Tag: benson henderson

Two Sheds Review: Lytle Retires with Big Win over Hardy at UFC on Versus 5

With ESPN unwilling to cough up a few extra quid to show UFC shows outside of their regular contract, it was Premier Sports who stepped in so British fans could watch Chris Lytle’s final fight against Dan Hardy in the early hours of this past Mon…

With ESPN unwilling to cough up a few extra quid to show UFC shows outside of their regular contract, it was Premier Sports who stepped in so British fans could watch Chris Lytle’s final fight against Dan Hardy in the early hours of this past Monday morning.

The broadcast began in the welterweight division as Amir Sadollah faced Duane Ludwig.

This proved to be an intriguing three-round encounter. Ludwig did a great job in the striking department in the first two rounds, his big left hook rocking Sadollah a number of times. When Sadollah went for the takedown, Ludwig was able to escape quite easily.

Although Sadollah upped his game a little in the third, he still looked a step behind Ludwig. He scored with a couple of good kicks, but his punches looked slow and sluggish. The fight ended with Ludwig scoring a takedown.

So with the fight going the distance, it was over to the judges. All three gave the fight to Ludwig. Awesome performance.

It was down to the lightweight division for the next fight, as Charles Oliveira took on Donald Cerrone.

A short feeling-out period at the beginning of this one saw both men testing the waters with punches and kicks. There was a brief pause following Cerrone’s inadvertent kick south of the border, but when the action began, the striking just got better and better.

The end came when Cerrone scored with a hook to the body. Oliveira went down, and Cerrone went in for the kill with the ground and pound. The referee stepped in to give Cerrone the impressive TKO win.

The lightweight action continued with Jim Miller against Ben Henderson.

Henderson put in a tremendous performance here. For the first two rounds, Miller went for a variety of submission attempts—from chokes to leg locks to arm locks—but Henderson managed to escape each and every time, coming back with some wicked-looking ground and pound. He busted Miller open with an elbow in the second round.

Miller dropped his man in the third, but Henderson looked even better than he had in the first two rounds, controlling the fight on the ground and almost getting the win with a rear naked choke, as well as unleashing more awesome strikes.

Once again the judges were called into action, with all three giving the fight to Henderson. Surely the former WEC champion is ready for a UFC title shot now!

The main event featured welterweight action as Hardy faced Lytle in Lytle’s last ever fight.

This proved to be a great main event. For nearly 15 minutes Hardy and Lytle engaged in a tremendous striking battle. Hardy tried a kick early on, but when Lytle caught his leg Hardy never threw another kick, preferring to box with Lytle instead.

Both guys had their moments throughout the fight, but the fact that Lytle was getting Hardy to fight his kind of fight said a lot about his tactics. Just when it looked like Hardy was upping his game in the final moments of the fight, Lytle went for a guillotine on the ground.

The Brit tried to fight back, but it wasn’t long before he tapped out in the final minute of the fight to give Lytle the submission win. A fitting ending to one of the UFC’s best fighters.

In conclusion: For a while it looked like Brits would have to sit in front of their computers or look for a download site to see this show—until Premier Sports came in at the last minute, offering this show for free. I’m glad they did because this was a great show.

The four fights featured here certainly delivered, but I can’t decide if Miller/Henderson or Hardy/Lytle was the better fight.

As for Premier Sports coverage, kudos to this subscription channel for giving British fans the chance to see this for free, even if they did suffer from the ESPN problem of coming back late from commercial breaks a couple of times.

But who knows, maybe this will be the proverbial kick up the backside ESPN needs because I know a lot of people only subscribe to the channel to see the UFC. If they thought Premier Sports (or Sky Sports for that matter) might bid for the rights when ESPN’s contract is up, they may consider sticking their hands in their pockets and buying the rights to the shows that weren’t in their original contract.

So, in all, the UFC’s fifth foray onto America’s Versus channel gets the thumbs up from me for its all-around quality.

Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com.

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UFC Lightweight Spotlight: Is Ben Henderson Good Enough to win the UFC Title?

Wrestling haters of MMA, your prayers have been answered.Ben “Smooth” Henderson handled Jim Miller with some difficulty, but he survived the submission attempts and delivered the most punishment that any man has ever inflicted on Miller en route to his…

Wrestling haters of MMA, your prayers have been answered.

Ben “Smooth” Henderson handled Jim Miller with some difficulty, but he survived the submission attempts and delivered the most punishment that any man has ever inflicted on Miller en route to his electrifying unanimous decision win over the AMA Fight Club phenom this past Sunday at UFC on Versus 5.

Miller was seen as a win away from a Clay Guida, a Melvin Gullard or maybe even the winner of Edgar vs. Maynard 3 at UFC 136 if he wanted Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard, but Henderson did what nobody else had done to Miller up to that point, and it’s now attracted quite the conversation.

The same opponents for whom Miller would’ve been lined up are now the opponents for whom Henderson is lined up for if he wished, which asks the question:

“Is The Smooth One good enough to win the belt one day?”

