Tag: Brandon Thatch

A funny thing happened to Benson Henderson during the 19 minutes he spent in the cage Saturday with Brandon Thatch.

People started rooting for him.

Somewhere en route to his submission victory in the main event of UFC Fight Night 60, the 5,800 fans on hand in Broomfield, Colorado—who’d ostensibly turned out to see the local boy, Thatch—began to cheer Henderson instead.

Support built on social media, too, and by the time Henderson cemented his improbable comeback with a rear-naked choke down the stretch in the fourth round, it elicited in an uncharacteristic outpouring of love for the 31-year-old former lightweight champion.

Coupled with victory itself, this palpable shift in public opinion made Henderson’s 170-pound debut all the more magical. It was as though he’d been instantly transformed from malcontent to lovable underdog, from a guy nearly out of options to a man with a lot of moves still left on the board.

He seemed to realize it at once, dropping his pre-fight pretense that the move up in weight was only temporary, and calling out top welterweight contender Rory MacDonald. That fight won’t happen, UFC executives say, but here’s hoping we get to see Henderson stick around the 170-pound division for a while, nonetheless.

At welterweight, he might not fly as high as he did at 155 pounds. He likely won’t become champion, but the new division serves up a suddenly robust collection of fresh challenges.

Win or lose, watching Henderson try to make his way at this heavier weight class would certainly also provide one element notably missing from much of his tenure at lightweight: It would be fun.

If Saturday night was any indication, it might also win him some fans.

While undeniably talented, Henderson had always been a mercurial figure at 155. Even—maybe especially—during the 18 months he ruled as champion in 2012-13, he earned a reputation as a play-it-safe fighter who used his size, elusiveness and wrestling ability to sucker opponents into grueling (and occasionally dull) wars of attrition.

His fights almost always went the distance yet rarely produced definitive outcomes. At best, we came to see him as a master of stealing rounds—a guy who played the margins of MMA’s unified rules like a master. At worst, we whispered that he won a bunch of bouts he probably should’ve lost.

There may not have been anything to outwardly dislike about him—though the frequent proselytizing, media accosting and toothpick chomping didn’t help. Moreover, there just wasn’t much to like about Henderson.

Worse, he’d all but run out of real estate at lightweight. Dropping the title in his second career loss to Anthony Pettis during the summer of 2013 effectively shuffled him to the back of a very long line of contenders. Things did not go much better for him from there, as he conceded back-to-back losses in 2014-15.

Turns out, by ditching his natural weight, Henderson simultaneously shed much of the baggage that dogged him at 155 pounds. When he’s in there slugging it out with the big guys, you have no choice but to grasp his greatness, to appreciate his style.

Perhaps—as it occasionally seemed Saturday against Thatch—competing at welterweight also forces him to be more aggressive. Maybe he has no choice but to fight with a little more urgency (and a little desperation, too) when he’s outsized and outgunned. Maybe he feels suddenly free of the pressure of the lightweight title hunt and able to let his tremendous hair down.

He overcame a fast start and a significant size disadvantage against Thatch by dragging the inexperienced rookie into deep water and exploiting his glaring weaknesses. There’s no telling whether he’d be able to do the same against one of the 170-pound class’ very best, but watching him try would be a special treat.

It beats anything he could do at lightweight right now.

At welterweight, Henderson looks suddenly, unexpectedly renewed.

That alone should be more than enough reason for him to see how far he can ride this new wave of popularity.

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At UFC Fight Night 60, welterweight Brandon Thatch discovered something the world’s best lightweights have known for years.

Benson Henderson will suck the life out of you.

Thatch was supposed to have his launch party Saturday in his home state of Colorado, beginning his ascension to contender status with a short-notice bout over the former 155-pound champion. Instead, Henderson gave him a crash course in what it takes to be one of the UFC’s best.

Obviously outsized and surely outgunned, Henderson weathered an early push from Thatch in their main event fight, eventually taking control and scoring a come-from-behind submission victory with just over a minute left in the fourth round.

He accomplished it with a formula he’s used most of his four-year run through MMA’s elite—being obstinate on the feet and deadly once the action hit the ground.

It was a shocking turn of events considering the size difference between the two and the fact Thatch had controlled the majority of the first 10 minutes. It also shook Henderson out of the doldrums of the last six months in a fashion exhilarating enough to earn him some cheers from the pro-Thatch crowd.

