Is Joseph Benavidez the best fighter in the UFC to have never won a title? (Opinion)

Joseph Benavidez is the best fighter to have never won UFC gold. Now that is a bold statement to make considering UFC has had some world-class talent over its near three decades of existence.

My opening statement also puts him above the likes of immensely popular fighters, like the Diaz brothers, Yoel Romero, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, Chael Sonnen among many others. But what you have to understand is the fact that Joseph Benavidez never lost to anyone who was not elite.

While Joseph Benavidez will have always a blotted record of 28-7 in his MMA career, only two of those losses have come in a non-title-fight. Both those losses came via split decisions against the likes of legendary bantamweight Dominick Cruz and Sergio Pettis, the brother of former UFC lightweight champion Anthony.

Legendary bantamweight Dominick Cruz is one of two fighters to have defeated Benavidez in a non-title bout.

If the judges had seen the fight differently, as often happens, Joseph Benavidez might just have become the second fighter after former teammate Urijah Faber to have defeated Cruz. But as things stand, many future fans will see Joseph Benavidez as someone very good but not just championship material, when going by his record.

That is a crazy notion considering Benavidez only lost against the best, Dominick Cruz defeating him for the WEC bantamweight championship in his first title fight. He would lose twice against flyweight G.O.A.T Demetrious Johnson for the title, and once again coming up short against Deiveson Figueiredo, who looks to set to rule over the flyweights for a long time.

What is also crazy is the fact that Benavidez was the last man to defeat Henry Cejudo, who was coming off a loss against who else but “Mighty Mouse” himself. Considering the legacy that Cejudo has built for himself with all that “Triple C“ chatter, it’s sad that Joe B never got another shot at the self-proclaimed “Greatest Combat Sports Athlete of All Time”.

Benavidez knew he had to put up a much better performance than he did during his first bout with Figueredo and showed the heart of a champion as he refused to tap while blacking out during the end of the fight. A definite UFC Hall of Famer and a legend of the sport, much like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gianluigi Buffon, are in the UEFA Champions League.

He knew this could be his last title fight and said as much in his tearful post-fight press conference. Benavidez said he would fight again until he gets a W under his belt, implying he wants to retire with his hands held high.

“It’s weird. I’ve died freaking 100 times. What’s another death? It’s different because I know I did everything right in preparation. I didn’t take any shortcuts.”- Joseph Benavidez during his post-fight press conference.

Unfortunately for Benavidez and his fans, MMA is an unforgiving sport with no do-overs. As Joseph Benavidez himself might tell you, it just wasn’t meant to be.