MMA Fighting<\/a> regarding his retirement. \u201cI\u2019ve always fought to be the best and also because it was fun. I probably knew my last title shot was my last shot ever so that was kind of not going to happen for me.<\/p>\n\u201cI still knew I could compete in the top five. I could beat guys in the top five, top 10 easy but one of the main things is a lot of these guys that are coming up that are killers or I see them, it\u2019s their UFC debut and they take pictures with me in the back and say, \u2018I\u2019ve looked up to you for so long, I used to get off school and watch you in WEC with my dad, I look up to you\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s like, I don\u2019t want to fight these guys next, these killers. I don\u2019t want to beat them up or have them beat me up. There was no more fights that were going to be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 37-year old Joseph Benavidez ends his career with a 28-8 record having most notably competed in the WEC as bantamweight before making the move to flyweight in the UFC. For the majority of his career, Benavidez had only had losses to Dominick Cruz and Demetrious Johnson on his record \u2014 three of those four outings coming in title tilts.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne half of the people, like the younger generation used to watch me on TV and tell me they look up to me,\u201d Benavidez said. \u201cThe other half of the generation, I had the connection with on The Ultimate Fighter. There\u2019s just not fights there for me anymore that excite me to have fun. They\u2019d only be for money or whatever. I\u2019d never looked at it like a job I\u2019m doing for money. It\u2019s always been to have fun and to be the best.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joseph Benavidez has called it a career. The four-time UFC title challenger was removed from the official UFC rankings and fan rankings on Wednesday as it was eventually revealed that he was departing the sport overall. \u201cI\u2019ve known for a while,\u201d Benavidez told MMA Fighting regarding his retirement. \u201cI\u2019ve always fought to be the best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54445,"featured_media":394550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10506,10086,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Joseph Benavidez announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the sport's most underrated competitors has called it a career. Four-time UFC title challenger Joseph Benavidez has hung up his gloves\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joseph Benavidez announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the sport's most underrated competitors has called it a career. Four-time UFC title challenger Joseph Benavidez has hung up his gloves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-16T00:20:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Joseph-Benavidez.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Drake Riggs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Drake Riggs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Drake Riggs\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7\"},\"headline\":\"Joseph Benavidez announces retirement from MMA\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-16T00:20:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-16T00:20:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\"},\"wordCount\":366,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Joseph Benavidez\",\"MMA News\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\",\"name\":\"Joseph Benavidez announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-16T00:20:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-16T00:20:29+00:00\",\"description\":\"One of the sport's most underrated competitors has called it a career. Four-time UFC title challenger Joseph Benavidez has hung up his gloves\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Joseph Benavidez announces retirement from MMA\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7\",\"name\":\"Drake Riggs\",\"description\":\"Drake Riggs is an MMA writer based out of Brush Prairie, Washington, USA who specializes in feature pieces, the women's fight scene, lists, news coverage, and rankings. He has been a passionate fan of MMA ever since 2009. Drake has most notably written for BJPenn.com, FanSided, The Body Lock, South China Morning Post, MyMMANews, WhatCulture, Cageside Press, Sherdog, The Scrap, and MMA Today. He has also written for and created video content for RT Sport. As for other sports, Drake is a longtime fan of the NFL's Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @DrakeRiggs_ . Also check out all of his video content on YouTube at YouTube.com\/DrakeRiggs where he uploads fighter interviews, podshows, and various other types of content.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/drakeriggs.journoportfolio.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drakeriggs_\",\"Drake Riggs\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_\",\"YouTube.com\/Drake Riggs\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/drake\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Joseph Benavidez announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com","description":"One of the sport's most underrated competitors has called it a career. Four-time UFC title challenger Joseph Benavidez has hung up his gloves","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Joseph Benavidez announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com","og_description":"One of the sport's most underrated competitors has called it a career. Four-time UFC title challenger Joseph Benavidez has hung up his gloves","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2021-09-16T00:20:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Joseph-Benavidez.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Drake Riggs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Drake Riggs","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/"},"author":{"name":"Drake Riggs","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7"},"headline":"Joseph Benavidez announces retirement from MMA","datePublished":"2021-09-16T00:20:29+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-16T00:20:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/"},"wordCount":366,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Joseph Benavidez","MMA News","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","name":"Joseph Benavidez announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-09-16T00:20:29+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-16T00:20:29+00:00","description":"One of the sport's most underrated competitors has called it a career. Four-time UFC title challenger Joseph Benavidez has hung up his gloves","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/joseph-benavidez-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Joseph Benavidez announces retirement from MMA"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7","name":"Drake Riggs","description":"Drake Riggs is an MMA writer based out of Brush Prairie, Washington, USA who specializes in feature pieces, the women's fight scene, lists, news coverage, and rankings. He has been a passionate fan of MMA ever since 2009. Drake has most notably written for BJPenn.com, FanSided, The Body Lock, South China Morning Post, MyMMANews, WhatCulture, Cageside Press, Sherdog, The Scrap, and MMA Today. He has also written for and created video content for RT Sport. As for other sports, Drake is a longtime fan of the NFL's Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @DrakeRiggs_ . Also check out all of his video content on YouTube at YouTube.com\/DrakeRiggs where he uploads fighter interviews, podshows, and various other types of content.","sameAs":["https:\/\/drakeriggs.journoportfolio.com\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drakeriggs_","Drake Riggs","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_","YouTube.com\/Drake Riggs"],"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/drake\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394546"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}