closing a legendary career that never attained gold.

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