Benavidez: I lost respect for Figueiredo after weight miss

Joseph Benavidez says he "definitely" lost respect for UFC Norfolk opponent Deiveson Figueiredo after the Brazilian missed weight Friday morning, making him ineligible to win the UFC flyweight title in Saturday's headliner.

"You have to lose respect for somebody in that regard," Benavidez told MMA Junkie's Mike Bohn on Friday. "They have the biggest opportunity of their life there, and they squander it like that. I respect anybody that tries. That's what life is all about. ... For him not to do that, after I don't know what, yeah, you have to lose some respect."

The 125-pound belt will still be on the line for Benavidez, who said he never considered turning the fight down after Figueiredo's weight miss. Benavidez weighed in at 124.5 pounds, a half-pound under the division's limit for title fights.

"It's just more conviction that he wasn't gonna ever win the belt anyway," Benavidez said. "I'm obviously was the only one that was gonna win it. I'm the only one that came to win it. It doesn't change what I'm going to do."

Benavidez will face off with his opponent Friday evening at the ceremonial weigh-ins, but he doesn't plan to say anything to Figueiredo about what happened.

"What's there to be said that hasn't been said?" Benavidez asked. "He has to look in the mirror every day. He has to deal with that himself. Nothing I'm gonna say is gonna make it worse for him."