Poor Henderson. He has the good-guy charm with the cool hair and all but he has Kryptonite, and that is the man who's now the new UFC Lightweight Champion of the World. When Henderson was the lightweight champ in the WEC, it was Pettis who dethroned him (who could forget the hop-off-the-fence-kick that Henderson somehow survived?). Henderson moved to the UFC and became an undisputed lightweight champion but Pettis came and took it away as well. The first time they fought, it went to the judges scorecard but this time, Henderson was beaten within the final minute of the very first round by Pettis' quick transition from guard to an armbar which forced the former champ to verbally tap out. It was awarded the submission of the night. If I was Henderson, beating Pettis would be my life's priority from now on.
It was quite a quick one as well in the co-main event between Josh Barnett and Frank Mir as the two former heavyweight champs broke out swinging, which ended up in a clinch with Mir on the fence. Barnett gave a clean, close elbow shot to the face of Mir before locking his right shoulder to set him down for a knee to the face. As soon as Mir dropped, the referee stopped the fight and Mir bounced right back up. Mir complained that the stop may have been premature and he might have a case. It did look like he was knocked out completely though.
The KO of the night, surprisingly, didn't go to Barnett, presumably Dana White also felt that the stop by the ref was premature. Instead it went to Chad Mendes, who won by technical knockout with his great combination on his opponent Clay Guida, who was The Ultimate Fighter 13 finale winner against, guess who, Anthony Pettis. Guida moved down to 145 pounds after much criticism for being a defensive-waiting fighter that he was. He's a lot better now despite the lost, was all hyped up and constantly moving throughout the bout. It's just unfortunate that Mendes' another level above in this weightclass.
UFC 164: Henderson vs. Pettis Results
Fight of The Night: Pascal Krauss vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
Knockout of The Night: Chad Mendes
Submission of the Night: Anthony Pettis
MAIN CARD
Lightweight: Anthony Pettis def. Benson Henderson (c) via Verbal Submisson (Armbar) - R1 4:31
Heavyweight: Josh Barnett def. Frank Mir via TKO (knee and punches) - R1 1:56
Featherweight: Chad Mendes def. Clay Guida via TKO (punches) - R3 0:30
Heavyweight: Ben Rothwell def. Brandon Vera via TKO (punches) - R3 1:54
Featherweight: Dustin Poirier def. Erik Koch via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Fox Sports 1)
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau def. Jamie Varner via Split Decision (29-28, 27-29, 29-28)
Flyweight: Tim Elliott def. Louis Gaudinot via Split Decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
Welterweight: Hyun Gyu Lim def. Pascal Krauss via KO (knee and punches) - R1 3:58
Bantamweight: Chico Camus def. Kyung Ho Kang via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook/YouTube)
Heavyweight: Soa Palelei def. Nikita Krylov via TKO (punches) - R3 1:34
Lightweight: Al Iaquinta def. Ryan Couture via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Middleweight: Magnus Cedenblad def. Jared Hamman via Submission (guillotine choke) - R1 0:57
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