UFC Fight Night: Hendricks vs. Thompson – Post Fight Analysis in Six Easy Tweets

Stephen Thompson shocked the world by dispatching Johny Hendricks in a manner few if any expected. He’s clearly a #1 contender if not the #1 contender at welterweight. What his future means along with everyone else at UFN 82 in Vegas in six easy tweets.

UFN 82 in Vegas was a slog for most of its duration, but the main event turned into such a blistering cherry on top that you’d be hard pressed to hear anyone complain about whether or not their time was well spent. Let’s break this down in six easy tweets shall we?

1. From The Real, War and Untuck

This tweet made my night. pic.twitter.com/TukAcEdIcX

— Roy Billington (@RoyBillington) February 7, 2016

What more can you ask for? Tito Ortiz’ ability to string words together like one prematurely teleported item in the Fly telepod to the next is unique anywhere in professional sports.

It’s quite possible that Tito has a word bag syndrome with sobering causes, so I’m still conflicted about poking fun at the guy, but these things happen in MMA.

Not to take away from Thompson’s performance though. I picked Thompson to win in our Toe to Toe Preview, which Phil did a brilliant job on the artwork for as usual. In it I said:

‘I think Johny Hendricks vs. Stephen Thompson will come down to how well Stephen adjusts away from the pocket. If he successfully anticipates Hendricks’ movement, he’ll be able to cut down on Hendricks’ chances to land while putting himself in a position to counter. To be honest, I see enough similarities in Carlos Condit to think Thompson is a good pick. It’s not about their similarities in styles, rather, their ability to land punches moving forward. Hendricks got caught with some big punches as the fight wore on, which is where his height kind of amplifies his lazy positioning.’

Which is fine. Pat on the back and all. Something I rarely have the luxury of experiencing. But Thompson took these elements and rolled them up in a pugilism ball of Sonic the Hedgehog velocity that Hendricks just couldn’t keep up with.

It’d be easy to dismiss this fight as a bad Hendricks performance. But as I’ll discuss in tomorrow’s sober play by play, nothing could be further from the truth. This was just a groundbreaking performance by Thompson. Simple as that. And the crazy part is that Thompson projects to be an awful stylistic matchup for welterweight’s current champ, Robbie Lawler. Needless to say, it’ll be interesting to see what happens from here.

2. Biscuits and Safety

At the post-event press conference, @roynelsonmma shows @WonderboyMMA the finer points of celebrating a win. pic.twitter.com/PbiKuDs8Z9

— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) February 7, 2016

Roy Nelson picked up a win over Jared Rosholt, and I’m not sure if it exceeded low expectations, or fell short of absent ones.

Whatever the case, Nelson looked good defending the takedown, and threatening in intervals. It’s clear that Rosholt is still a work in progress. There’s no need to be down on the guy if you consider Nelson to have a decent amount of remaining stridency to his game. But he needs to ditch the old school mentality of ‘if then’ offense. There was never any attempt to get Nelson scrambling. As a result, Rosholt is back to the drawing board where he awaits his brother’s fate if he doesn’t.

3. Joe ‘Marino’ Benavidez

Is Joe Benavidez the best lighter-weight fighter never to hold a major title? 24-0 when not fighting Demetrious Johnson or Dominick Cruz.

— Dave Doyle (@davedoylemma) February 7, 2016

Makovsky looked a bit better than I anticipated. But he looked as efficient as expected, unable to counter Benavidez’ offense or momentum. At this point, Benavidez can’t do much more than he’s done already. He has the talent to become the face of an organization. That won’t happen, of course. But still. At this point Benavidez will hope that through sheer force of will, the UFC will have no choice but consider a Demetrious Johnson rematch (should Johnson beat Cejudo). If they could do it for Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock, right?  Or Andrei Alorvksis and Tim Sylvia?

4. Jawslayer

I love how nonchalantly Cirkunov talks about cracking another man’s jaws with his biceps. What a barbarian.

— Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) February 7, 2016

There’s not a whole lot to say about Cirkunov’s performance other than to just listen to the excruciating sound of someone getting their jaw snapped. Cirkunov has a ceiling that is potentially higher than someone like Ryan Bader, so if Bader could put together a string of wins like he has, Cirkunov might be able to make some real noise.

5. Not Too Old For This S***

This. Is. So. Much. Fun. #UFCVegas https://t.co/VR2l0sl090

— UFC (@ufc) February 7, 2016

I really expected Spencer to pull this one of. To me, Pyle has been a declining fighter who even in his prime had trouble with unheralded specialists. But boy did he and his mullet pull out all the stops in this one. Spencer just couldn’t deal with the abundance of spinning lettuce and tomato shit being thrown at him.

6. Scoggins Uses Sleep Command

I imagine this is what Borg arrived to the arena in pic.twitter.com/wf37HBlwnS

— Zara-Blue Barry (@ZaraBarry) February 7, 2016

Credit to Justin Scoggins; another fighter I failed to pick correctly. Ray Borg’s grappling tunnel vision contributed to his downfall, but it was more about how Scoggins was blending his grappling with his boxing in a way that didn’t feel scatterbrained. Neither fighter has much to be ashamed. Both are a combined age just barely above Mike Pyle. They’ll progress and get better as their careers wear on. On to some stray observations..

