Tag: UFC 164

Benson Henderson: How He Can Keep His Motivation After a Stunning Defeat

Benson Henderson is one of the most polarizing individuals in the UFC’s lightweight division. The former champion seems to garner more hatred every time he steps into the cage. After suffering his second defeat eight days before the one-year anni…

Benson Henderson is one of the most polarizing individuals in the UFC’s lightweight division. The former champion seems to garner more hatred every time he steps into the cage. After suffering his second defeat eight days before the one-year anniversary of losing the belt to Anthony Pettis, one must wonder what is next for the man simply known as “Smooth.”

Henderson’s defeat at the hands of Rafael dos Anjos has pushed him down to No. 4 in the UFC’s official rankings. Unfortunately for Henderson, he might as well hold a ranking spot that is well out of the Top 10, because that defeat at UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. dos Anjos has completely knocked him out of the immediate title picture. Names such as Donald Cerrone, Eddie Alvarez and Bobby Green can quickly leapfrog him if they put together an impressive performance before the end of 2014. So what does this mean for Henderson, and will he lose his motivation for the sport? Hopefully the answer is no.

When looking at this question the first step is to review Henderson’s comments about his plans to walk away from the sport of MMA. In a 2013 interview with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting, the former champion discussed his thoughts on retirement.

“By the time I hit 33 I intend on retiring. I’m done after that,” Henderson told Helwani during the conversation. “Fighting is hard, fighting is tough. You get beat up in the body. It’s hard; it takes a toll on your body.”

Henderson made those comments in April 2013 before he was able to defeat Gilbert Melendez for his third defense of the title. His fortunes have not been so great since that interview, and now he finds himself in a perplexing position within the lightweight division. However, that does not mean he should lose his motivation for both this weight class and beyond.

First, if Henderson can put together a string of 3-4 wins within the next year, he may find himself in a position in which the UFC will need him. Henderson has a track record of staying pretty active in the cage, and that can play to his advantage. Recent developments have seen the UFC deal with injury issues in multiple main events in 2014.

If Benson can win some bouts and do so in a highlight-reel fashion, he can place himself on the short list of fighters the UFC calls if it needs a late replacement. He isn’t really in the position to turn down any opportunities that may come via injury as this may be the only route for him to leap to the top of the lightweight heap.

The second option for Henderson is a potential move to welterweight. This conversation is not a new talking point in reference to the former title holder. Comments dating back to 2011 have referenced Henderson moving up to 170 pounds. An interview with Geno Mrosko of Bloody Elbow revealed that Benson has made preparations to make the eventual move.

“As I get older, I eat healthier, try to eat the right things, make all these little sacrifices that it takes to be a champion,” Henderson said to Mrosko. “Hopefully, eventually my technique catches up where I can hang with guys that are freaking 20 pounds heavier than me, and use more of my speed when they are bigger and slower, and my technique makes up for them being stronger than me.”

These are two very interesting opportunities that await Henderson when he does return to fighting. While he may not have been the most popular of fighters and earned some heat for controversial wins, the truth remains that he is a very tough foil for any athlete placed opposite the Octagon. Whatever Henderson decides to do going forward will be worth watching out for by anyone who could be an eventual opponent.

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UFC 164: Rob Hinds Explains Decision in Josh Barnett-Frank Mir Fight

UFC 166 figures to featured an instant classic for the main event as Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos look to settle the score in their rivalry. Most figure the fight will end with either a JDS knockout or Velasquez dominating on the judge’s scorec…

UFC 166 figures to featured an instant classic for the main event as Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos look to settle the score in their rivalry. Most figure the fight will end with either a JDS knockout or Velasquez dominating on the judge’s scorecards. Either way, the odds are there won’t be much controversy in the cage; something that couldn’t be said at UFC 164.

Prior to Anthony Pettis dethroning Benson Henderson as UFC lightweight champion in the main event, an entire arena erupted in boos for one man in particular. He wasn’t a fighter, coach or even an athlete from a rival sports team being shown on the big screen. No, these boos (along with the flooding of message boards) were focused on MMA referee Rob Hinds.

