UFC Fight Night 49 caps off the night of UFC action in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Benson Henderson battles Rafael dos Anjos in the main event in a pivotal lightweight matchup. The winner will have a hard claim to the next title shot. Welterweights Mike Pyle and …
UFC Fight Night 49 caps off the night of UFC action in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Benson Henderson battles Rafael dos Anjos in the main event in a pivotal lightweight matchup. The winner will have a hard claim to the next title shot. Welterweights Mike Pyle and Jordan Mein are set to wage war in the co-main event.
Bleacher Report will have full coverage of the weigh-ins at 5 p.m. ET. Stick around at B/R for all the analysis of UFC Fight Night 49
Benson Henderson is on a mission to regain the lightweight championship, and Rafael dos Anjos is the next opponent in his way.
Since losing his belt to Anthony Pettis in August 2013, Henderson has beaten Josh Thomson and Rustam Khabilov. On Saturday ag…
Benson Henderson is on a mission to regain the lightweight championship, and Rafael dos Anjos is the next opponent in his way.
Since losing his belt to Anthony Pettis in August 2013, Henderson has beaten Josh Thomson and RustamKhabilov. On Saturday against dos Anjos, the former titleholder will look to make it three in a row within 12 months. That likely wouldn’t be enough to earn Henderson a title shot, but it would put him one stop closer to regaining his spot atop the 155-pound division.
Quietly, dos Anjos has developed into one of the better fighters in a stacked lightweight class. The Brazilian has won six of his past seven fights, with his only loss during that span coming via decision against a surging KhabibNurmagomedov. A win over Henderson would certainly make up for that setback against the Russian.
As this important lightweight bout approaches, let us take a closer look at what both fighters must focus on in order to come away with a win this weekend.
Benson Henderson: Work From the Outside and Avoid Being Taken Down
He’s probably the better fighter in all areas, but Henderson does need to avoid being underneath dos Anjos on Saturday.
The best way to accomplish this would probably be to keep dos Anjos on the end of his jab and utilize his heavy leg kicks more sparingly. While Henderson is looking to make statements in order to earn his way back to another shot at the lightweight championship, he can’t afford to get wild and allow dos Anjos to take him down. Likely the only way Henderson loses this matchup would be him getting stuck under the Brazilian for long periods.
Having given up 10 takedowns in his past two fights, Henderson is clearly vulnerable to being taken down by high-level 155-pounders. That doesn’t mean it will be easy for dos Anjos to control Henderson on the canvas, but there is one clear path to defeating the former titleholder at UFC Fight Night 49.
Henderson is an excellent grappler, but he was beaten on the ground in his only UFC loss. Is dos Anjos likely to submit Henderson on Saturday? No, but he certainly has a better chance at beating Henderson on the ground than he does standing.
Rafael dos Anjos: Make it Ugly and Get Henderson to the Ground
Predictably, dos Anjos‘ key to winning this weekend is the reverse of Henderson’s.
While Henderson would probably like to keep this fight standing or mix in takedowns in spots, dos Anjos needs to plan solely on wrestling. The Brazilian is a mediocre 3-3 in UFC fights where he does not score a takedown. Those fights account for 60 percent of dos Anjos‘ five defeats inside the Octagon.
More often than not, dos Anjos loses when he fails to win the wrestling matchup. That would appear to be especially true in this matchup with Henderson, who has hung with much better strikers than dos Anjos.
As alluded to earlier, the opportunities should be there for the Brazilian. Henderson can get wild and leave himself wide open for counter takedowns quite often. Dos Anjos needs to take advantage of those chances or he’ll probably suffer his second loss in three outings.
Rustam Khabilov was a good start.
Last we saw Benson Henderson, the former lightweight champion snapped his streak of eight consecutive decision victories at June’s UFC Fight Night 42, earning—wait for it—the first stoppage win of his…
RustamKhabilov was a good start.
Last we saw Benson Henderson, the former lightweight champion snapped his streak of eight consecutive decision victories at June’s UFC Fight Night 42, earning—wait for it—the first stoppage win of his UFC career via fourth-round submission over Khabilov.
This particular rear-naked choke—beautiful in its efficiency after Henderson stunned the Russian fighter with punches against the fence—mattered more than most.
Not only did it continue to distance him from a potentially career-defining second loss to Anthony Pettis at UFC 164, but it proved he can still be devastating. He can still be that guy who amassed an 83 percent finishing rate during the first dozen wins of his career. He can still dismantle, excite and win a bout without asking the judges to sift through 25 minutes of neck-and-neck action.
In other words, Henderson can still be the guy he needs to be in order to earn a chance to regain his lightweight title.
Prior to Khabilov, that guy had been conspicuous in his absence for some years now.
Next comes Rafael dos Anjos, winner of six of his last seven and another in the seemingly endless supply of fearsome 155-pounders. Dos Anjos is No. 4 on the UFC’s official rankings, but Henderson is going off as much as a 4-1 favorite, according to BestFightOdds.com.
