The stage has been set for Benson Henderson to prove that he’s worthy of sharing the same octagon with Frankie Edgar in the main event at UFC 144 Japan. A victory come fight night will gain him the respect of not only his peers, but also the MMA …
The stage has been set for Benson Henderson to prove that he’s worthy of sharing the same octagon with Frankie Edgar in the main event at UFC 144 Japan. A victory come fight night will gain him the respect of not only his peers, but also the MMA world in general.
The former WEC lightweight champion was on a 10-fight tear before Anthony Pettis usurped said title, thus putting a brief halt to his present ascension to the rank of No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the 155-lb. division.
At present, his tenure in the Zuffa-based hierarchy has been a success—three wins via unanimous decision against Mark Bocek, Jim Miller and Clay Guida.
In Edgar, the 28-year-old “Smooth” will face his toughest test to date. However, Henderson possesses impressive striking attributes coupled with an admirable submission pedigree—skill sets which are a prerequisite if he’s to leave the Saitama Arena as the newly crowned king of the lightweights.
There are several fighters on the card who have the opportunity to prove their worth to themselves, the UFC and the fans, and thus gain a lot in the process. However, no one stands to gain more than Henderson if he captures UFC gold.
For one, he’ll automatically supplant “The Answer” as the assemblage’s No. 1 fighter, thus catapulting him to the status of top 10 pound-for-pound combatant in the MMA stratosphere.
If and when negotiations for renewal of contracts begin, his championship status will be the bargain tool for an increment in his wages.
Finally, with the belt strapped around his waist Henderson will be in prime position to keep his aspirations alive of one day surpassing Anderson Silva’s records for consecutive wins and title defenses.
UFC 144 is scheduled for Feb. 25, 2012, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
For additional information, follow Nedu Obi on Twitter.
For Ryan “Darth” Bader, a win at UFC 144 is an imperative. However, a loss will be catastrophic to him as a person, but more importantly for his once budding MMA career. The former NCAA Division-l standout landed at the gates of the UFC hea…
For Ryan “Darth” Bader, a win at UFC 144 is an imperative. However, a loss will be catastrophic to him as a person, but more importantly for his once budding MMA career.
The former NCAA Division-l standout landed at the gates of the UFC headquarters having ridden a seven-fight win streak. He continued that streak with five victories—most notably against Keith Jardine and Antonio “Minotouro” Nogueira.
It was Bader’s win over Nogueira that propelled him to the status “future of the light heavyweight division,” and an eventual matchup with Jon “Bones” Jones.
What Bader wasn’t to know is that if he’d won that bout, he could’ve easily been the one vying for the 205-pound gold in lieu of Jones, who now reigns supreme over that weight class.
A loss to Jones was nothing to be ashamed about, as the young phenom had been destined for great things, but to call out and then lose to a fading star in the guise of Tito Ortiz was an ignominy he’d sure like to put down as an aberration.
In the co-main event, Bader will be throwing down with a true and tested wily old fox by the name of Quinton Jackson, a former UFC light heavyweight titlist and a hero to the Japanese fans from his days in Pride—the latter of which could spell bad news for Bader, as Rampage will be hell bent on putting on a show for the home crowd.
That said, victory is a must if he’s to continue his redemption (a first-round KO of Jason Brilz at UFC 139), as well as the opportunity to climb up the ranks and back into title contention.
However, a defeat and it’s back to the drawing board, headlining preliminary televised cards whilst facing an arduous journey back to the top. And if he were to register a second loss in his next bout, it could signal a swift exit from Zuffa-based promotion.
At UFC 144, Bader has the most to lose.
UFC 144 is scheduled for Feb. 25, 2012, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
For additional information, follow Nedu Obi on Twitter.
Frankie Edgar is a slow starter. It almost cost him the title when he fought Gray Maynard and it could end his title run when he faces Benson Henderson at UFC 144.If Frankie Edgar didn’t have one of the toughest chins in MMA today, there is a chance th…
Frankie Edgar is a slow starter. It almost cost him the title when he fought Gray Maynard and it could end his title run when he faces Benson Henderson at UFC 144.
