Joseph Benavidez confirms 'illegal' moment in title fight led to him being knocked out

UFC Norfolk's incredible (and underrated) main card saw a 100% finish rate, but the main event was heartbreak for Joseph Benavidez again as he lost to Deiveson Figueiredo in a Flyweight Championship fight.

The bout was for the vacant 125-pound title and Figueiredo missed weight, meaning that only Benavidez was eligible to win the title. Of course, in an unfortunate twist, Benavidez would get knocked out following an unintentional headbutt from the Brazilian.

Dana White confirmed that he's planning a rematch between the two for the title and Benavidez spoke to TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter (H/T BJPENN.com), confirming that it was the headbutt that made him lose all his momentum:

“100 percent. If the headbutt didn’t happen, I feel I was getting in a good groove. I obviously won the first round, and I think it was only a matter of time before I continued to get to my groove, continued to find more shots, continued to find even more takedowns. I mean, the guy was very springy and strong at the beginning,” Joseph Benavidez said

He said that it rattled him so badly, "he wasn't present":

“It was one of those things that rattled you so bad, I wasn’t present,” he continued. “I clearly just walked straight backwards with my hands down. And I rubbed my eye as the guy that was trying to finish me was right in front of me. A focused, present fighter, that wouldn’t have happened. I literally, I didn’t really know what had happened or where I was.

He agreed that it was the beginning of the end. While he understood that it may not have been intentional, he believes that it altered everything:

“So yeah, that was 100 percent the beginning of the end. I didn’t know where I was, that led to him swarming me and punching me, which yeah, for him, the fight wasn’t stopped, he just saw blood,” Benavidez concluded. “He saw me probably obviously rocked and did what he thought he’d do. He might not even known there was a headbutt either. I’m sure he did but it wasn’t stopped. Yeah, I mean that altered everything.”

The argument made by some is that Benavidez doesn't deserve another title shot immediately after being knocked out. However, given the circumstances (and the fact that Figueiredo missed weight), perhaps UFC is doing right by Benavidez.

Hopefully, the rematch will have both men make weight and a clear-cut finish.