To review, Hinds was the official for the UFC 164 co-main event, a heavyweight bout between Josh Barnett and Frank Mir. The fight started quickly with both men going toe-to-toe with one another. Eventually, Barnett got an advantage and pushed Mir against the cage. It was here where Barnett worked his dirty boxing, eventually landing a knee that sent Mir sprawling to the canvas. 

Hinds quickly jumped in to call the fight, but Mir and the fans didn’t seem happy with the decision.

Hinds is a veteran being the third man in the cage, and he spoke to Bleacher Report MMA about the now-notorious decision.

“I expected this matchup to be an aggressive, no nonsense fight…Sometimes you can sense the end over a period of time. This time it was immediate. Mir was taking punishment in the clinch. No problem there. It was when Barnett’s knee connected on Mir’s temple. Mir briefly lost all neurological control and collapsed with no possible sign of any defense.”

I asked Hinds to give fans (and myself) a little bit of insight into the thought process when something like this happens. After all, it’s not easy to make a judgment call to step in while two heavyweights are battling it out in the matter of a few seconds. 

  1. Is Mir conscious/unconscious? Maybe partially conscious. Maybe not.
  2. Is he facing Barnett or facing the floor? Face toward the mat.
  3. Are Mir’s arms, legs or body in any position to intelligently defend himself? Palms and forearms were facing down. Arms were loosely above his head. Not protecting his face or head. Legs straight out with no foot, knee or leg between him and Barnett. Body turned to the side angling toward the mat.
  4. What is Barnett’s position to finish? Is it a striking position or is he going for submission? Barnett was postured up, had knee on body with his arm cocked to do more striking damage to a defenseless Mir.

As you can see, there’s plenty going on upstairs when Hinds made the call. Fans were up in arms over an early stoppage but at least this call wasn’t as glaringly bad as some other calls. 

Some fans argued that, “Hey this is Mir’s thing. He drops to the ground and gets his opponent to come to the ground with him.” I’m not inclined to believe that was Mir’s strategy as he collapsed to the canvas and neither does Hinds. 

“In No. 3, if Mir would have shown any signs of fighting back, defending himself or at least in a position to offer some resistance after that brutal knee, the fight would have continued,” he said. “Mir showed none of those signs.”

Another thought coming from this fight was the fact Hinds likely did Mir (and his brain cells) a favor by jumping in right away. We’ve seen Mir be on the wrong end of some vicious beatings (Brock Lesnar) and thunderous knockouts (Shane Carwin, Junior dos Santos). Mir’s questionable chin has failed him in the past but it wasn’t on Hinds’ mind the night of the fight.

“Prior knowledge of fighters is helpful as a referee, but should not be the determining factor in making a decision,” he said. “Every situation is different. Mir’s previous fights have nothing to do with the next. If a fighter is medically cleared to compete, they get the same chance as every other athlete.”

After the fight was called Mir rose to his feet to protest the stoppage and the fans erupted with boos. It’s an environment few can relate to but it’s nothing new to Hinds.”

“I stood by this call 100 percent at the time (and still do). Protests are part of all sports. That’s what we sign up for. If you’re not prepared for that and are not confident in your abilities, maybe this isn’t the position to be in… I am confident in my decision making, regardless of what’s going on around me. An arena can be intimidating and can affect the mindset of an unconfident or newer/inexperienced referee. This was a very good call.”

I will give Hinds credit on the fact he appears to be the type of person to own up to their mistake. It’s become a routine for officials in other sports to stand by their calls even when they’re so obviously wrong.

“If I would have made a mistake or realized that I did something wrong, I would definitely lose sleep over it,” he said. “I take this position seriously, have a lot of pride in what I do and constantly put a lot of work into my craft.”

Improving his craft as an official in the cage no doubt requires a lot of work without much payoff. Nobody notices the referee in a fight unless something controversial happens. Even though it can seem like the referee gets put on an island by himself following a controversial call, Hinds explains that’s not the case.