If Frankie Edgar didn’t have one of the toughest chins in MMA today, there is a chance that fans would be talking about how Gray Maynard knocked him out in the first round.
Edgar was almost knocked out in the first round both times they fought for the title. Edgar was able to rally back from near defeat, though it cost him a decision win in their first championship encounter. Instead of getting a tight win, Edgar had to settle for a draw.
Even as far back as his fight with Matt Veach, Edgar has had a problem with coming out strong in the first round. He keeps being defensive and only after feeling out his opponent does he start to go on the attack.
It is a great tactic because it allows Edgar to understand his opponents’ strengths and weaknesses while costing him a round at most. In three-round fights, it is a dangerous, but in title fights which are five rounds, it makes more sense.
The only flaw to it is when Edgar faces an energetic opponent who doesn’t slow down. The champion is undersized for the lightweight division so he has always relied on speed and better conditioning.
That is going to change on Saturday when he faces Henderson.
Henderson has not only competed in five-round title fights before, he started out fighting them at a breakneck pace. This is a man who was able to go three rounds with Clay Guida and win while fighting Guida’s kind of fight.
He also went five rounds with Donald Cerrone in WEC and was able to move from ground fighting to striking in a matter of seconds. He doesn’t have a feeling out mode and losing even one round to him could cost Edgar the decision.
He can fight at the same speed Edgar does and do it for all five rounds. Throw in the fact that Henderson is taller and a better striker, and it could spell disaster for the lightweight champion.
Henderson is also driven in a way that only a man who was a champion before can be. He knows what it is like to be on top of the mountain and that motivates him even more. He has the chance to prove that he is the best, and unlike the WEC, it will be for the title of best in the world.
Edgar doesn’t need to match the tempo that Henderson sets in his fights, but he does need to neutralize it. He can’t let Henderson get even one round in the books. The rest of the fight is going to be hard enough to win, losing one fifth of it on purpose is something he should avoid.
If he chooses to ignore the danger of letting his opponent take the first round, it may lead to Henderson taking the belt as well.
And Edgar would have no one to blame but himself.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.comthat focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
Whether Zuffa and its child company, the UFC, want to admit it or not, they almost always have some sort of rooting interest in every bout. Yes, the company makes money no matter which fighter comes out on top, but the difference in future earnings for…
Whether Zuffa and its child company, the UFC, want to admit it or not, they almost always have some sort of rooting interest in every bout. Yes, the company makes money no matter which fighter comes out on top, but the difference in future earnings for the promotion can be night and day depending on how things shake out.
So while they would be satisfied with Frankie Edgar staying atop the lightweight division, it is my belief that deep down, the company would love to see Benson Henderson walk out of the Saitama Super Arena as the new 155-pound champion at UFC 144.
Before you call me crazy and/or a host of other adjectives, please allow me to explain…
There’s something about Tokyo, Japan, that’s larger than life. Maybe it’s the bright lights, neon-stripped pathways to whatever pleasures you can imagine and some you’d never dream of in a million years.Maybe it’s the people. Thousands of them. Million…
There’s something about Tokyo, Japan, that’s larger than life. Maybe it’s the bright lights, neon-stripped pathways to whatever pleasures you can imagine and some you’d never dream of in a million years.
Maybe it’s the people. Thousands of them. Millions. Teeming is the word most commonly used for a city that seems full to bursting. It’s a culture that rewards big things—ideas, personalities, athletes. Perhaps, that’s why Tito Ortiz was such a natural fit?
“They love characters. They love anyone who is what they want to be…I think I’m kind of bigger than life there. Think about a guy with bleached blond hair who’s a lot physically bigger than anyone else,” Ortiz told Bleacher Report in an exclusive interview. “In Japan there’s a place called the ‘four corners of the world.’ When the lights change, at one time there can be 2,500 people crossing the street. All you could see were 5’5″ heads of black hair as far as the eye could see. I’m 6’3″ and I’m standing above everyone and the fans are like ‘Wow, Tito, Tito.’ The fans there are crazy.”
Ortiz won the world championship there, beating the “Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva in five decisive rounds to replace the departed Frank Shamrock as what the UFC then referred to as the Middleweight Champion.