  • CM Punk made an appearance after Mickey Gall’s win over MMA photographer Mike Jackson. Not sure what to say. CM Punk doesn’t really tingle the freakshow senses like it’s supposed to. Maybe because he’s always injured and this was a bad signing to begin with? I’ve got nothing against Punk. His situation is just badly juxtaposed with the ridiculous Aljamain Sterling thing.
  • K.J. Noons is done. He has the demeanor of a shot fighter, briefly generating offense, but extensively soaking up opposing offense with a tepid shell defense.
  • Thanks Derrick Lewis. You’ve managed to represent some horror movie version of your nickname with that post fight celebration, effectively rendering it free of its otherwise awkward stereotypes.

Stephen Thompson shocked the world by dispatching Johny Hendricks in a manner few if any expected. He’s clearly a #1 contender if not the #1 contender at welterweight. What his future means along with everyone else at UFN 82 in Vegas in six easy tweets.

UFN 82 in Vegas was a slog for most of its duration, but the main event turned into such a blistering cherry on top that you’d be hard pressed to hear anyone complain about whether or not their time was well spent. Let’s break this down in six easy tweets shall we?

1. From The Real, War and Untuck

What more can you ask for? Tito Ortiz’ ability to string words together like one prematurely teleported item in the Fly telepod to the next is unique anywhere in professional sports.

It’s quite possible that Tito has a word bag syndrome with sobering causes, so I’m still conflicted about poking fun at the guy, but these things happen in MMA.

Not to take away from Thompson’s performance though. I picked Thompson to win in our Toe to Toe Preview, which Phil did a brilliant job on the artwork for as usual. In it I said:

‘I think Johny Hendricks vs. Stephen Thompson will come down to how well Stephen adjusts away from the pocket. If he successfully anticipates Hendricks’ movement, he’ll be able to cut down on Hendricks’ chances to land while putting himself in a position to counter. To be honest, I see enough similarities in Carlos Condit to think Thompson is a good pick. It’s not about their similarities in styles, rather, their ability to land punches moving forward. Hendricks got caught with some big punches as the fight wore on, which is where his height kind of amplifies his lazy positioning.’

Which is fine. Pat on the back and all. Something I rarely have the luxury of experiencing. But Thompson took these elements and rolled them up in a pugilism ball of Sonic the Hedgehog velocity that Hendricks just couldn’t keep up with.

It’d be easy to dismiss this fight as a bad Hendricks performance. But as I’ll discuss in tomorrow’s sober play by play, nothing could be further from the truth. This was just a groundbreaking performance by Thompson. Simple as that. And the crazy part is that Thompson projects to be an awful stylistic matchup for welterweight’s current champ, Robbie Lawler. Needless to say, it’ll be interesting to see what happens from here.

2. Biscuits and Safety

Roy Nelson picked up a win over Jared Rosholt, and I’m not sure if it exceeded low expectations, or fell short of absent ones.

Whatever the case, Nelson looked good defending the takedown, and threatening in intervals. It’s clear that Rosholt is still a work in progress. There’s no need to be down on the guy if you consider Nelson to have a decent amount of remaining stridency to his game. But he needs to ditch the old school mentality of ‘if then’ offense. There was never any attempt to get Nelson scrambling. As a result, Rosholt is back to the drawing board where he awaits his brother’s fate if he doesn’t.

3. Joe ‘Marino’ Benavidez

Makovsky looked a bit better than I anticipated. But he looked as efficient as expected, unable to counter Benavidez’ offense or momentum. At this point, Benavidez can’t do much more than he’s done already. He has the talent to become the face of an organization. That won’t happen, of course. But still. At this point Benavidez will hope that through sheer force of will, the UFC will have no choice but consider a Demetrious Johnson rematch (should Johnson beat Cejudo). If they could do it for Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock, right?  Or Andrei Alorvksis and Tim Sylvia?

4. Jawslayer

There’s not a whole lot to say about Cirkunov’s performance other than to just listen to the excruciating sound of someone getting their jaw snapped. Cirkunov has a ceiling that is potentially higher than someone like Ryan Bader, so if Bader could put together a string of wins like he has, Cirkunov might be able to make some real noise.

5. Not Too Old For This S***

I really expected Spencer to pull this one of. To me, Pyle has been a declining fighter who even in his prime had trouble with unheralded specialists. But boy did he and his mullet pull out all the stops in this one. Spencer just couldn’t deal with the abundance of spinning lettuce and tomato shit being thrown at him.

6. Scoggins Uses Sleep Command

Credit to Justin Scoggins; another fighter I failed to pick correctly. Ray Borg’s grappling tunnel vision contributed to his downfall, but it was more about how Scoggins was blending his grappling with his boxing in a way that didn’t feel scatterbrained. Neither fighter has much to be ashamed. Both are a combined age just barely above Mike Pyle. They’ll progress and get better as their careers wear on. On to some stray observations..

  • CM Punk made an appearance after Mickey Gall’s win over MMA photographer Mike Jackson. Not sure what to say. CM Punk doesn’t really tingle the freakshow senses like it’s supposed to. Maybe because he’s always injured and this was a bad signing to begin with? I’ve got nothing against Punk. His situation is just badly juxtaposed with the ridiculous Aljamain Sterling thing.
  • K.J. Noons is done. He has the demeanor of a shot fighter, briefly generating offense, but extensively soaking up opposing offense with a tepid shell defense.
  • Thanks Derrick Lewis. You’ve managed to represent some horror movie version of your nickname with that post fight celebration, effectively rendering it free of its otherwise awkward stereotypes.