“Whenever decisions are made, the officials who truly care will consult with one another and get different perspectives on the same situation. It’s very helpful for the growth of an official. There is a lot of peer support.”

It’s good to know the officials will pick the brains of one another following a fight. Just like we have three judges at different sections of the cage, it’s helpful to have another set of eyes in a different position to explain what happened.

Still, it’d be easy to let something like this get to you. But Hinds explains it’s always a mindset of “on to the next one.”

“Bout to bout, event to event, I do not bring my previous performances into thought,” he said. “That time has passed. To me, it’s a continuous evolution and learning experience. I tirelessly review as much footage as I can and break down my (and other officials’) performances so I can be better with every event.”

Fans may have not liked the call immediately after it happened (I was one of them), but after seeing the replay, it’s hard to say that Hinds’ call was a bad one. Mir was face first and limp on the canvas. Not only was Barnett in prime position to deliver a few follow-up punches that would’ve scrambled Mir’s brain cells like Sunday morning breakfast, the outcome of the fight at the point wasn’t in question.

All quotes were obtained by Bleacher Report MMA.

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UFC 164 Danavlog: Anthony Pettis Gets Pep Talk From the Boss, Josh Barnett Gives Props to Frank Mir and Much More

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Because there’s another fight to promote this week (tonight’s UFC Fight Night 29 in Brazil), Dana White has released another of his behind-the-scenes video blogs. This one looks back on UFC 164: Henderson vs. Pettis and lets fans in on some fascinating moments. Other than the first part of the vlog, where Dana chats with the Harley Davidson guys about customizing a motorcycle — skip past that stuff, trust us — this episode is low on fluff and big on intimate moments with the fighters who bled for us in Milwaukee. Some highlights…

0:00: If you can’t read backwards-English, the painting behind Dana says “Pay Attention Mother Fuckers.” Truly a man of pristine taste, this Mr. White.

1:40: “This is Fred Durst’s bike.” Wow. morganfreeman.gif

2:03: The camera locks on Ryan Couture backstage after his loss to Al Iaquinta, trying very hard to keep it together. This is the first of many glimpses at the often devastatingly quiet moments losing fighters on the card endured immediately after their fights. Always a bummer.

2:25: Matt Serra shows up to provide some much-needed comic relief, calling Dana White fat and saying Dana should stay dressed in slimming black until he “looks like Lorenzo Fertitta.” It should be noted that Serra, a former welterweight champion, probably weighs like 275 pounds at this point.

4:02: Ben Rothwell celebrates his win over Brandon Vera, unaware that he’s about to get suspended for nine months.


(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Because there’s another fight to promote this week (tonight’s UFC Fight Night 29 in Brazil), Dana White has released another of his behind-the-scenes video blogs. This one looks back on UFC 164: Henderson vs. Pettis and lets fans in on some fascinating moments. Other than the first part of the vlog, where Dana chats with the Harley Davidson guys about customizing a motorcycle — skip past that stuff, trust us — this episode is low on fluff and big on intimate moments with the fighters who bled for us in Milwaukee. Some highlights…

0:00: If you can’t read backwards-English, the painting behind Dana says “Pay Attention Mother Fuckers.” Truly a man of pristine taste, this Mr. White.

1:40: “This is Fred Durst’s bike.” Wow. morganfreeman.gif

2:03: The camera locks on Ryan Couture backstage after his loss to Al Iaquinta, trying very hard to keep it together. This is the first of many glimpses at the often devastatingly quiet moments losing fighters on the card endured immediately after their fights. Always a bummer.

2:25: Matt Serra shows up to provide some much-needed comic relief, calling Dana White fat and saying Dana should stay dressed in slimming black until he “looks like Lorenzo Fertitta.” It should be noted that Serra, a former welterweight champion, probably weighs like 275 pounds at this point.

4:02: Ben Rothwell celebrates his win over Brandon Vera, unaware that he’s about to get suspended for nine months.

