Now that the IBF stripped Opetaia of its cruiserweight crown, Benavidez doesn't consider the unbeaten Australian the appealing opponent he was when he held a belt the 29-year-old would need to become undisputed champion in his new division.

Phoenix's Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) will try to take the WBA and WBO championships from Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (48-1, 30 KOs) on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, but Noel Mikaelian holds the WBC belt and the IBF title remains unclaimed.

Opetaia still owns The Ring and Zuffa belts, but Benavidez bluntly explained his position during an interview with The Ring.

"That ship has kinda sailed now that Opetaia doesn't have the [IBF belt]," Benavidez said, "because what are we gonna fight for, the Zuffa belt? I think the thing that happened with Opetaia, it pushed that fight back longer than it has to be. We were probably thinking [it would happen] in a year.

"Now we're probably thinking two, three years. We've gotta sit down and see what happens with this whole thing with Zuffa, because it's apparent they're not messing with the WBC, IBF or any of those titles. At the end of the day, I'm fighting for these titles, so we would have to see what's gonna happen for us to make that fight possible."

Zuffa Boxing's leadership group, fronted by UFC President and CEO Dana White, altered its stance on working with sanctioning bodies since the emerging promotional company began staging cards regularly three months ago.

Though Zuffa wants to emphasize the importance of its own crowns, Opetaia privately and publicly expressed his preference to keep the IBF belt before easily outpointing Brandon Glanton in his Zuffa debut March 8 in Las Vegas.

The IBF still stripped Opetaia (30-0, 23 KOs) and returned the sanctioning fee his handlers paid prior to beating Atlanta's Glanton (21-4, 18 KOs).

Benavidez didn't entirely rule out opposing Opetaia eventually. The WBC light heavyweight champ just wishes the 30-year-old champion could've held on to his title.

"I think Opetaia kinda shot himself in the leg because, in my opinion, he already had some great fights set up on this side," Benavidez said. "Even once I beat Zurdo, him and Zurdo would be a great fight still. Then he could fight me. There was a lotta great fights, but I don’t know what his situation is with Zuffa, how they’re gonna move him.

"I heard they stripped him of the IBF [belt], so I really do think the best fight for me at cruiserweight is Zurdo, and then Opetaia. I don't know what's going on with promotion companies. It's not my job to go figure out what happened and how we can make this happen. My job is to go and win the belts. It doesn't matter who has them."

Benavidez, 29, intends on returning to the light heavyweight division after he meets Ramirez in a 12-round main event Amazon’s Prime Video and DAZN will distribute on pay-per-view in the United States ($79.99; 8 p.m. ET).

Subscribers to DAZN’s Ultimate plan, which costs $44.99 per month in the U.S. and £24.99 in the UK, can watch the Benavidez-Ramirez card for no additional charge.

Benavidez, ranked No. 7 on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list, also informed The Ring he expects unified light heavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol to fight him next.

Russia's Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) must first beat Germany’s Michael Eifert (13-1, 5 KOs), the mandatory challenger for his IBF belt, in another main event DAZN will stream May 30 at UMMC Arena in Ekaterinburg.

Beating Bivol would enable Benavidez to become undisputed champion in a division he entered two years ago. He twice held the WBC super middleweight title before moving up from the 168-pound class to the light heavyweight limit of 175.

Benavidez, an approximate 4-1 favorite according to DraftKings, will make his cruiserweight debut against Ramirez. Mexico's Ramirez is 4-0 at cruiserweight, having moved up from light heavyweight after Bivol beat him by unanimous decision in November 2022.