UFC 192's Joseph Benavidez calls Bagautinov 'plan B,' vents on Cejudo snub

Two-time UFC flyweight title challenger Joseph Benavidez sees his Saturday fight with Ali Bagautinov as “plan B.” In other words, the next best thing.

Or maybe more accurately, the next, next best thing.

Benavidez, 31, wants a third crack at champ Demetrious Johnson – this everyone knows. In a pair of tries, he’s fallen short on scorecards and been knocked out quick.

“In reality, that’s the only fight I really want,” Benavidez (22-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC), who faces onetime title challenger Bagautinov (13-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) on UFC 192’s pay-per-view main card, told MMAjunkie.

But as the UFC has recently made clear, when you lose twice to the champ, the chances of getting another shot are slim at best. Onetime title challenger Miesha Tate could be out of a job if she loses again to women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey, UFC President Dana White recently said.

So in lieu of the champ, Benavidez was ready to face the toughest opponents possible. That’s when Henry Cejudo (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) came across his radar.

According to Benavidez, the former Olympic gold medalist wrestler, who’s won his first two in the UFC’s octagon, expressed interest in fighting him. But then, things went south.

“He said, ‘I want to fight Benavidez,’ and (the UFC) said, ‘Cool, Sept. 5,’” said Benavidez, referring to the Johnson-headlined UFC 191 earlier this month. “(Cejudo) said, ‘Oh, not that day, I’d rather it be this day.’ And that was supposed to be Oct. 3, and he came back and said, ‘Oh, not that day either, I’d rather wait.’

“(Then) he was honest about it and said he’d fought three times in seven months and wanted a little break. But you should have just said that from the beginning or said nothing at all.”

Cejudo, via rep William McFarlane, wasn’t immediately reachable for comment.

Benavidez isn’t going to play the card that Cejudo ducked him in favor of a title shot against Johnson. But he admits that he’s irritated that Cejudo changed his plans.

Had Benavidez known Cejudo would cancel, he said he would have tried to fight Bagautinov earlier on a different card.

“If (Cejudo) was offered the fight and he said, ‘Hey, I’m not really ready, I’d like another fight before that,’ cool,” Benavidez said. “But the fact that he said he wanted to fight me and then turned down two separate dates is what really got to me. And I never thought the guy was scared of me or ducking me or anything. If I said I wanted to fight someone and they offered me a date, I would take the date.”

So he has Bagautinov in front of him for UFC 192, which takes place at Houston’s Toyota Center.

Bagautinov makes his first UFC appearance since a one-year suspension for the banned performance-enhancer erythropoietin (EPO), which was found in his system following a unanimous decision loss to Johnson at UFC 174.

Benavidez thinks that next to John Dodson, who was routed by the champ at UFC 191, it’s the most competitive fight he can get. It’s not necessarily the one with the most sizzle, given Bagautinov’s PED suspension and Cejudo’s sparkling credentials, but it’s a competitive challenge.

“I feel good about the fight,” Benavidez said. “Cheating or not, I’ve probably fought guys that were on something before; I just hope it didn’t play into the decision. I’ve probably beat guys that did the same thing. But that’s over and done with.

“For me, I look at this fight as the next toughest fight outside of Demetrious and Dodson.”

And when you’re forced into a competitive limbo, making the best of things is a strategy that will keep you sane. Benavidez doesn’t know how long he’ll have to wait for his chance to show the first two fights weren’t him, but he also knows he can’t drive himself crazy getting there.

For more on UFC 192, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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