UFC 128: Joseph Benavidez Interview

Benavidez: Dude. Yeah.

Heavy: Have you given any thought to painting the tie-dye belt on your fight shorts? Because that would be awesome.

Benavidez: I actually thought of having it on the shirts. Maybe on the bottom of the shirts, around the waist? But that would be pretty sweet to do on my fight shorts.

Heavy: I think so.

Benavidez. It would be good. But the fight shorts would be tough just because Form probably wouldn’t want me messing around like that.

Heavy: You mentioned your contest to let the fans pick your nickname for every fight. I believe I’m the one who suggested that to you. That was my idea, wasn’t it?

Benavidez: (Laughs) I’m not sure. I’ve been thinking about that for a long time now.

Heavy: I was hoping to take credit for it.

Benavidez: I guess you can, if you want.

Heavy: I might.

Benavidez: But yeah, it was something I thought about for a long time. I didn’t have a nickname, so everyone was giving me nicknames that they wanted me to use, especially in the gym with my teammates and everything. And so through not having a nickname, I gained many nicknames. I was always thinking about letting the fans choose it, just to do something different. It’s perfect for someone like me, because I’m a chameleon in the MMA world. I’m different every day and I’m different every fight. I may wear a different outfit. You never know what I’m going to wear and you never know what I’m going to do in a fight. I think it’s great to have these different personas.

I was actually on the show with Larry Pepe and I said it was something I wanted to do, so he kind of spearheaded the deal. And so he made a poll and said we could do it right now, so I said let’s do it. So he made the first poll for me. I don’t know where it’s going to continue after this, but I’ve had a great reception from the fans.

For this time I picked my five favorite nicknames, but the fans have been suggesting more and they have come up with some great ones, so for the next one I’m going to use two of theirs and three of mine and just see what happens.

Heavy: I’ve been telling you for a long time that “Joe B-Wan Kenobi” is the greatest nickname I’ve ever heard. Not just for a fighter, but for anything. How great will it be to hear Bruce Buffer call you by that nickname? I’m probably more excited for that than I am for anything else at UFC 128.

Benavidez: Yeah, that’s going to be awesome. I’m excited. I should probably try to hold in my laughter. I think I can be serious enough before a fight that I’m not going to laugh, but it’s going to be pretty funny. I hope the fans enjoy it. It’s such a great nickname that I feel bad that I’m on the undercard, and a lot of the people that voted won’t be able to hear it. But for those fans who are in attendance, they are going to hear and witness a miracle. It’s magic.

Heavy: It’s history in the making, right?

Benavidez: Yeah.

Heavy: I have a feeling that we’re going to end up seeing your fight televised. The UFC, at least lately, always ends up showing almost all of the prelim fights, whether it’s on Facebook or Spike or the pay per view. I’m sure the fans will get to hear your nickname.

Benavidez: I just don’t know if they’ll show the introductions. But I’m definitely looking to get on the card. I’m not really worried. They put me on the undercard and everybody complained about it. It kinda shocked me, too, because I thought I would at least end up on Facebook. I definitely think I deserve it. I go out and put on a great fight every single time. There is always excitement in my fights.

So I think they’re just gambling on me to get the finish, and I’ll end up on the pay per view anyway. They know that’s going to happen, so that’s exactly what I’m going to go do.