In answering this question with an emphatic, “Yes, he is,” I’d like to also pose a counter-question:

“Is there any good reason to think Ben Henderson will never win the belt one day?”

Now, to that counter-question, I say there is probably one or two good reasons, one being Guillard and the other possibly being Guida, but Miller was also a reason why Bendo would never win the belt.

Guillard is a better striker than Bendo, and Guida could be a much more aggressive threat on the ground than Bendo, but it seems as though it will take a sledgehammer, a sniper-rifle or a trio of Showtime Kicks from Roy Nelson to put the former WEC lightweight champion down.

With Henderson’s improving striking skill set, his already scary submission offense and his indescribably-frighteningly-superb submission defense, it seems unfathomable to believe that Henderson will end his UFC run without winning the UFC lightweight title at least once.

He has the talent and the skills, and now all he needs to do is shut down the men standing between him and either Edgar or Maynard.

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UFC Live on Versus 5 Results: Ranking the 5 Best Fights of the Night

UFC Live: Hardy vs Lytle delivered the goods.  Out of 12 total bouts, only five went to a decision.Heading into the main event, I was sure some of the earlier scraps would earn “Fight of the Night”, but low and behold, it was the main event that o…

UFC Live: Hardy vs Lytle delivered the goods.  Out of 12 total bouts, only five went to a decision.

Heading into the main event, I was sure some of the earlier scraps would earn “Fight of the Night”, but low and behold, it was the main event that officially earned the UFC’s “Fight of the Night”.

Chris Lytle vs Dan Hardy was an excellent battle, but was it the best fight of the night?

Which fights got overlooked by the glitz and glamour of the main event?

These are the five best fights from UFC Live on Versus 5: Lytle vs Hardy.

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UFC Lightweight Championship: Who Is the Top Contender?

The 155 pound division has always been one of the deepest in mixed martial arts and right now is no different. At the beginning of the year it seemed pretty clear what direction the lightweight division was going—Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard wo…

The 155 pound division has always been one of the deepest in mixed martial arts and right now is no different.

At the beginning of the year it seemed pretty clear what direction the lightweight division was going—Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard would battle for the prestigious UFC lightweight title with the winner facing WEC’s final lightweight champ Anthony Pettis.

As with most things in life, nothing goes according to plan. Fast forward a mere 227 days later and the lightweight title picture is a tangled web of uncertainty.

Last night, the consensus top contender Jim Miller put his seven bout unbeaten streak on the line against former WEC lightweight champ Ben “Smooth” Henderson.

Keyboard warriors and media aficionados considered this to be a tune-up fight for the AMA Fight Club product, but it appears that Henderson didn’t get the memo.

Both men brought the action with a highly competitive opening 10 minutes. On my unofficial score card they tied it with a round a piece heading into the final stanza.

Henderson made sure there were no questions about the winner with his actions in the final-round battering a tired Miller which earned him a 10-8 round on one of the judges’ score cards.

The MMA Lab product is unbeaten since joining the UFC and after dominating the former top contender can make a serious claim to being the top challenger following the Pettis-Maynard rubber match.

However, he is not alone. Both Clay Guida and Melvin Guillard also have the ability to challenge for the throne.

Guida stretched his winning streak to four bouts with the biggest win of his career spoiling the coming out party of the final WEC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis.

Guillard appears to be in the best shape of his career since hooking up with Greg Jackson—collecting five straight victories, three of them by way of stoppage.

“The Young Assassin” wasted no time looking to get back into the octagon following his July stoppage of Shane Roller taking a bout with jiu-jitsu ace Joe Lauzon.

With their impressive credentials and winning streaks, any of them would be fine challengers for the title. It seems we will have to trim the fat to find the real top contender.

Since Guillard has already agreed to a bout with Lauzon it makes sense to match the other contenders up in a title eliminator.

Both combatants have been known to throw caution to the wind and put on thrilling performances inside the cage and this would be the best way to find the true No. 1 contender.

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UFC on Versus 5: Report Cards for All Main Card Fighters

Chris Lytle ended his MMA career in a way that most fighters do not—with a win.On Saturday, Lytle announced that his bout against Dan Hardy would be his last. Proving to all that he wanted to put on one last great performance for the fans, Lytle …

Chris Lytle ended his MMA career in a way that most fighters do not—with a win.

On Saturday, Lytle announced that his bout against Dan Hardy would be his last. Proving to all that he wanted to put on one last great performance for the fans, Lytle stood and traded with Hardy for 14 minutes, before securing the victory with a guillotine choke.

In other action, Ben Henderson made his case for the No. 1 contender position in the lightweight division when he went “beastmode” on Jim Miller for three rounds.

As the betting underdog, Donald Cerrone, scored his first ever knockout victory when he made quick work of Charles Oliveria.

And in the opening bout on Versus, Duane Ludwig put on a Muay Thai clinic for three rounds against Amir Sadollah. 

So despite the fact that they won or lost, how did each fighter perform? Read on to find out. 

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UFC on Versus 5 Fight Card: What Ben Henderson Must Do To Beat Jim Miller

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 com…

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.

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