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Joseph Benevidez is finally set to get a crack at the UFC Flyweight Championship on February 29th against Deiveson Figueiredo. His last shot at the UFC gold was back in 2013 and a long time has passed since then.
Benavidez appeared on MMA Tonight on Sirius XM (H/T BJPENN.com)and wasn't pleased with the concept of UFC Double Champions. While Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Henry Cejudo had last done it, he's more bothered about the latter and said that he ignored the Flyweight division:
“He wasn’t mentioning me in any interviews, he wasn’t mentioning the flyweight division, I kind of knew where it was heading. I was like ‘Look, I don’t want it to be for an interim, I want it to be for the vacant title.’ and the company did the right thing, it’s amazing, it’s like you never know what to expect.”
He criticized the long-term idea behind crowning a "double-champ" as he feels it stalls two divisions and multiple fighters just for one night of glory.
“I think the bigger picture with that is the double-champ thing in general, it always comes to this stalemate, no matter who you are. When you’re going to put two divisions and multiple fighters on hold, for one person to kind of have that glory and accomplishment for a night, I think that’s something that maybe needs to change. They haven’t been able to execute that right moving forward after someone wins both titles.
Benavidez is right in this matter. Given that he should have gotten a title shot a long time ago, he has every right in believing and criticizing the "champ-champ" concept. It should be a thing of the past. When Conor McGregor did it in 2016, it was special. Today, it's all just one night of glory with no long-term plan in place.
