Joseph Benavidez Will Rematch Dominick Cruz for WEC Bantamweight Title This August
by Anton Tabuena on Jun 8, 2010 11:28 PM EDT
in MMA News
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Fresh off the heels of the announcement that Urijah Faber will make his bantamweight debut against Takeya Mizugaki, comes another marquee 135 lb. match-up on the same card. Faber's teammate, Joseph Benavidez (12-1), who defeated Miguel Torres this March, will now to get a chance to win the WEC title and avenge his only loss to the current bantamweight kingpin, Dominick Cruz (15-1).
MMAWeekly has it:
The bout was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the fight on Tuesday evening, and was first reported by the Carmichael Dave show on Tuesday as well.
Cruz vs. Benavidez is expected to headline the upcoming card on August 18, along with a fight first reported on MMAWeekly on Tuesday with Urijah Faber making his debut at 135lbs against Takeya Mizugaki.
UPDATE: Dominick Cruz comments via twitter:
Its official peeps! Me vs Benavidez again! I'm pumped! And will be more than ready to defend MY belt!
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Agreed. Unless Benavidez can drastically improve his gameplan
I don’t see it going much different. Than again, I didn’t think Machida would get KO’d in the 1st round against Shogun the 2nd time either.
Really was not close in the first fight….Cruz’s footwork is sick….Cruz wins again.
by Brian Burdios on Jun 8, 2010 11:38 PM EDT up reply actions
Cruz’s footwork is not sick, it’s unorthodox. Joe looked much better against the taller Torres and will have a new gameplan for this one.
"The mat is my church, the ground is my heaven, Jiu-Jitsu is my religion. And once you hit the ground you're in my world..."
?….Whatever YOU want to call it is fine by me. Ur boy has to come up with a better gameplan or it’s going to be the same result. For the record I like Benavidez, just seems like a bad matchup based off previous fight…imo.
by Brian Burdios on Jun 9, 2010 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions
I really hope he does
come out with a better gameplan. Against Torres, he kept his hands up high muay thai style and worked his way in behind kicks instead of his usual looping punches from distance. He’s quick enough to counter Cruz (at least I hope so) and may press the action more than he did in their first fight. I’m extremely biased here because I used to wrestle with Joe in HS and trained with him wayyyy back in the day, so I really hope that he can solve this puzzle.
"The mat is my church, the ground is my heaven, Jiu-Jitsu is my religion. And once you hit the ground you're in my world..."
Barn
Burner.
Keep Firing, Assholes!
Have you accepted BROCKLESNARRRRRR!!!!!!! as your personal Heavyweight Champion?
If Benavidez wins, I wonder if Faber would ever fight him. With so few real names in the WEC it really limits their matchmaking abilities if two of their elites won’t fight.
"I am a man who pisses largely and frequently, which they say is a sign of great mental activity" -Henry Miller-
My guess is no
Not only are they training partners, but they de facto live together along with some of members of Alpha Male. I honestly don’t see the two ever fighting.
"The mat is my church, the ground is my heaven, Jiu-Jitsu is my religion. And once you hit the ground you're in my world..."
Joseph is just too small for bantamweight. When the wec brings in flyweight. He’ll have his home in that division, but cruz is gonna run through him again.
Exactly, he’d be the centerpiece of a flyweight division. He’ll drop down there before there’s any pressure to fight Faber, I’d guess.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
I don’t think he’d drop down if he wins the title. Then the pressure would be about as high as possible for the WEC
"I am a man who pisses largely and frequently, which they say is a sign of great mental activity" -Henry Miller-
I think he’d drop it to Bowles next time out if he did manage to get through Cruz. Like chunkyass said, he’s just too small for BW. Being a long-term champion there would be really, really hard for him.
More power to him if he can though. They’ll just build the flyweight division around Alexis Vila or Henry Cejudo instead.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
Benavidez couldn’t figure out the riddle in 3 rounds, and Cruz has only gotten better at keeping his timing and rhythm constant….my guess is Benavidez either gets bloodied up and finally broken ala Bowles who you could tell was frustrated by the style, or drops a decisions by losing out of 5 rounds, maybe winning a close round or 2.
Gatti. Dekkers. Pele. Aoki. Kang. Vanderlei. Basillio. Harry Greb.
by theworldsoldestsport on Jun 9, 2010 1:02 AM EDT up reply actions
Hard not to give Joe the shot after beating Miguel......
Still, I think Jorgensen really deserves a shot.
This
A rematch just over a year later? Ugh.
by William Wilson on Jun 9, 2010 1:14 AM EDT up reply actions
I hope Cruz takes it
because I want to see Cruz vs. Torres. As far as as style match-ups go, that fight has 5 round war written all over it.
Torres has not looked altogether impressive as of late, but I think a solid training camp with the right people can get him out of this slump, and more importantly back into contention.
Young Guns Jorgenson is getting passed over.
Joey B already took an L from The Dominator and needs to earn his rematch/title shot against the hardest worker in the division in Scotty Jorgenson.
Young Guns will get his due. Benivedez is going to walk into more counters than a clumsy chef fighting with Cruz though. Please Believe.
I am not big on this matchup because Benavidez lost unanimously to Cruz not too long ago. The style matchup is just really bad for Benavidez. I have a very hard time seeing Benavidez taking Cruz down, and I feel that Cruz’s reach will be a deciding factor in the standup. Honestly, I can’t see this fight being much different than their first fight.
you could be right,
but nevertheless, dominating Miguel Torres makes him deserve a title shot.
by Anton Tabuena on Jun 9, 2010 5:04 AM EDT up reply actions
I do not disagree. My issue is not whether he is deserving or not, but just on a personal note, I think that this matchup is a stylistic nightmare for Benavidez. Personally, I would have liked to have seen Jorgensen vs Cruz because it is a fresher matchup, but nonetheless, Benavidez has deservedly fought his way to this rematch.
i still wish jorgensen was getting the shot
but cruz benevidez 2 is gonna be awesome, neither guy knows how to have a boring fight
We have a saying back home that if your coming on, COME ON!!!!
Agreed, dude would Pwn.
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on Jun 9, 2010 9:15 AM EDT up reply actions
WAR!
http://venturefans.org/vbwiki/Tiny_Joseph
http://fightdrinker.blogspot.com
by some schmuck in texas on Jun 9, 2010 8:12 AM EDT reply actions
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