UFC on FX: Joseph Benavidez wants to spoil Yasuhiro Urushitani’s UFC debut

The UFC on FX 2 event will feature a flyweight bout between Joseph Benavidez and Yasuhiro Urushitani which is set for Sydney, Australia. This is the other half of the four man flyweight tournament created by the UFC to help crown the inaugural UFC flyweight champion. The winner of this fight will face the winner of the Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall bout at a later date this year for the title. Let’s see how this one breaks down.

Yasuhiro Urushitani comes into this bout with a career record of (19-4-6) with four wins via TKO/KO and one win via submission. Urushitani was last seen in action avenging one of his previous losses as he defeated Yuki Shoujou via TKO last July. Urushitani has fought primarily in Japan with the exception of one fight in Korea, fighting primarily for the well respected Shooto organization where he was the bantamweight champion.

Joseph Benavidez comes into this bout with a career record of (15-2) with eight wins via submission and three via TKO/KO. Benavidez was last seen in action defeating Eddie Wineland via unanimous decision last August. Benavidez has been fighting above his natural weight class in the bantweight division where he was ranked as a top ten fighter.

Benavidez is the favorite at (-800) with Urushitani as the underdog at (+550).

Wow. Urushitani is a HUGE underdog here as he should be, but I don’t know about +550!

Urushitani comes from a judo and boxing background and is a savvy veteran at 35 years old. The largest thing that stands out to me is that he allows fights to go to the judges an awful lot, winning 14 fights via decision while having six draws. How do you have six draws in MMA?  Benavidez is known more as a finisher and has been fighting larger guys in the UFC bantamweight division, and even fought for the title there losing to Dominick Cruz.

I think Benavidez is the more well r0unded fighter as he can fight anywhere the fight goes, has power in his strikes, and can stop opponents with submissions. He is also great in transitions that’s aided with tremendous speed and explosive ability. I think he’ll put the pressure on Urushitani early and try to set the pace in this fight. Urushitami will have to battle jetlag from the trip over from Japan which seems to be a huge factor in how the Japanese fighters perform in the UFC. However, Urushitani has only been finished once in his career and that was via TKO back in 2008.

Benavidez probably takes this fight via decision or submission. He’s accustomed to fighting larger guys so this move to the flyweight division should help him tremendously.