Rafael dos Anjos pulled off a huge upset Saturday night with his first-round TKO over former lightweight champion Benson Henderson.
Dos Anjos was ranked No. 5 in the division going into the fight, and Henderson was ranked No. 1. This win is sure to mov…
Rafael dos Anjos pulled off a huge upset Saturday night with his first-round TKO over former lightweight champion Benson Henderson.
Dos Anjos was ranked No. 5 in the division going into the fight, and Henderson was ranked No. 1. This win is sure to move dos Anjos up in the rankings, possibly into the top three.
Dos Anjos finds himself in a difficult position now, as there are few fighters ranked higher than him that he could fight next. He will likely have to face an opponent ranked lower in the division, but there are plenty of options that could make for great fights.
Ending a scintillating night in scintillating fashion, Rafael dos Anjos shocked the world at UFC Fight Night 49 when he starched former lightweight champion Benson Henderson in the first round.
A wild haymaker connected out of a scramble and sent Hende…
Ending a scintillating night in scintillating fashion, Rafael dos Anjos shocked the world at UFC Fight Night 49 when he starched former lightweight champion Benson Henderson in the first round.
A wild haymaker connected out of a scramble and sent Henderson flailing to the mat, where follow-up blows completed what was academic at that point.
The win is unquestionably the biggest of dos Anjos‘ career and it’s a crippling loss for Henderson. For fans though, it was an explosive cherry on top of a night of equally enjoyable action across the board.
What We’ll Remember About This Fight
The sight of Henderson, triumphant so many times and in so many ways during his lengthy run at the top of the heap, stopped so violently. For all the times he eked out a win on a set of scorecards, his greatest loss came in a manner that left absolutely no doubt.
What We Learned About Benson Henderson
That’s he’s beatable.
Aside from Anthony Pettis, no one could really claim to have proven that with any proper sincerity at this stage in the game. On Saturday night in Tulsa, dos Anjos did just that.
There’ve been cracks in the foundation at times and wins that only narrowly avoided being losses, but this was the first time in a long time that someone truly beat Henderson outside of Pettis.
That’s a serious feather in the Brazilian’s cap.
What We Learned About Rafael dos Anjos
That he’s for real.
His skills have been quietly coming along for a while now, and he’s the perfect blend of power and technique. With a standup arsenal that’s gone from nonexistent to genuinely threatening over the past few years, it’s time to consider him one of the very best lightweights on Earth.
What’s Next for Henderson
A trip back to the ol‘ drawing board, most likely. When he emerges from some time spent pondering this debacle, he may be looking to get into a fight with someone like Bobby Green or Myles Jury, or even a rematch of his heavily questioned win over Josh Thomson from earlier this year.
What’s Next for dos Anjos
Only the very best from here on out.
He recently lost to the injured KhabibNurmagomedov, but perhaps a fight against Eddie Alvarez, should he be successful in his UFC debut next month, could make some sense for later this year.
Benson “Smooth” Henderson and Rafael dos Anjos will face off in a crucial lightweight battle in Tulsa, Oklahoma at UFC Fight Night 49 on Saturday. Henderson is pining for another shot at current champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, while dos Anjos is ma…
Benson “Smooth” Henderson and Rafael dos Anjos will face off in a crucial lightweight battle in Tulsa, Oklahoma at UFC Fight Night 49 on Saturday. Henderson is pining for another shot at current champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, while dos Anjos is making his initial climb up the ladder.
Since losing his title by submission to Pettis, Henderson has been impressive. He’s defeated Josh Thomson and RustamKhabilov. Now Henderson is ranked No. 1, and he must handle the dangerous dos Anjos to continue his path toward a shot at Pettis.
Mike Pyle will also take on Jordan Mein and Francis “Limitless” Carmont battles Thales Leites in a matchup of top-15 middleweights.
Here’s a look at the entire card with predictions for each match. Just beneath the table is a closer look at the three biggest bouts on the card.
Henderson Will Outlast dos Anjos
It’s almost impossible to outpoint Henderson. Smooth has mastered the art of winning rounds in the UFC. As a matter of fact, eight of Henderson’s UFC bouts have gone the distance. In those bouts, 21 of the 24 judges have scored those fights in favor of Henderson.
When an opponent thinks that being over aggressive is the way to bring the fight to the former champion, Henderson reminds them that he’s still an above-average striker.
Even with those offensive gifts, defense is what makes Henderson so tough to defeat. Per Fight Metric, he thwarts 66 percent of the strikes aimed his way. When a fighter as well-rounded as Henderson is also tough to hit, he’s a handful for any opponent.
Dos Anjos is talented, and in many ways, he’s similar to Henderson. He’s very technical, but he isn’t as adept in the stand-up game. Against Henderson, he’ll try to lean on his jiu-jitsu. However, Henderson’s powerful base, dexterity and technique will make that a difficult task.
Henderson will win on the strength of a more competent and effective striking game. My prediction is a unanimous decision, but others think Smooth will win by submission.
Either way, the bottom line should be the same.
Mein Will Take Decision over Pyle
In a battle of two former Matt Brown KO victims, Jordan Mein will score the victory. Pyle was knocked out by Brown in August of 2013 and Mein was thwarted just four months earlier.
Since the defeats at the hands of Brown, both Mein and Pyle have performed well. Pyle dominated TJ Waldburger in February and stopped him in the third round and Mein won a split decision over HernaniPerpetuo in April.
While both of these guys are good grapplers, Mein‘s quickness should keep Pyle off balance on Saturday. The challenge for Mein will be to keep the fight standing. Once Pyle sees he’s no match for Mein in the striking game, he’ll look to take Mein down.
A submission is Pyle’s best shot at winning, but it won’t be easy.
Mein hasn’t lost a fight by submission in six years. He’ll fight off Pyle’s attempts to gain an edge on the ground, and win a decision based on his performance in the stand-up.
Leites Will Submit Carmont
Thales Leites and Francis Carmont are headed in opposite directions. Carmont has lost his last two bouts while Leites has won three in a row.
Both men have outstanding ground games, but Carmont‘s is mostly about power and dominating top position. Leites is more slippery and is at his best working toward the submission.
Because of the two men’s skill sets, it’s very likely this one winds up on the ground. When it does, Leites will set a trap for an over-aggressive Carmont and finish him with a submission to keep the Frenchman on a losing streak.
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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.
Benson “Smooth” Henderson and Rafael dos 