4:12: An emotionally shattered Clay Guida gets tended to backstage, before checking in with Chad Mendes, the man who just TKO’d him. Both fighters are gracious with each other before Guida walks off, but when the camera pans back to Mendes, it seems as if the Carpenter’s heartbreak has sapped some of the joy out of Mendes’s win.

4:43: Frank Mir‘s dad calls “BULLSHIT!” after Mir is TKO’d by Josh Barnett in the co-main event. Greg Jackson is as silent and motionless as a statue, standing with his arms frozen in the air — the universal symbol for “you fuckin’ kidding me, ref?”

5:12: Mir and Barnett cross paths backstage, and share a moment of candid discussion before going their separate ways. Mir thanks Barnett for the fight, and Barnett says “Thanks for actually asking for it. I think you’re the only person…in history who’s ever been like, ‘Yeah, I want to fight him.’” Barnett greets and shows respect to Mir’s father and cornermen.

5:35: Barnett breaks down his finish of Mir in great and lucid detail to someone out of the frame. He says that he could feel Mir breaking down and knew it was “time to kill.”

6:22: Beltless and nursing his damaged arm, Benson Henderson is consoled by his coach. So many feels, man.

6:54: Dana White congratulates new lightweight champion Anthony Pettis after his shocking submission win over Benson Henderson. Dana seems amazed at what Pettis has done, and gives him a mini-pep talk that includes an ominous warning about the title belt he now possesses: “You have no idea. Watch now. That thing makes all the fucking difference in the world. Trust me. Now that you’ve got that, you’re never gonna want to let go of it. Watch how everything fucking changes now. Trust me.”

– Elias Cepeda

The ‘FOX Boost’ Is a Myth: There’s No Formula to Create New UFC Stars


(Benson Henderson peers warily at the buyrate for UFC 164. / Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

By Matt Saccaro

Congratulations are in order for FOX and the UFC. They took a terrible draw in Benson Henderson and made him into merely a bad draw.

Henderson was partially responsible for one of the worst pay-per-view buyrates in recent UFC history — an estimated 190,000 buys for UFC 150 against fellow failure-to-move-the-needle Frankie Edgar. Henderson was so bad that the UFC kept him off PPV for an entire year after UFC 150, instead preferring to use their shows on FOX to build him up. After these shows, the UFC decided to put Henderson back in a PPV main event at UFC 164, presumably in order to see if FOX turned the ho-hum fighter into a star.

I noted the importance of UFC 164’s PPV performance in a previous article:

If UFC 164 can boast a decent buyrate, then the theory that the UFC can use FOX to create the next generation of stars will be proven true, and the UFC’s future will be a little more secure. But if UFC 164 fails as hard as UFC 150 did — if promoting a fighter TWO TIMES on one of the biggest networks on television failed to make that fighter a draw — then the UFC is in trouble. That would mean one champion who would be dead weight on a card, in addition to the champions from the lighter men’s weight classes who have all yet to establish themselves as major PPV draws.

UFC 164 didn’t perform as poorly as UFC 150. It drew an estimated 270,000 buys.

“That’s great! It’s about a 42% increase over last time,” you say? Yeah, that’s true, but let’s look at it another way.


(Benson Henderson peers warily at the buyrate for UFC 164. / Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

By Matt Saccaro

Congratulations are in order for FOX and the UFC. They took a terrible draw in Benson Henderson and made him into merely a bad draw.

Henderson was partially responsible for one of the worst pay-per-view buyrates in recent UFC history — an estimated 190,000 buys for UFC 150 against fellow failure-to-move-the-needle Frankie Edgar. Henderson was so bad that the UFC kept him off PPV for an entire year after UFC 150, instead preferring to use their shows on FOX to build him up. After these shows, the UFC decided to put Henderson back in a PPV main event at UFC 164, presumably in order to see if FOX turned the ho-hum fighter into a star.