“I didn’t know if I could win this fight,” he admitted to play-by-play announcer Jon Anik inside the cage when it was over. “A lot of times you have to do something you don’t know (if you can do). Our biggest fear is not that we’re inadequate. Our biggest fear is that we’re powerful beyond measure.”

If the latter part of that quote is true, then Henderson seems pretty scary right now.

After a good start by Thatch, the momentum began to swing the underdog’s way in the third round, when for the first time he was able to take the bigger man to the mat. With a bit less than a minute-and-a-half gone in the period, Henderson ducked under a punch and backed Thatch against the cage with a double-leg attempt.

The two spent the next 25 seconds battling near the chain link before Henderson finally turned him toward the center and completed the takedown. In that round, Thatch defended well and, though Henderson rode his back all the way to the bell, kept good composure and staved off any threat of a submission.

In the fourth, he was not so lucky.

Thatch seemed well on his way to re-establishing dominance on the feet in the second-to-last stanza, until Henderson deftly ducked under another striking combination and blew him off his feet with a takedown at the midpoint of the round. Thatch scrambled to his feet, but Henderson dragged him down again, taking his back and forcing the tapout via slick rear-naked choke.

The loss was the first for Thatch since 2008. It snapped a string of 10 consecutive first-round victories, including two in the UFC that appeared to set the stage for big things. He was originally supposed to fight Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in a main card bout, but after Fight Night 60 lost its main event and Thompson bowed out with injury, Thatch inherited a main event contest against Henderson.

In the first three rounds, it looked as though he would do the local fans proud. Though Henderson held his own and landed some stiff shots to the body, it seemed like only a matter of time before Thatch’s lashing punches and kicks would put the smaller man in trouble.

Whispers that perhaps Henderson had bitten off more than he could chew began to take hold:

The second saw Thatch toss Henderson to the mat with a pair of vicious trip takedowns. He also landed a high kick that appeared to sneak in past Bendo’s defenses. This was his first UFC fight to last longer than three minutes, however, and once the former champion survived the early storm and put Thatch on the ground, he exposed the 29-year-old up-and-comer’s biggest weakness.

“I knew he was going to come out like a monster in the first round—he did,” Henderson told Anik. “I was trying to use my movement. I didn’t want to run away, but dude is a big dude, so I didn’t want to stand there with him for the first five minutes. I wanted to be more elusive, and then in the second, third, fourth, fifth round, pick it up on him.”

The victory provides Henderson with a fresh burst of energy just when he needs it most. He took the bout two weeks ago and in a fit of desperation after dropping back-to-back fights at lightweight for the first time in his career. A pair of previous losses to Anthony Pettis also meant he likely wouldn’t earn a title shot in the UFC’s most competitive weight class anytime soon.

Leading up to the Thatch bout, he professed the jump to welterweight wouldn‘t be permanent. Now, in the wake of the victory, he’s not so sure. He called out top 170-pound contender Rory MacDonald in his postfight interview, and though UFC brass said MacDonald already has a different fight booked, welterweight suddenly seems an intriguing option for him.

For the first time since dropping his title to Pettis during the summer of 2013, it feels as though Henderson is on a meaningful path.

The sober, strategic move might be to head back to lightweight to continue fighting guys his own size, but after dispatching Thatch, at least Henderson finally has some interesting things to consider.

 

Chad Dundas covers MMA for Bleacher Report.

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No matter what happens when Benson Henderson takes on Brandon Thatch in the main event of UFC Fight Night 60 on Saturday, we’re probably going to need an asterisk or two.

Henderson vs. Thatch isn’t a fight that figures into anyone’s long-term plans, nor one we even could’ve anticipated as recently as a month ago. Make no mistake, there are clear stakes here for each guy, as Bendo moves up from lightweight to make a short-notice appearance at 170 pounds.

It’s just that putting it all in perspective will likely take some footnotes.

Obviously, this wasn’t the original blueprint. When UFC brass first marked it up on the whiteboard at Zuffa LLC headquarters, a stunningly relevant 170-pound contender bout between Matt Brown and Tarec Saffiedine* was meant to headline the Valentine’s Day spectacular in Broomfield, Colorado.

(*Asterisk No. 1: Neither of those guys are to be found now, of course. A groin injury knocked Saffiedine out of the running in January. With him gone, Brown wisely decided to risk taking a shorter cut to the top, in a fight against former champion Johny Hendricks at next month’s UFC 185.)

Option B was to line Thatch up with the 32-year-old “Wonderboy” Stephen Thompson*, a guy who sports a 5-1 record through three years in the UFC but still hasn’t made much of an impact.