An earlier loss to Shamrock had opened Ortiz’s eyes. He rededicated himself to training and continued to grow as an athlete. Shamrock’s were big shoes. Ortiz, perhaps instinctively understanding the audience’s mindset, knew that in order to earn respect from the UFC’s fans he would have to do something monumental in scope.
In Abu Dhabi, home of the world submission fighting championships, he told UFC matchmaker Joe Silva that he wanted to fight the best. Silva came back with a name that drove fear into the hearts of most fighters. But not Tito Ortiz. To Ortiz, Wanderlei Silva was less a problem, more an opportunity.
“I think I slept with my belt for the first three weeks. It never left my bedside…It was a dream come true. An American dream. I was just a kid and a lot of people didn’t believe in me,” Ortiz said. “But I believed in myself. I was a kid that came from nothing and all of the sudden I was the champion of the world with hard work and dedication.“
Change is in the Air
The middleweight title that Ortiz wore around his waist in Japan is now called the light heavyweight title. That’s just a tiny difference, but it’s emblematic of a seismic change in the sport in the decade plus since the UFC last traveled to Japan. To say the MMA landscape has changed in that time is an understatement of the most epic proportions.
In 2000, the promotion was traveling into the heart of enemy territory, trying to take on the thriving Pride Fighting Championship on their own turf. The UFC, as hard as this is to imagine, was the underdog, a struggling business that was on the verge of total and permanent failure.
“I remember riding with my opponent the month before, driving down to our medicals,” UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell, who fought on the undercard of that event said. In those days, the UFC didn’t send a car for each team. There just wasn’t the money for anything but the basics. “It was me and Jeff Monson and about an hour drive. We were sitting in the back, almost the trunk space, of an SUV. Our legs almost touching, staring at each other for an hour while we drove to get our medicals done.”
In the early days, Semaphore Entertainment Group was in a fight just to survive. Struggling to make payroll, sometimes even the legends of the sport were forced to travel by bus to backwoods venues in Alabama and Mississippi.
If the SEG’s UFC was an ill-fitting sweatsuit with a Full Contact Fighter logo airbrushed on slightly askew, the UFC under Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta was a custom-fitted designer suit. In the case of champion Tito Ortiz, that difference was more than a metaphor.
“Lorenzo got me a suit. He said ‘Tito, you’ve got to change your image. You’ve got to start dressing nicer.’ I’ve worn suits ever since,” Ortiz said. “Now you look around and see all the main guys wearing suits. I kind of started that whole trend. My first suit was an Armani. I remember him buying it for me for like $1500. I remember being so stoked. I couldn’t thank him enough. My first Armani suit. I looked sharp.”
Tito’s first defense was also in Tokyo, taking on local favorite Yuki Kondo. It was the last event of SEG’s seven-year stint as owners of the UFC. In a month, the Fertitta brothers would be taking over, and the UFC would implement a five-year plan that would make everyone rich.
“I’m thankful to Lorenzo Fertitta for giving me this opportunity. As a fighter, a father, as a man,” Ortiz said. “I’ve been able to do all the things I’ve always wanted to do with my life.”
The Ice(man) Age Starts in Japan
On the undercard, before they officially took over the promotion, the brothers were already making their presence known. Liddell’s sponsor that evening was the Fertitta’s Station Casinos.
“(Current UFC President) Dana (White) was my manager at the time, so I knew Frank and Lorenzo through him,” Liddell remembers. Although they kept their impending purchase of the UFC a secret, the changes that the brothers brought to the sport were huge. Lorenzo Fertitta had been a Nevada State Athletic Commission official, and believed strongly in things being done the right way. Stuff that used to fly under SEG, especially in a place like Japan, weren’t going to happen under the Fertitta’s watch.
“In Japan they used a scale with a circle in the center. Like a bathroom scale,” Liddell said, still not quite believing it. “Someone had broken it, and they couldn’t get another scale in there. You could lean one way or the other and change your weight five kilos, which is about ten pounds. I figured I could stop (weight) cutting. You could just lean one way and lose 10 pounds. Now, something like that would never happen. We have commissions and certified scales. It’s more fair for the fighters.”
