Ben Henderson has come something of a long way in such a short time.
Last year he had come off of two submission wins (one over Jamie Varner and one over Donald Cerrone) to face Anthony “Showtime” Pettis at WEC 53.
Almost one year later, Henderson is coming off of a loss to Pettis and a big UFC 129 win over Mark Bocek to face Jim Miller at UFC on Versus 5: Hardy vs. Lytle.
Now if there’s one thing you must know off the bat, it’s that both men have a way of going for the finish, and that way of going for the finish is the submission.
Miller scored his first real TKO-by-strikes-type win over Kamal Shalorus at UFC 128, and he has shown improvements in his striking as well as some beautiful Jiu-Jitsu and aggression in his offense.
The only problem with Henderson is that Henderson has been locked in some of the tightest submissions ever, and yet he’s looked like he was waiting on a cup of coffee with a stoic glare in his eyes.
He has shown a high threshold of pain when it comes to submissions, and even though his guillotine choke on Jamie Varner had the arm locked in as well, his power seemed all conspicuous when he forced Varner to tap from that tight submission.
Must he wear down Miller and try show his strength in submission form to beat his seasoned foe come Sunday?
Absolutely.
Standing with Miller might be a mistake, and much like Miller, Henderson is a master of submission offense even if the fight hits the ground.
However, Henderson’s only shot is to take the fight to the ground himself, or show that he can maintain his composure from off his back and transition to Miller’s back for either a rear naked choke attempt, the second Twister in the UFC, or even just a chance to flatten Miller out and lay in some ground and pound.
Anything is possible when two submission specialists take the fight to the ground, but Henderson may benefit from being the one to get it to the ground first.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com