Joseph Benavidez Opens Up On The Emotions Behind MMA Retirement

Former UFC flyweight title challenger, Joseph Benavidez announced his retirement from MMA on Wednesday.

Benavidez hadn’t fought since March of this year and there was no word on his future in the sport but on Wednesday, it was revealed he was removed from the rankings. It was later confirmed he did indeed retire and he has now opened up on his retirement and he got emotional doing so.

Joseph Benavidez was removed from the UFC rankings pool today after informing the UFC that he was retiring from MMA, so why hasn’t he announced it publicly?:

“It’s going to be really hard to put into words just how much 15 years of this and everyone’s support has meant” pic.twitter.com/IcIYMYKRU4

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) September 16, 2021

“It just kind of came very sudden,” Benavidez said (via MMAJunkie). “I’ve actually known I was going to retire for a while, but you have to make it official, I guess, to retire and do all that stuff – like tell the people that it concerns, like (UFC matchmaker) Mick Maynard, that you’re going to retire, and USADA and all that. So I actually just had to kind of do that yesterday because I was bored. I was like, ‘I should probably make this official.’ I’ve kind of been retired, in a way.

“So I talked to Mick, and he was like, ‘Yeah, you’re probably going to be out of the rankings here soon, so people will probably know what’s happening.’ I said cool,” Benavidez continued. “He said it’ll probably be until Monday, but then I got out of a workout, and I had a few people messaging me, and I was like, ‘Well, here we go. That’s how it is.’ In all honesty, I hadn’t really had time to post and to really take it all in.”

Although Joseph Benavidez knew he was retired, seeing all the messages he got was an emotional time for him.

“I’ve known I’ve been retired, so I didn’t also think it would be an emotional thing,” Benavidez said. “But just reading a bunch of stuff, I was crying in the backyard – so it’s been a good day. I haven’t been able to put anything out myself yet.”

Benavidez ends his career with a record of 28-8 and ends on a three-fight losing skid. Although he never won the UFC title he still is one of the best flyweights of all time and has beaten the likes of Henry Cejudo, Alex Perez, Tim Elliott, and Jussier Formiga among others.

What is your favorite memory from Joseph Benavidez’s career?

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