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Shortly after the restart, the former two-division champion connected on a heavy knee strike that triggered the finishing sequence, prompting many to wonder if things would have been different had Benavidez been given a moment to recover the same way Cejudo was against Cruz.
The combination of Figueiredo missing weight and the clash of heads made UFC President Dana White immediately express his desire to have these two rivals meet again, and now that it’s upon us, it’s the swift and powerful Brazilian who heads into the rematch facing a bevy of questions, but buoyed by the information he gleaned from spending seven minutes inside the Octagon with Benavidez earlier this year.
“I will knock Benavidez out again and make it clear that it had nothing to do with the weight,” Figueiredo said emphatically. “I know his game and all his strategies; he won’t stand a chance.
“Benavidez has a lot of stamina, so he is able to keep his pace, but this time, I am more familiar with his game, so he won’t even have a chance to strike me,” he added. “He should be worried.”
One hundred and forty days after their first meeting in Norfolk, Virginia, Benavidez and Figueiredo will meet for a second time, more than 7,000 miles away from where they first clashed, with both men still clinging to the dreams they carried into their initial encounter — the former looking to finally claim the flyweight title many forecasted he would win upon the division’s inception; the latter eager to make up for his February miscue, silence his doubters, and bring championship gold back to his community in Soure.