Joseph Benavidez vs Demetrious Johnson

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Time for the inaugural UFC flyweight championship bout. These guys are fucking tiny. 125 lbs is the division limit. I’m hoping this doesn’t go the distance; fights in this weight class typically move so fast that it really is difficult to keep up from a typing standpoint. Joseph Benavidez recently claimed to punch harder than Michael Bisping, which obviously angered the much larger man. Live updates after the jump:[[MORE]]

Round 1: Kicks exchanged. Demetrious Johnson ties up Benavidez, but Benavidez does more damage from the clinch. Benavidez is on the attack and the fighters tie up again. Demetrious lands a nice knee. Right by Demetrious. Benavidez dives into the takedown, but Demetrious is too fast. Benavidez throws a big kick, but Demetrious is out of the way. Benavidez pushes him against the cage. Benavidez chasing Demetrious down, but Demetrious gets away. Fighter repeat the cage-push, escape cycle again.

Nice left by Johnson. Leg kick by Johnson. Johnson lands a big right, but Benavidez walks right through it. Joseph throws a looping overhand right that glances over Demetrious’ head. Benavidez goes for a knee bar as the round ends.

Round 2: Benavidez lands a big right. He throws a spinning back elbow, but doesn’t land. Johnson lands a leg kick. Another leg kick from Demetrious. Benavidez chasing and landing. Benavidez lands a right hook. Leg kick by Demetrious. Benavidez still chasing and landing punches. He pushes Johnson against the cage. Benavidez is throwing bombs. Demetrious with a jab. Left by Benavidez. Benavidez comes forward and misses. Benavidez with a body kick.

Benavidez lands a right. Benavidez shoots, but it is stuffed. Benavidez lands a left. Benavidez lands a leg kick, but Demetrious grabs onto him. The fighters separate. Benavidez lands a left. Johnson lands a right, Benavidez lands a big left, and then a big right. Benavidez with a leg kick.

10-9 Benavidez.

Round 3: Benavidez throwing kicks and punches, but from too far away. Benavidez lands a right and misses a head kick. Benavidez is bleeding badly from the eye. Benavidez lands a body kick, but Demetrious catches it. Benavidez lands a big right. Crowd boos. Johnson comes forward. Benavidez landed a right. Benavidez is throwing a lot of wild strikes.

Benavidez lands a takedown, but Johnson is back up already. Benavidez lands a knee as they disengage. Crowd booing some more. Benavidez throws a pair of punches and lands them. Benavidez says he got his eye poked. Referee Yves Lavigne said he didn’t see it and makes them keep fighting. Never seen that happen before. Crowd is booing some more. Demetrious lands again. Another punch by Johnson. Benavidez coming forward as the round ends.

10-9 Benavidez.

Round 4: Johnson lands a leg kick. Johnson lands a punch and Benavidez ties him up. Johnson lands a right. Johnson lands another right. Benavidez lands a big right hand and Demetrious is hurt. Demetrious is down on the ground and Benavidez has a full mount. Demetrious kicks out and goes for a leg lock, but Benavidez is back on top. Benavidez has side control, but Demetrious spins out and stands up.

Benavidez tries for another takedown and ends up on the bottom, but Benavidez illegally grabs the cage and stands up before Lavigne can stop him. Demetrious times a perfect shot and gets a nice takedown, but Benavidez is up already. Demetrious gets another perfectly-timed takedown and has side control; he is working the body hard as the round ends.

10-9 Benavidez. This is a tough fight to score.

Round 5: Demetrious lands a kick. Demetrious shoots, picks Benavidez up and slams him to the ground. Benavidez gets up, but is slammed again. Benavidez gets up again. Benavidez lands a nice right. Johnson shoots and gets a takedown into side control. Benavidez works back up to his feet.

Jab by Demetrious. Benavidez lands a big left. Right by Benavidez. Benavidez shoots, misses, and gets kicked on the way back up. Crowd is booing again. Right by Benavidez. Benavidez coming forward and Demetrious is backing up. Demetrious shoots, but gets stuffed. He pushes Benavidez against the cage. Benavidez goes for a spinning backfist, but misses. Benavidez looking to finish it, but Demetrious ties him up.

10-9 Johnson. I’ve got Benavidez winning 48-47, but this fight could go either way.

Judges give it to Demetrious Johnson by split decision 48-47, 49-46, and 47-48. Shouldn’t hear any complaints from Benavidez’s corner, they told him he needed to win the fifth and he didn’t.

Can’t believe they were going to headline a Pay Per View with that fight. It wasn’t the worst fight ever, but not the 25 minutes you would want to cap your night with after shelling out sixty bucks.

Apparently Kevin James’ new movie is a PG-rated UFC comedy. Looks like it features a lot of Bas Rutten, Salma Hayek and the Fonz. Casting Bas is genius, because he’s naturally hilarious, but it’s going to take a lot to top Kevin James’ previous opus, The Zookeeper.