HOUSTON -- Joseph Benavidez thinks it should be fairly obvious that, yes, he would like a third fight against defending flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson.
Do we really need to hear him say it?
Benavidez (22-4) will seek his fourth win in a row on Saturday when he meets Ali Bagautinov (13-3) at UFC 192. The Sacramento-based flyweight is 9-2 in the UFC. Both losses came against Johnson in title fights, in 2012 and 2013.
Any time a fighter loses two championship fights to the same opponent, it's going to be a long road back to a third meeting -- even if he's dominating the rest of the division, as Benavidez has done. Benavidez gets this and is wiling to put in the time, but admits he's sick of hearing fans and media encourage him to "talk" more about a third Johnson fight.
"The annoying thing for me is that I go out and do what I have to do, and media and journalists are like, 'Oh, you have to be vocal. You're not going to get another title shot unless you're vocal,'" Benavidez told ESPN.com. "But then, if you're vocal about it, they say, 'Well, you already lost twice. There's other people in the division.'
"By default, any time anyone talks to me, just know that I want to fight Demetrious. After this fight, after the next one, that's who I want -- but I'm not going to go out after every fight and say, 'I'm ready for Demetrious.' That's just where I'm at."
Ahead of his matchup this weekend, Benavidez, 31, spoke about a rumored fight against surging contender Henry Cejudo that fell through, welcoming Bagautinov back from a one-year suspension for performance-enhancing drugs and scheduling his wedding day six days after the fight.
Any hesitation on your part to accept a fight against Bagautinov following his drug suspension? You feel he deserves a fight against you, the No. 2-ranked flyweight?
Funny enough, I didn't really think about it until after the fight was booked. I pretty much asked for this fight because Henry Cejudo didn't want to fight me. I knew I wanted to fight in September or October and I was calling this my "Plan B." Cejudo didn't want to fight me in September, but he said he'd fight me in October. I just didn't have a good feeling that he would take the fight in October, so I said we needed a Plan B. [Bagautinov] was really the only guy who made sense. I thought he had a good fight against Demetrious (last year). I like the fight. I think it's the toughest fight I can get outside of Demetrious and John Dodson.
Do you think the majority of fans and observers recognize that he is a tough fight for you?
I don't think they do. I don't think they understand. Since he's been out for a year, I think he's ranked 15 instead of No. 4 where he used to be. People are going to see him ranked No. 15 and not know who he is. But people in this sport know -- and I know it's a tough fight. So, I'm going in there to test myself at the end of the day. Test my skills.
What is your take on the Cejudo fight and why it didn't happen?
This is the thing: I'm not claiming he was scared of me. And I'm not upset when someone asks to fight me -- or turns down a fight against me. It's the fact that he did both. He said, "I want to fight Joseph Benavidez." If you say you want to fight someone and the UFC calls and offers you that fight, you take it. They offered him the fight on Sept. 5. He came back and said, "Oh, I don't want that day." OK. They offered Oct. 3. He said, "Oh, I don't want that day either." That's what made it more of a ducking kind of thing. I don't think he's scared of me and we'll obviously fight at some point. Maybe he would have fought me, had I waited all the way to the time where it was perfect for him. But the fact is, he was the one who said he wanted the fight, it was offered to him, and he didn't take it.
You're getting married six days after your fight on Saturday. That's obviously a new feeling on fight week for you. Has it been on your mind ahead of the fight at all?
It's there in more of a positive aspect. It's inspiring. Love inspires you in a way that not many other things can, you know what I mean? I haven't been thinking, "Oh, I have to plan this." My fiancée has done an awesome job handling all that, while I'm handling the fight. That was one reason I wanted to fight before the wedding. The wedding is so important, I didn't want anything in the back of my head like, "Oh, I have to train after this" or "I can't eat the food." I wanted the fight to be done. I took engagement photos three days after my last fight and there was not a scratch on me so, I plan on doing the same thing here.
