Urijah Faber's entrance into the world of 135-pounders is great for the fight game. He's still the biggest star in the soon-to-be-dissolved WEC. A fight against Faber gives any opponent a shot at moving into the mainstream. Even his good buddy, Joe Benavidez, also a bantamweight, is jacked up about the move down from 145.
"The timing couldn’t be better right now because I just fought for the world title. I didn’t make it," Benavidez told Heavy.com. "Now it’s kind of like, ‘Hey, take your shot. Let’s see how good you can do.’ I’m not going to get a third fight with Dominick Cruz anytime soon unless I wipe out everyone in the division like I plan on doing. I just fought for the title. Now I’m just worried about fight-by-fight-by-fight and taking out everyone else in front of me. And Urijah can concentrate on that world title."
Faber and Benavidez are teammates at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento. Joe B is like a little brother to Faber. But unlike the Klitschkos in boxing, they're not blood brothers, which means the day may come when the UFC asks the two friends to fight.
From Heavy.com:
"Money talks, of course," Benavidez said. "If we’d both make each other rich, filthy rich off it, then we would probably have to do it. If we didn’t do it, then we’d be hurting each other by taking money out of each other’s pockets. It’d have to be a lot of money and of course we’d have to talk about it and I guess just go in there like it’s any other game. But there’s a really small chance that that will ever happen."
Benavidez did say that facing Faber is the last thing he wants to do. If the scenario develops, at least he's open to it. That must be music to Dana White's ears.
In 2011, White may have to deal with teammate issues at both light heavyweight and welterweight. If Josh Koscheck defeats Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight strap at UFC 124, his AKA training partner, Jon Fitch, is in line for a title shot. Fitch has indicated that he'll never take that fight. At 205 pounds, Jon Jones is probably a few wins away from a title shot. That could be a problem if his teammate Rashad Evans takes the title the from Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.
Benavidez and Faber should be able to avoid each other for a while. If Faber were to take the belt from the champ, Dominick Cruz, there are plenty of big fights out there. Miguel Torres would probably be the first guy on the list followed by a Cruz rematch and possibly Brian Bowles.
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