Joseph Benavidez says he’s better than UFC champ-champ Henry Cejudo

Joseph Benavidez already has a victory over Henry Cejudo and he feels lightning can strike twice.

Benavidez and Cejudo shared the cage back in Dec. 2016. Cejudo was coming off a first-round TKO loss to Demetrious Johnson. In the first round against Benavidez, Cejudo was deducted a point for low blows. The bout went the distance and Benavidez was awarded the split decision victory. Since that bout, Cejudo has gone 5-0 and he is the UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion.

Speaking to MMAFighting.com, Joseph Benavidez said he’s already proven he is the better fighter:

“I beat him and that’s how I’m always looking at him. I’m better than him, I beat him, I pushed a pace on him and landed clean this clean that. I look at that so it’s motivating to see him do everything he can because that’s what I know of him.

“Obviously he’s improved and his confidence has skyrocketed, and that’s a huge thing, so I’d be naive to think that he’s not different, that he hasn’t changed. But for me, he’s still the guy that I coached against in The Ultimate Fighter and my team beat his, and I beat him in the finale, and that’s how I look at him right now. He just happens to be doing some others things too, which is great and motivating within itself, but me personally, as a competitor, that’s how I look at him, as somebody I already beat, but knowing and not being naive to his improvements and everything he’s done.”

This Saturday night (June 29), Benavidez will go one-on-one with Jussier Formiga. The bout is set to serve as UFC Minneapolis’ co-main event. Benavidez scored a first-round TKO victory over Formiga back in Sept. 2013.

Do you think Joseph Benavidez will get a chance to go 2-0 against Henry Cejudo and add UFC gold to his mantle?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 6/27/2019.