It’s not easy being perfect, but Joseph Benavidez doesn’t want to stop now. 10-0 will be there for the taking on Sunday. The unbeaten 23-year-old will stand on the biggest stage of his career, in a nationally televised contest (VERSUS 9pm ET / 6pm PT), with a long-awaited opportunity to shine. All he needs to do to stay flawless and on the path to stardom is topple an MMA pioneer.
“It’s definitely an honor to fight a guy like Jeff Curran because of his skills and talent and the name he has,” Benavidez said. “But at the end of the day, I’m just looking at him as another opponent and I’m going to try to do to him what I’ve done to all of my opponents. He’s going to really push me and that will bring out the best in me. People have heard the hype (about me) and I don’t think I delivered all that great my last fight. Danny Martinez was a difficult opponent but I think people will see that I’m a new cream of the crop at 135 pounds.”
While Benavidez is gunning for his first slice of elite status, Curran -- one of the trailblazers for fighters under 145 pounds -- is equally hungry to reclaim his place near the top. Curran, a 10-year veteran in the MMA game, has suffered back-to-back losses to Urijah Faber and Mike Brown and is dropping to 135 pounds to try and reverse his fortunes. He views Benavidez as a steppingstone to a future title shot with WEC bantamweight kingpin Miguel Torres. But anytime a fit fighter drops a weight class it raises the obvious question of whether it will compromise his strength and cardio.
Benavidez offered his best guess.
“I think in the long run it is a good weight for him,” Benavidez said. “Urijah just outscrambled him and did what he had to do, and Urijah’s hard to deal with. But if you look at the Mike Brown and Jeff Curran fight … it was the fight that Jeff wanted. The fight was slowed down and it was technique for technique. Jeff was beating him up on their feet, he was tagging him, but he was a little smaller and couldn’t hurt Brown on their feet. He wasn’t big enough. On the ground, it was technique for technique, but Mike Brown was just a little stronger. Curran did great on the ground with Brown. Their techniques were both sound, but Brown just won with strength. So when someone overpowers you it makes sense to go down to 135, I think that could be a better weight for him in the long run, but if he expects his first fight at 135 to be easy, and thinks that he’ll be able to feel it out and see how his body reacts – I’m not going to let that happen. I’m not going to let him get into a groove and see how his body reacts. I’m just going to go and he’s going to have to react to me.”
Even though Faber defeated Curran (29-10-1), Benavidez does not intend to execute his mentor’s identical strategy. That would be unwise, he said, given Faber’s spontaneous and improvisational style. Benavidez aims to be more inside-the-box in his approach, but has pinpointed several ingredients that paid dividends for Faber that might work again.
“I think Urijah and I have enough similarities where I can take some things from him,” Benavidez said. “The fight between Urijah and Jeff was more of a scrambling match, and that’s kind of how I will do it as well. Urijah was just all over him, like he always is, and that’s what I’m going to try to do, is bring the pace and aggressiveness and hopefully break him down.
“But Jeff’s a fighter. He’s been in there with everyone, you know? He’s not going to go in there and be intimidated by anyone. He’s felt the best fighters in the world and he has a lot of confidence. That’s how I feel training with Urijah. Jeff can say ‘I’ve been in the ring with Mike Brown, Urijah Faber, Kid Yamamoto … I think he’s solid everywhere. He has great boxing. Really no one ever stands with him, everyone always takes him down and that’s where he wins or loses, is on the ground. I’ve never seen him get knocked out. He’s very fast on his feet. It’s just a matter of him getting a submission or not. I think he’s a more methodical fighter, which matches up well for me. If you look at all the guys that he has lost to, they are similar to my style. I think he has to win going technique for technique, but when someone pushes the pace on him and doesn’t let him get in his comfort zone that is where he’s vulnerable.”
Curran would have preferred to fight Miguel Torres for the title in his bantamweight debut. In Benavidez’s mind, that would have been unfair. The former high school state champion wrestler from New Mexico, who now trains in Sacramento, knows he can spoil the Curran-Torres dream matchup, but indicated that’s not his motivation for winning. He doesn’t think Curran will overlook or underestimate him.
“The thing that surprises me is that Jeff seems to have a ton of respect for me and saying how he has to get through me and I’m a tough fighter, but then he has enough (gall) to talk (expletive) about Miguel Torres, who is a scary man.” Benavidez mused. “He said I have a good style. He’s pointed out what other people have said, which is that I’m wild and whatever, but he also says that is what makes me dangerous, which is right. He’s been totally respectful, besides him doing what every fighter does, which is say that he’s going to win and kick my ass, but that just goes with the territory.”
Benavidez has finished every opponent except his last one. But he is actually grateful that his win over Danny Martinez went the distance, saying he needed to experience pushing the pace for 15-minutes in a live fight. He is ready to enlighten fans and inspire them to jump aboard the Benavidez bandwagon.
“Curran has fought big names, guys that are established already, but when it’s all said and done one of those big names will be me,” he predicted. “It’s like a new generation. Who is to say I’m not as good as the other big names that he’s fought? I just haven’t been tested yet. So for me it’s make or break. It’s a hard fight, but I don’t feel too much pressure. I think all of the pressure is on him. If I lose I am going to still go on and have a great career. And if I win, I have pretty much arrived.
“I’m going to try to beat him decisively. I never want to leave it in the hands of the judges. I’m going to try to finish him just like Urijah did.”
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