(*Asterisk No. 2: Thompson made it all of 16 days before a rib injury forced his removal.)

Luckily, all this chaos dovetailed nicely with Henderson’s newfound desperation.

For the first time in his career the former lightweight champion finds himself on the heels of back-to-back losses, after a questionable judges’ decision to Donald Cerrone last month. If you know anything about Henderson—besides the ponytail, the toothpick and the penchant for close fights—it’s easy to assume he’s not taking that lightly.

So, he swooped in, graciously granting Fight Night 60 a main event that—if you step back and squint—is in most ways much improved from the notion of Thatch-Thompson.

Either way it goes, Henderson says the move to welterweight won’t last long*.

“It’s definitely not permanent moving up to 170,” he told AXS TV’s Inside MMA last week. “It was more of a one-time thing. I’ve asked to move to 170. I’ve asked for the short notice fights. I’m not going to back down now. Let’s do it. Sign me up.”

(*Asterisk No. 3: Sure, maybe he goes back to 155. Unless he wins, though, right?)

Henderson is a big lightweight who has always hinted at a possible welterweight run. Back when he was champion, his camp made some ill-fated feints at the idea of a superfight with Georges St-Pierre, until the groans from the peanut gallery drowned out the conversation.

So, if he were to defeat Thatch*, the comfy confines of the welterweight arena—with its fresh matchups and less demanding weight cut—could suddenly start to look more appealing to Henderson.

(*Asterisk No. 4: Which, let’s face it, is totally possible.)

We already know he’s mostly played out the string at lightweight. With two previous losses to current champion Anthony Pettis, he’s just spinning his wheels waiting for some enterprising No. 1 contender to come along and reset the clock.

When you think about it that way, new life at welterweight could be just the ticket.

Meanwhile, a defeat at the hands of Thatch*—while obviously not preferable—wouldn’t be the end of the world.

(*Asterisk No. 5: Thatch is currently going off as a slight favorite, according to Odds Shark.)

We’re still very much in the process of figuring out exactly how good the 29-year-old muay thai specialist can be, but early signs point to, you know, pretty good. If Henderson loses to the larger, younger man, he’ll shuffle back to 155 pounds with a trio of losses but without a ton of extra damage to his already hobbled UFC standing*.

(*Asterisk No. 6: Small victories, eh?)

For Thatch, the lines of demarcation are drawn a bit more definitively. His current streak of 10 consecutive first-round stoppage victories is one of the more under-the-radar stats in the Octagon right now. That run includes his first two bouts in the UFC and has garnered him some next-big-thing hype.

“Guaranteed world champion,” coach Trevor Wittman told MMAFighting.com’s Chuck Mindenhall after Thatch dispatched Paulo Thiago in Nov. 2013. “No doubt in my mind. World champion. He’s just so talented.”

But Thatch has had hard time holding a spot in our minds. He tore his labrum in the Thiago* fight and has been out 15 months rehabbing.

(*Asterisk No. 7: He was briefly linked to a bout with Jordan Mein last August but had to pull out of that booking with a toe injury.)

This weekend represents Thatch’s chance to not only re-enter the Octagon, but to re-emerge on the crowded UFC stage. Henderson shapes up as his best-known and most dangerous opponent to date, even if he is from a lower weight class.

If Thatch can beat him, he’ll be able to truthfully shout from the rooftops that he’s taken out a former UFC champion* and is ready for bigger challenges.

(*Asterisk No. 8: You’ll have to look pretty closely to see the fine print: Lightweight champion).

Thatch seems to know that, effectively telling Fox Sports’ Damon Martin that he hopes his performance can rekindle his status as a hot prospect after so much time away.

“I need this fight to be an exclamation point*,” Thatch said. “Time off is the worst thing that you can have as an athlete and I don’t see myself having any more. I’m manifesting a healthy 2015 and I’ll stay as healthy and as active as I can this year.”

(*Asterisk No. 9: An exclamation point is a punctuation mark used to indicate an exclamation, in this case an emphatic statement. Different from an asterisk.)

On the flip side, a loss to Henderson might well be taken as conclusive proof that Thatch isn’t going to develop into the guy we expect him to be.

It won’t be a deal-breaker, but it would certainly further stall the-up-and-comer’s momentum.

Either way, we won’t know what this bout truly means until after the fact. Until then, out fingers linger expectantly over Shift-8*.

(*Asterisk No. 10: Hitting Shift-8 on a standard U.S. keyboard results in an asterisk.)

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