Dustin Ortiz gained respect.
He may have lost, but he hung in there for three rounds with one of, if not the hardest hitters in the flyweight division. Benavidez was swinging for the fences and desperately trying to finish Ortiz. Dustin took some heavy shots and kept coming. His big problem was his lack of versatility. Besides trying to punch his face clean off Benavidez was throwing high kicks and body shots while Ortiz was mainly head hunting. In most cases the mixed martial artist is going to beat the pure boxer. If Dustin mixes it up a little more, he could score some big wins in the future. This was a huge step up in competition for Ortiz and though me may have lost, he put out a notice to other flyweights. If the number two flyweight can’t finish him, not a lot of people are going to be able to. Ortiz should be given a ranked opponent after that loss, but not anyone in the top five. Brad Pickett is coming of a loss on the same card and the timing and position in the rankings would be perfect. He has no worries about being knocked out because if Benavidez couldn’t do it one punch wont be able to either. Speaking of one Punch…