That makes the mandate clear: Henderson must do in dos Anjos in similar fashion to Khabilov if he wants to find himself one step closer to emerging from his own personal lightweight no man’s land. Simply grinding out a “typical Ben Henderson” decision won’t be good enough.
When Bendo takes the cage against dos Anjos on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 49, it’ll be just shy of a year since he lost the 155-pound championship to Pettis via first-round armbar. Their previous fight at WEC 53 went the distance, but Pettis won that one, too, after a literal off-the-wall kick that still ranks among the greatest MMA highlights of all time.
For the last 350-odd days, those two losses have had Henderson mired in a weird kind of limbo. UFC brass has made it exceedingly clear he won’t get another championship opportunity any time soon. At least not while Pettis is on top and at least not while Henderson continued to rack up razor-close judges’ verdicts, as he did throughout his own 18-month title reign.
If he were a heavyweight, he wouldn’t have these problems, but precisely because the UFC lightweight class is the deepest, most competitive division on earth, he’s got to do something special to get back into the mix.
To make matters worse, Pettisis injured and slated to defend his title against Gilbert Melendez in December. Eddie Alvarez is suddenly also on the scene and could be next up, if he gets past Donald Cerrone at UFC 178. KhabibNurmagomedov is rehabbing a knee injury, but when he returns, he’ll also be on the No. 1 contender short list.
So until further notice, the mission for Henderson is to not only beat guys like Khabilov and dos Anjos but to remake himself in the process. It could be a year or more before the 155-pound championship carousel has an opening for him, and he’d be wise to use the time establishing a reputation as not only one of the division’s best fighters but one of its most fearsome finishers, too.
To his credit, he’s so far handled what could be a sticky public relations situation pretty well. For a guy who makes no bones about his distaste for doing media, he’s said almost all the right things.
This week he told USA Today’s Mike Bohn that he enjoyed being “as much of a company man as possible.” After defeating Khabilov, he took pains to position himself as a championship gatekeeper of sorts, saying a fighter who had designs on one day getting a shot at Pettis would have to come through Henderson first.
“The belt’s not being defended,” he said in the cage when his victory had been announced. “Anybody who wants to fight for the belt, come see me.”
Dos Anjos certainly has those aspirations, though so far he’s been slow to establish much momentum with fans. He could plant a flag in the sand with a high-profile victory over Henderson this weekend, but to date, he shapes up as little more than another chance for Bendo to show he’s developing a mean streak.
The UFC returns this Saturday with two fight cards. UFC Fight Night 48 hits Macau in China, and UFC Fight Night 49 takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
UFC Fight Night 48 is headlined by Cung Le vs. Michael Bisping in a middleweight contest, and UFC Fight N…
The UFC returns this Saturday with two fight cards. UFC Fight Night 48 hits Macau in China, and UFC Fight Night 49 takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
UFC Fight Night 48 is headlined by Cung Le vs. Michael Bisping in a middleweight contest, and UFC Fight Night 49’s main event is a top-five battle in the lightweight division between Rafael dos Anjos and Benson Henderson.
Eight other main card tilts in total will take place over the course of Saturday.
This breakdown will assist you in your attempts to identify the best value this weekend. Let’s get right to looking at the odds for this weekend’s cards.
This Saturday, former lightweight champion, Benson Henderson, faces off against the No. 5-ranked lightweight, Rafael dos Anjos.
Henderson is 2-0 since losing the title to Anthony Pettis in 2013 and is 9-1 overall in the UFC. He is ranked at No. 1 …
This Saturday, former lightweight champion, Benson Henderson, faces off against the No. 5-ranked lightweight, Rafael dos Anjos.
Henderson is 2-0 since losing the title to Anthony Pettis in 2013 and is 9-1 overall in the UFC. He is ranked at No. 1 in the division, and a win over dos Anjos could earn him another shot at the title.
Dos Anjos is 6-1 since 2011, including a win over Donald Cerrone, with the lone loss coming to KhabibNurmagomedov. He is ranked No. 5, but many aren’t talking about him as a real title contender.
A win for dos Anjos will truly cement him as an elite lightweight and will get him some serious consideration for a title shot.
Let’s check out a head-to-toe breakdown for this lightweight matchup.
Benson Henderson is as goal-oriented as you’ll find in the fight business.
The former WEC and UFC lightweight champion is a man fueled by possibility and the potential to test his physical and mental talents against the most elite level of competition …
Benson Henderson is as goal-oriented as you’ll find in the fight business.
The former WEC and UFC lightweight champion is a man fueled by possibility and the potential to test his physical and mental talents against the most elite level of competition in the world. Those motivations matched with a seemingly unbreakable spirit and unique skill set have taken the MMA Lab leader to great heights in the realm of mixed martial arts, and his quest—in some senses—is far from over.