I noted the importance of UFC 164’s PPV performance in a previous article:

If UFC 164 can boast a decent buyrate, then the theory that the UFC can use FOX to create the next generation of stars will be proven true, and the UFC’s future will be a little more secure. But if UFC 164 fails as hard as UFC 150 did — if promoting a fighter TWO TIMES on one of the biggest networks on television failed to make that fighter a draw — then the UFC is in trouble. That would mean one champion who would be dead weight on a card, in addition to the champions from the lighter men’s weight classes who have all yet to establish themselves as major PPV draws.

UFC 164 didn’t perform as poorly as UFC 150. It drew an estimated 270,000 buys.

“That’s great! It’s about a 42% increase over last time,” you say? Yeah, that’s true, but let’s look at it another way.

First, 270k buys for UFC 164 is still way below the 2013 average. Just because Henderson can draw flies to shit now, whereas before he couldn’t, doesn’t mean FOX is a star maker.

Second, Henderson main-evented two FOX shows: UFC on FOX 5 and UFC on FOX 7. The former drew 4.4 million average viewers and the latter garnered 3.7 million average viewers. Together, that’s 8.1 million people that saw Benson Henderson fight for free on FOX.  But the vast majority of these same people still refused to pay for a PPV headlined by Benson Henderson, a UFC “superstar” and world champion.

Again, there was a difference of 80,000 buys between UFC 150 — Bendo’s last PPV appearance before UFC 164 — and UFC 164 itself. And around 8 million people saw Bendo on free TV after UFC 150, but only 80,000 more people ordered UFC 164 than ordered UFC 150.

You know what that means?

It means that only 1% of the combined viewers of UFC on FOX 5 and UFC on FOX 7 were converted into PPV buyers.

That’s bad no matter how you spin it — unless you’re taking the “nearly 50% increase in buys!” angle which is the only way to look at the situation positively. Of course, the numbers given are estimates, so the actual percentages may be slightly higher or lower.

However, that doesn’t mean that the story the estimates convey is inaccurate. Placing a fighter on FOX doesn’t automatically make him or her a Brock Lesnar-level draw, or even an average-level draw. FOX can amplify a fighter’s reach and fan base but it can’t make viewers pay to see a fighter. FOX isn’t a panacea for a fighter that’s not selling PPVs. The only “stars” FOX will help make will be the ones who would’ve drawn well anyway due to their natural charisma or fighting style or simply because they have “it.”

So let’s put this talk of the vaunted FOX boost to rest, OK?

Turns Out Ben Rothwell Was Undergoing a Little *Too* Much Testosterone Replacement Prior to His Bout With Brandon Vera


(If not for his doctor’s advice, Rothwell would have fully completed his transformation into Wolverine that night. Photo via Getty.)

You guys remember how Ben Rothwell jumped on the TRT train prior to his bout with Brandon Vera at UFC 164? And how Vera claimed that “it wouldn’t help?” Well, it did. Unfortunately for “Big Ben,” it helped him a little *too* much, actually. MMAJunkie just passed along word that, although Rothwell was only given an “administrative warning” by the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, he has been suspended by the UFC for 9 months following a positive test for elevated levels of testosterone at UFC 164.

Shockingly, Rothwell was shocked to learn the shocking news:

Following my victory at UFC 164 I was informed I tested for an elevated level of testosterone. This came as a shock because I had applied for and was granted a TRT exemption and was doing so under the supervision of a doctor. I was tested every week for eight weeks prior to the fight and was well under the acceptable level each time.

My God, does Lavar Johnson’s “doctor” not even realize how many fighters he is screwing over with his ignorance? HE’S TAKING AWAY MEN’S LIVELIHOODS DAMN IT!


(If not for his doctor’s advice, Rothwell would have fully completed his transformation into Wolverine that night. Photo via Getty.)

