LAS VEGAS – Longtime UFC and WEC veteran Joseph Benavidez hears the rumblings, same as you, but thinks patience is the key with the promotion’s handling of the flyweight division.

For the perennial flyweight contender, the UFC’s 125-pound is just now starting to open up with the departure of longtime champion Demetrious Johnson, similar to when Anderson Silva’s 16-fight UFC winning streak was snapped by Chris Weidman.

Remember when Silva had no real challengers at middleweight? Now it’s a division full of monsters, and Benavidez thinks something similar could be happening at 125 pounds, as well.

“The flyweight division is honestly more exciting than ever,” Benavidez told MMAjunkie. “The division is really brand new, and it hasn’t seemed brand new. It seemed like it has such a long history with DJ’s title reign, but we’ve had one champion. It’s a young, young division. We’re on our second champion, and I think we let this thing breathe a little bit, and stars are going to keep coming out – fights, matchups.

“It reminds me of the 185-pound weight class for a while, where Anderson Silva was so dominant that the fights at the end were just like, ‘Why is this happening?’ He had just some weird fights, and you’re like, ‘Well, he has to fight these guys because he hasn’t,’ and it made the division look stale because the champion was so dominant. When he lost to Weidman, everything opened up. Now you look at like the top eight guys, they could all be champions on one given day.”

Benavidez (25-5 MMA, 12-3 UFC) faces flyweight up-and-comer Alex Perez (21-4 MMA, 3-0 UFC) at Friday’s The Ultimate Fighter 28 Finale, which takes place at Pearl Theatre at The Palms in Las Vegas. The card airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

It’s an important fight for Benavidez, who was scheduled to fight Ray Borg three weeks ago at UFC Fight Night 139 in Denver. When illness forced Borg out of the fight in the days leading up to the scheduled contest, the bout was scrapped. Further complicating Benavidez’s mindset at the time, reports began to surface that UFC officials were increasing their focus on killing the promotion’s 125-pound division.

Benavidez says he’s still not sure exactly what’s going on, but after being quickly rebooked into another matchup, he knows he can’t be distracted by the possibilities. And with UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw officially moving down to face current flyweight champ Henry Cejudo, Benavidez said he’s not losing all hope.

“I don’t really have inside knowledge,” Benavidez admitted. “It’s confusing. That fight week (in Denver), it was really like, ‘What the heck?’ For one, my fight got pulled, and then you start hearing all these rumors that it’s gone. People are getting cut, so I’m like, ‘Is it literally gone?’ Then, a few weeks later, they make the title fight. But even then, they were still telling me that I’m fighting at flyweight here and not really giving me much. Then they make the title fight at flyweight, so I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s still life. There’s still flyweight fights being done.’

“They stopped cutting people, so I didn’t really know what to think, but as far as mindset goes, the way I look at it – obviously nothing is certain – to me, it’s business as usual. I act like it’s a rumor, because it’s a rumor; that’s all it is. There’s always rumors about this, rumors about that, so I look at it like business as usual. What I have to do is beat Alex Perez. I have a fight at flyweight. That’s all that matters.”

Of course, that’s all that matters for right now. The future of the division is anything but certain, and UFC officials are hesitant to commit to a stance either way. But if they’ll be patient, Benavidez believes, they’ll see plenty of opportunities on the horizon.

“There’s a title fight at flyweight – a fight that really makes sense for me to challenge both guys; whoever wins is a great option,” Benavidez said. “This is the first time in so long that I can look at the title fight and be like, ‘Wow, I have a win over the champion.’ Really, the whole time of my career, and not only that, then the guy challenging, obviously he’ll have other things on his plate if he wins with his other division and stuff, but that’s a fight that makes sense, too. Me and T.J. are ex training partners, and that’s always a good story. We have a ton of history, and him not giving me a choice, dropping down to my weight and going for the belt that I want, that’s another fight that makes sense. We don’t train together anymore. He’s obviously one of the best guys.

“That’s kind of how I look at our division with me, Borg, (Jussier) Formiga, (Sergio) Pettis. Everybody has wins over each other there. Even Cejudo – I have a win over him – so everybody’s just jumbled up there. It makes, like, some really good matchups. Throw T.J. in the mix, and stars and stars to come. You never know what’s going to happen when the division is so new, so I think let it breathe a little. It’s more exciting than ever when you look at it.”

To hear more from Benavidez, check out the video above.

For more on the TUF 28 Finale, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.