Joseph Benavidez remains unstoppable when not facing the all-time greatest fighters in various weight classes.
Benavidez won a spirited flyweight battle with the always-tough Zach Makovsky on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 82 in Las Vegas. He took a unanimous decision with a 30-27 and a pair of 29-28s.
That puts Benavidez at 24-4 in his career: 0-4 against current flyweight and bantamweight champions Demetrious Johnson and Dominick Cruz, respectively, and a perfect 24-0 against everyone else.
The longtime Team Alpha Male fighter mixed things up for this training camp, splitting time between JacksonWink MMA in New Mexico and Elevation in Denver.
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His work with JacksonWink's Brandon Gibson and Elevation's Duane Ludwig clearly paid off, as his striking was as crisp and fluid as it's ever been. Benavidez dominated the action when it was fought at range, controlling the tempo, darting in and landing crisp combos and head kicks, and getting back to safety.
Makovsky, for his part, did his best work in the clinch, but it wasn't nearly often enough to sway the judges in his favor. Still, Makovsky lived up to his reputation as tough out for anyone at 125 in going the distance.
Benavidez has won five straight fights; Makovsky (19-7) has been a hard-luck loser in three of his past four.
"Makovksy is a tough guy, super smart and technical as ever," Benavidez said. "You can only contain me, not stop me. going into those fourth fifth championship rounds I"m ready to go."
Benavidez will be an interested onlooker at the Demetrious Johnson-Henry Cejudo flyweight title fight at UFC 197.
"The only person ahead of me was Demetrious," Benavidez said. "I hope the third round is enough for the fans to want to see me get a third crack at the title, if not, I hope Cejudo wins it."