In MMA, six years of a fighter’s career can literally feel like dog years. Games can evolve, contenders can rise and fall, careers can begin and end.
That’s why Joseph Benavidez is surprised to hear that his last fight with Jussier Formiga, who he’ll rematch this week at UFC Minneapolis, was back in 2013.
“In my mind I thought it was, like, two years ago,” he says, smiling.
It’s common for fighters who have already met once to be dismissive of the original meeting, arguing perhaps that they were different fighters back then, they’ve changed so much, and so on.