The Joseph Benavidez Nickname Contest, Round 2

Joseph Benavidez

Choose Joe’s nickname for UFC on Versus 5

Have you ever wondered how fighters come up with their nicknames? In the case of the second-ranked bantamweight fighter in the world Joseph Benavidez, the answer is simple: he lets the fans pick his nickname for him.

The recently turned 27-year-old member of Team Alpha Male explained the origins of his interactive endeavor to HeavyMMA.com earlier in the week.

“I never had a nickname and through not having nickname, I gained more nicknames than anyone else. If you have a nickname, everybody’s going to call you that, but if you don’t, people just start giving you nicknames.

“I had a bunch and fans always asked me if I wanted a nickname, so I said if they wanted me to have one so bad, they could pick one for me. We could have a vote and I’d change it every fight. It doesn’t matter to me — a name is not going to affect the way I go in there and fight.

“It’s all about just going in there and having fun and interacting. I think the fans really have a great time with it, and that’s important; I’m only here because of them and it’s the least I can do for them. I’ve had a blast interacting.”

He started the contest with his fight at UFC 128 against Ian Loveland. The Star Wars-inspired winning name was “Joe B. Wan Kenobi.” With Sunday’s fight against Eddie Wineland at UFC on Versus 5 rapidly approaching, it’s time for fans to select a new name for the Bruce Buffer to announce.

Here’s Benavidez to tell you how it works:

The voting is taking place on my Facebook. I was taking suggestions there and on my Twitter, @JoeB135. I got over 2,000 suggestions. I want to get that UFC Twitter bonus. I got a bunch of suggestions; there were some awesome ones out there, and I said I was going to pick two winners.

The two winners I picked were “President Jobama” because that’s just the head guy in charge and I really like that; it doesn’t get much better than a president — running things, calling the shots.

The second one I picked was “The Jomosapien.” I liked this one because it has some meaning to me, kind of like the evolution of man, you know? Before there were homosapiens — humans like everybody else — that was cool and that dude, but now man is evolving into “Jomosapiens.” I’m the first one of my kind, just like I made Joe-Jitsu.

Before Joe-Jitsu, jiu-jitsu was the best thing, and then Joe Jitsu came along. Before Jomosapiens, homosapiens were the best things that came along. There’s been some good homosapiens — George Washington, Michael Jordan, Elvis — but we’re all evolving now to Jomosapiens.

The other two I picked that were just my choice — kind of classics that I’ve got around the gym — are `The Beefcake’ and `The Juciebox.’ I didn’t want to play on the whole Joe thing that much, so I went with those two.

If you go to my Facebook page, you can vote on one of those four. The voting is going to go all week. Whichever one wins, the fans picked it, and that’s what I’m going to use going into my fight with Eddie Wineland.

Check out Joseph’s Facebook page and cast your vote.