You guys remember how Ben Rothwell jumped on the TRT train prior to his bout with Brandon Vera at UFC 164? And how Vera claimed that “it wouldn’t help?” Well, it did. Unfortunately for “Big Ben,” it helped him a little *too* much, actually. MMAJunkie just passed along word that, although Rothwell was only given an “administrative warning” by the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, he has been suspended by the UFC for 9 months following a positive test for elevated levels of testosterone at UFC 164.

Shockingly, Rothwell was shocked to learn the shocking news:

Following my victory at UFC 164 I was informed I tested for an elevated level of testosterone. This came as a shock because I had applied for and was granted a TRT exemption and was doing so under the supervision of a doctor. I was tested every week for eight weeks prior to the fight and was well under the acceptable level each time.

My God, does Lavar Johnson’s “doctor” not even realize how many fighters he is screwing over with his ignorance? HE’S TAKING AWAY MEN’S LIVELIHOODS DAMN IT!

I had applied for TRT after an endocrinologist and Wisconsin athletic doctors diagnosed me with hypogonadism. They felt it was caused by a car crash in 1999 that left me with severe head trauma and in a coma. Doctors told me TRT was something that could stop the hypogonadism from degrading my body.

Hypogonadism from a car wreck. Is that kind of like how you can get gonorrhea from riding a tractor in your bathing suit?

After getting the news of the elevated test, I spoke with the Wisconsin Athletic Commission and they decided to give me an administrative warning. I was told they didn’t think I tried to cheat, but felt some punishment was necessary.

I have now been informed the UFC has elected to suspend me for nine months. I am not going to fight the suspension as I feel ultimately it is my responsibility to make sure I stay under the acceptable limit. I am deeply sorry for this mistake and apologize to my fans, family and friends.

Well if anything, Rothwell’s elevated testosterone levels should help explain that hyper-energetic dance number he pulled off before KO’ing Vera. Shunick is going to be crushed when he finds out that Rothwell wasn’t actually summoning the Gods of cheese, cheap beer and general whiteness on that cool August night. As were we all, George. As were we all.

–J. Jones

UFC Suspends Heavyweight Ben Rothwell for Elevated Levels of Testosterone

It looks like Ben Rothwell will be spending the next nine month on the sidelines.
The 35-year-old Milwaukee-based fighter recently battled his way back into the win column by knocking out Brandon Vera in the third round of their bout at UFC 164. While …

It looks like Ben Rothwell will be spending the next nine month on the sidelines.

The 35-year-old Milwaukee-based fighter recently battled his way back into the win column by knocking out Brandon Vera in the third round of their bout at UFC 164. While the flurry-filled stoppage was impressive, any momentum he hoped to gain from the victory has been brought to halt, as Rothwell announced on Thursday he has been suspended by the UFC for elevated levels of testosterone in his post-fight drug test.

MMA Junkie first broke the story as “Big Ben” released an official statement to the site regarding the situation:

Following my victory at UFC 164 I was informed I tested for an elevated level of testosterone. This came as a shock because I had applied for and was granted a TRT exemption and was doing so under the supervision of a doctor. I was tested every week for eight weeks prior to the fight and was well under the acceptable level each time.

After getting the news of the elevated test, I spoke with the Wisconsin Athletic Commission and they decided to give me an administrative warning. I was told they didn’t think I tried to cheat, but felt some punishment was necessary. I have now been informed the UFC has elected to suspend me for nine months. 

The Kenosha-based fighter’s suspension will add another chapter to the ongoing debate surrounding TRT and its place in mixed martial arts. Where UFC President Dana White was once indifferent to the matter in past years, the promotion’s figurehead has taken a hard line as of late. White hasn’t pulled punches when asked about the matter and vowed to increase the testing of fighters who are granted the therapeutic usage exemption (TUE).

Rothwell has experienced mixed results, going 3-3, since joining the UFC in 2009. The bout with Vera at UFC 164 was a crucial fight due to his lingering status in the division and it will be interesting to see where he stands with the organization in the aftermath of this incident. 

Whether the victory will be overturned also remains to be seen since the matter was handled by the UFC directly and not the Wisconsin Athletic Commission.

 

Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.

 

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