Contributor: Josh Hall
UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs Khabilov has come and gone and it may have been the most bizarre UFC card in the Zuffa era. To be honest, I’m not sure there is even a close second. While poor officiating and judging ruled the night, a former UFC champion showed that he is still very much a factor to be reckoned with in the lightweight division.
Ben Henderson overcame a slow start and slowly seized control in his main event bout against Rustam Khabilov before he exploded in the fourth round with a quick one-two combination to drop the Dagestani fighter. He moved in for the submission instantly, sinking in a sudden rear naked choke to secure the tap out and his first finish in the UFC. Henderson looked like a champion should, getting better as the fight went on and almost completely nullifying the touted grappling game of Khabilov. A secondary highlight of this fight was watching Greg Jackson’s Russian accent while talking to Khabilov in between rounds.
While the main event provided a conclusive finish, the co-main only brought the ire of infuriated fans around the world. I said on our last Undercard Supercast Diego Sanchez would win an absurd split decision, and yet I was still shocked and utterly appalled when the decision was read. Diego was not his usual aggressive self, and Pearson picked him apart at range while avoiding getting sucked into a brawl. He fought an almost perfect tactical fight. Even after giving this a second watch I could find no way justifying a single round for Sanchez, but the 30-27 scorecard that went his way is the worst card I have ever seen in the UFC. No hyperbole.
John Dodson solidified his status as #1 contender at 125, but his win over John Moraga was not without a bizarre end of its own. After finally starting to find his range in the second round Moraga made a small mistake and an attempted Dodson high kick turned into a nose breaking knee. In between rounds the doctor checked Moraga’s nose and decided to stop the bout despite the dissent from the upset fighter.
Jason High looked very good in the first round in his lightweight debut against Rafael Dos Anjos, but his gas tank began to go the Brazilian went to work in the standup. After hurting High badly Dos Anjos looked to finish the fight on the ground with strikes, and asked the referee to stop the fight. At the end of four straight hammerfists to the back of High’s head, Kevin Mulhall stepped in and stopped the fight. To make things worse after the fact High got up and shoved Mulhall in anger which could lead to serious repercussions. I understand his frustration, but his post-fight conduct was totally inappropriate.
Piotr Hallman and Yves Edwards were apparently fighting under a different rule set than everyone else because short of committing murder there was no way a point deduction could be accrued. Hallman poked Edwards in his right eye multiple times and if I remember correctly was warned by Mario Yamasaki on 3 other occasions in the fight for assorted unintentional fouls. Yves did have an eye poke as well, but putting fouls aside Hallman was simply too strong in the third, scoring the win by rear naked choke.
Bryan Caraway picked up another solid win but the talk of his fight was about the alleged fishhook from Caraway in the first round that was missed by referee Raul Porrata. Note: This did not lead to the rear naked choke finish as that happened the round later. Caraway showed that his grappling were far too much for the hometown Erik Perez, finally finding a rear naked choke for the second round submission win.
Sergio Pettis and Lance Benoist secured uninspiring decision wins on the prelims in bouts not worth discussing. Scotty Jorgenson got his first win at flyweight but took a serious beating en route to winning a unanimous decision over Danny Martinez.
Jon Tuck won a sloppy but entertaining bout, forcing Jake Lindsey to verbally submit after a well-placed heel shot to either the liver or floating rib from back mount left him unable to continue. On Fight Pass Pat Cummins secured his first UFC win with a 2nd round TKO win over the debuting Roger Narvaez.
-Josh can be reached at [email protected] or @jhall282.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
