After losing a fight with Ray Borg at this weekend’s UFC Denver, Joseph Benavidez is getting a quick turnaround, as he’ll face Alex Perez at the TUF 28 Finale.
Joe-jitsu is getting another chance to roll. After his bout with Ray Borg was dropped from UFC Denver when Borg was declared medically unfit to compete, Joespeh Benavidez was in limbo. Home to a weight class that may not be part of the UFC much longer, he’d gone through training camp but was without a fight. That changed Friday, with news that Benavidez will now face Alex Perez at the TUF 28 Finale later this month.
MMA Junkie was first to report the news, with the fight later being added to the UFC’s official card for the Ultimate Fighter 28 finale.
A veteran of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, Alex Perez (21-4) is ranked 14th in the UFC’s flyweight division. He was won eight straight, and is coming off a win over Jose ‘Shorty’ Torres in August at UFC 227. That marked his third UFC win, and moved him up into the top fifteen of the weight class.
Joseph Benavidez, of course, has been a perennial top five flyweight since the launch of the division. Although suffering a split decision loss to Sergio Pettis at UFC 225 earlier this year, Benavidez (25-5) is still ranked 3rd in the weight class. He’d been on a six fight winning streak prior to running up against Pettis, with his last loss prior to that coming to Demetrious Johnson at UFC on FOX 9 in 2013.
The TUF 28 Finale takes place November 30 at the Pearl Theatre at The Palms in Las Vegas, NV.
