The flyweight tournament continues with two top-level fighters facing off with Joseph Benavidez facing Yasuhiri Urishitani.
Benavidez has been in purgatory for the past year after failing to defeat bantamweight kingpin Dominick Cruz but with the inception of 125-pounds he fits right into the top of the pack.
Urushitani has been a long-time front-runner of the Shooto flyweight pack as a two-time champion beating the best Japan had to offer between 125 and 135-pounds but now the time had come to play with the big boys, well not really big but you get what I mean.
Urushitani has improved his striking but it was clear that he wasn’t on the level of Benavidez who landed early and often damaging the Japanese sensation who wasn’t given the chance to implement his gameplan.
The second round opened and within seconds Benavidez floored him with a shot that knocked his socks off before following uip with a series of hammer-fists to put him away.
After he cooled down he was thrilled to be at flyweight
“Fighting at flyweight feels great, finally I’m hitting guys my size.”
“Coming into the fight, I knew Urushitani would be vulnerable to the counter. I chose my moment well and showed my power.”
“It’s wild to think that the next time I walk into the Octagon that it’ll be to fight for the belt. I’m a huge fan of Demetrious Johnson and it’ll be an honour to fight him to be the first flyweight champion. It’s a fight that has been speculated about for a long time and I can’t wait for it – It’ll be amazing.”