In Henderson’s mind there are still many battles to be fought, wills to be broken and victories to be had inside the Octagon. He’s a fighter marching to the beat of his own drum, and in the current era where circumstance and injuries put title pictures on hold at lengthy clips, Henderson slows down for no one. While his eyes have been set on regaining the title he lost last August, he can’t control the decisions made by others, and he’s not keen on sitting around on the sidelines waiting for things to play out.
Henderson operates in the present tense and believes the here and now belongs to him. The lightweight strap has been out of play ever since it left his possession last August in Milwaukee, and he’s proceeded with his business as if it was the very next step around the corner as the 30-year-old Arizona transplant has picked up two crucial victories in the interim.
“Smooth” edged out Josh Thomson via split decision when the two squared off at UFC on Fox 10 back in January, then ran roughshod over highly touted Dagestan-born fighter RustamKhabilov in Albuquerque, New Mexico, five months later. As Henderson pointed out in his post-fight interviews, he’s put the lightweight division “on his back,” and he has no intention of taking his foot off the proverbial gas pedal anytime soon.
“I’m doing my best to carry this division,” Henderson told Bleacher Report. “The belt is on a temporary hiatus—it is what it is—and I’m doing my best to keep the division moving forward and to keep people talking about it. I’m doing the best I can.”
In regard to those efforts, Henderson has kept remarkably active in comparison to the rest of his peers on the lightweight roster. With the exception of fellow WEC alum Donald Cerrone, the Colorado native’s activity has been unmatched as he’s competed 10 times in the three years he’s been under the UFC banner, with his 11th showing on deck for this weekend at Fight Night 49. These numbers are impressive, and even more so when the current rate of fighter injury is taken into account.
Furthermore, Henderson is notorious for his work ethic and dedication to being in the gym working with his teammates at the MMA Lab, which means either the perennial contender is doing something special or other fighters across the fighting landscape are taking the wrong approach to their preparation.
“I think a big part of it comes down to your coaches and training partners and making sure you have guys you can trust with you in the gym,” Henderson said. “You don’t want a case where some guy is having a bad day at home with his wife and comes into the gym where you are drilling arm locks and he snaps your arm because he’s had a bad day or something like that.
“It’s really important to have a great coaches and a great training staff who know when to push you and know when to ease off. It’s important to have coaches who can recognize when you need to pull back, regroup and come back tomorrow ready to get after it.
“Another big part of it is knowing yourself and knowing when to calm down,” he added. “I work hard now, but earlier in my career I was in the gym all the time and training all the time. Back then my coaches had to hold me back, but I had to learn how to hold myself back as well. But those are things you learn over time.”
With the lightweight title tied up until Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez handle their business on Dec. 6, Henderson will continue to scrap his way toward another championship opportunity. Following his dominant performance against Khabilov back in June, he could have taken to the sidelines to allow things to play out, but that simply isn’t the way he goes about his business.
Instead, he opened the door for another challenge to materialize, and he will face Rafael dos Anjos at Fight Night 49 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Much like Henderson, “RDA” has been on a hot streak of his own, and the Glendale, Arizona, representative is looking forward to mixing it up with the savvy Brazilian this Saturday night.
“It’s a great fight from a stylistic standpoint,” Henderson said. “We are both southpaws and we both push the pace. He likes to push the pace and come forward and does a really good job at it. I’m trying to do the same thing. I’m always looking to push the pace and use my cardio to my advantage. I want to test my opponent’s cardio and push their muscular endurance to a place they’ve never been before. He likes to do the same thing, and it’s going to be nice to get in there with someone who wants to throw down as much as I want to throw down.”
While a victory over Dos Anjos would bring him one step closer to achieving his goal of regaining the lightweight strap, Henderson is also conscious of the time line he’s operating on. The former champion has been outspoken in the past that he’s not going to be a fighter who allows the sport to leave him in shambles, and he has set a hard line that he will retire by the age of 34.
With Henderson having officially crossed over into his 30s last November, that leaves the hard-charging lightweight cardio machine just three years to accomplish every goal he’s set out to achieve in mixed martial arts. Even in a rapidly moving sport like MMA, three years isn’t a big window by any standard, and a highly motivated Henderson on a race against time could very well spell bad news for the rest of the 155-pound fighters on the UFC roster.
“I’m not going to be fighting that much longer—that’s for sure,” Henderson said. “I’m all about setting goals and doing the best I can to go out there and go get them. I give myself a certain time limit to get those goals done. I will retire when I’m 33 and before I turn 34. This is a tough sport and we see a lot of athletes retire somewhat early in their careers nowadays. Whether you are a mixed martial artist or a football player, your body gets beat up. You get mentally ran down and cutting weight sucks. There are just a lot of things that play into it and they all take a toll. I won’t be around forever so enjoy it while you can.
“That’s why I’m trying to go as hard as I can. I’m trying to get as much as I can because I know I’m not going to be here for too much longer. I’m trying to hurry up and get everything I can in.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
