Contributor: Benjamin Kohn
Benson Henderson defends his UFC Lightweight title for the third time against Cesar Gracie fighter and former Strikeforce Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez. After spending years in Strikeforce as their Lightweight champion and claiming to be the number 1 Lightweight in the world, Gilbert Melendez finally gets his chance to prove whether he really is number 1.
Benson Henderson has been on an absolute tear since losing his WEC belt to Anthony Pettis in the last WEC event ever. He has gone 6-0, winning the title in his 4th fight and defending it 2 times after. Although all his fights have gone to a decision, he has put on fantastic and dominating performances in almost all of bouts leaving no doubt who the better fighter was that night. His most recent dismantling of fellow Cesar Gracie fighter and teammate of Gil Melendez, Nate Diaz, was a true shellacking in which Bendo completely dominated every aspect of that fight in a five round fight that really resembled a big brother beatdown.
Gilbert Melendez was the Strikeforce Lightweight champion and when Strikeforce went belly up, he became their last Lightweight champion. Melendez is on a 7 fight winning streak and has successfully defended his Lightweight championship 4 times before Strikeforce folded. Melendez has long claimed he is the number 1 Lightweight in the world and he has definitely shown to be a dominating force in his division. Dominating performances over the likes of Jorge Masvidal, Shinya Aoki, and Tatsuya Kawajiri helped to cement Gil’s claim as a legitimate threat to Bendo’s throne. Now he finally gets his chance to prove himself on the biggest stage of his career. Now let’s get right down to the breakdown of how this fight will play out.
Striking: This one is pretty tricky for me to decide who the better striker is really. Bendo comes from a Tae-kwon-do background and it definitely shows through in his fights. His massive thighs definitely come in handy as he fires roundhouse kicks without any step up at all. This allows him to kick without giving his opponent the extra second of that step-up that Muay Thai fighters have. During his fights with Frankie and Nate, those rear leg roundhouse kicks were essential in his game plan 
(although he for some odd reason abandoned them in the second Edgar fight). In his fight with Nate Diaz, Benson was able to kick Diaz’s lead leg out from under him multiple times which really allowed Bendo to set up other techniques. While his boxing appeared much improved in his Diaz fight (and it definitely did), many of the opportunities to throw punches were set up through his usage of kicks. The fact that Nate had to worry about the kicks, and Bendo didn’t have to worry about the takedown, it opened up many different opportunities for Bendo. His boxing is rather simple and limited to a powerful but nothing special left straight and a nice right hook. Bendo’s striking is not very flashy and he is not a perfect technician. His athleticism and fight IQ however make up for what he lacks in technique.
Gilbert comes from the vaunted Cesar Gracie camp and watching him fight, it is quite apparent. His stance immediately reminds me of the Diaz brothers and that immediately sets off warning bells in my head. In his fight with Jorge Masvidal in the first round, Jorge threw a leg kick that swept Melendez right off his feet. Sound familiar? This issue is something that Melendez should take heed of and learn from Bendo’s fight with Nate. If he doesn’t, it will be a long night for him. Now the difference in styles between him and Diaz are there and that is why the fight may turn out different on the feet. While Gil does stand in a similar side on stance, his punches are more powerful and there is much less volume. His punches are not as straight as the Diaz brothers although his 1-2 are definitely very effective. He is more athletic than the Diaz brothers which allows him to enter and exit, evade and dodge punches more effectively rather than sticking his very solid chin out and taking the punishment. He has good head movement but doesn’t throw a lot of kicks. He generally outclasses his opponents on the feet and therefore doesn’t really show much urgency in some of his fights to finish and overmatched opponent.
Overall, neither fighter is really a superior striker although both of them have shown the ability to dominate the standup in their respective organizations. I will however give the edge to Bendo because of his kicks being a key to victory with Gil’s stance.
Wrestling/Clinch: Both Bendo and Gil have some very good wrestling. Both are also brown belts in BJJ. Both have heavy top games with powerful ground and pound styles. They are very similar models to each other in that regard. However when it comes to wrestling between two similarly styled fighters, it often comes down to who the better athlete is. Bendo is 
bigger, stronger and faster than Gil and that will be all the difference in this fight when it comes to wrestling. Edge goes to Bendo.
Grappling: Both are brown belts as I have mentioned although both prefer ground and pound. Bendo prefers to choke his opponents when he goes for submissions which are not very often and Gil’s only submission win is by strikes. Neither has shown much prowess off of their backs so I will call this even.
General athleticism: Bendo takes the cake on this one easily. He is bigger, stronger, faster, and also two years younger. Edge to Bendo.
Fight IQ/cornering: We all know how notorious the Cesar camp is for the cornering and that may hurt them in this fight. Bendo fights tend to go to decision nowadays and they may tell Gil that he won a round he lost. He needs to make sure he wins the rounds because his corner may not tell him otherwise. Bendo generally fights smart but he does tend to have mental lapses here in there. He does not always pay attention to where the cage is and will find himself with his back against the cage. He needs to stay out in the open as getting stuck against the cage is not a good thing unless you’re Anderson Silva.
Strength of Schedule: This matters a lot in my opinion and will definitely show in the fight. Gilbert has looked great against less than stellar competition. The highest ranked fighter he has fought at the time of their fight was I believe Aoki. He struggled in his trilogy fights with a top 20 guy at best in Josh Thompson. Bendo on the other hand has been through a gauntlet of top ten talents. Guida, Miller, Frankie twice and Diaz are one hell of a murderer’s row Bendo came out on top every time. Bendo’s competition was just at a way higher level than Gil’s and that matters a lot. Bendo gets a huge edge here.
When it comes down to it, while Gil is definitely a talented fighter who deserves to be in the top ten, I just don’t think he really has anything that can put Bendo in trouble. While I don’t think Bendo will be able to finish Gil, I think a dominant decision is going to be the outcome in this fight.
Benson Henderson by Unanimous Decision 50-45.
-Ben can be reached at [email protected] or @agentbenten
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