Pride Before the Fall
Chuck dispatched with Monson by unanimous decision that night, but Liddell’s Japanese experience was far from over. He was hand selected by White to lead an invasion of Pride. The idea was simple—Liddell would fight for the competitor in a light heavyweight tournament, smash all of their fighters and come back to the UFC as a conquering hero. Reality, as usual, wasn’t quite ready to allow a fairy tale to come to life. Enter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Jackson knocked Liddell out in the second round of the tournament, ending White’s dream of declaring dominance. Liddell believes his team made a tactical mistake in training. Instead of his regular routine, White brought in an All-Star team including then-welterweight champion Matt Hughes to help Chuck prepare. Liddell thinks he’d have been better off at the Pit with his normal sparring partners and coach John Hackleman.
“That was a mistake,” Liddell said. “Looking back, making a big change right before such a big fight is not always such a great thing. Dana’s intentions were good, and I think he tried to do the right things, but it was too much change, too fast.”
Saturday’s Showdown
Despite ending on a sour note at the hands of Jackson, Liddell enjoyed his time in Japan.
“I liked it a lot actually. I’d done Japanese martial arts since I was 12, so I was really interested in the culture and going and checking things out. It was really cool.”
Ortiz, too, remembers his time in Japan fondly. He feels positive that the UFC can help reignite the fading Japanese MMA scene with a great show this weekend.
“This is an exciting UFC. Ben Henderson and Frankie Edgar for the lightweight championship of the world. “Rampage” Jackson against Ryan Bader—I think Rampage is going to crush Bader, and it’ll be an exciting fight to watch. I can’t wait for Saturday night,” Ortiz said. “I think the UFC has really worked hand in hand with all of the Japanese businesses there. So I think this is the start. They’ll be back more times in the future.”
From the moment he made his UFC debut last year, Benson Henderson put the rest of the lightweight division on notice. His victory over Mark Bocek at UFC 129 was just a glimpse of what fans could expect out of the 28-year-old, as dominant performan…
From the moment he made his UFC debut last year, Benson Henderson put the rest of the lightweight division on notice.
His victory over Mark Bocek at UFC 129 was just a glimpse of what fans could expect out of the 28-year-old, as dominant performances over Jim Miller and Clay Guida would follow and translate into an opportunity to challenge for the UFC lightweight title.
Now Henderson will get his chance to prove his worth when he meets Frankie Edgar this Saturday at UFC 144.
Edgar is unlike any opponent Henderson has met before, but the same could be said for the champion as well. Henderson is one of the bigger fighter competing at 155 pounds and possesses great wrestling, outstanding submission defense and a well-rounded stand-up game, all of which can give his opponent potential problems.
However, whether he is able to utilize his game plan effectively is entirely different.
Edgar is arguably the best striker in the lightweight division. He has fast hands, quick footwork and makes great use of his angles. The champion also has a great chin and is notorious for starting his bouts slow and being vulnerable.
One of the questions heading into the bout is how is Henderson going to be able to handle Edgar’s speed and footwork?
Gray Maynard was able to use his wrestling and controlled Edgar en route to a unanimous decision in their first bout in what was Edgar’s first and only loss.
Henderson is going to have to mix up his attack with a combination of strikes and takedowns, while trying to pressure his opponent and cut off the angles to neutralize his striking. He will compete with Edgar on the feet but his main strength will be in his wrestling, and he’ll want to utilize his grappling as early and as often as possible to tire out his opponent.
Also, will Henderson possess the tools to finish Edgar early in the fight?
The challenger’s striking isn’t as polished as the champion’s but Henderson brings a more versatile set of striking to put his opponent in trouble at any point during the bout.
Henderson is unquestionably the biggest threat to Edgar’s title reign thus far, and while he has a lot of momentum entering the bout, dethroning Edgar is a tougher task than one can imagine.
Henderson will no bigger opportunity than to try and walk away with the lightweight crown when he and Edgar headline the main card.
The stage has been set for Benson Henderson to prove that he’s worthy of sharing the same octagon with Frankie Edgar in the main event at UFC 144 Japan. A victory come fight night will gain him the respect of not only his peers, but also the MMA world in general.