UFC Fight Night 42 took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the main event featured former lightweight champion Benson "Smooth" Henderson taking on the 2007 Combat Sambo champion Rustam "Tiger" Khabilov in a highly touted 5 round bout.
Khabilov started out strong tagging the champion and relentlessly taking the former champ down, although he was unable to keep him down at anytime throughout that round. When the horn sounded it was clear the champ had to do change up his gameplan if he was gonna come out with his hand raised.
The beginning of the second round where the first one took off with Tiger taking Henderson down and able to land some decent ground and pound, before Henderson himself used a modified up kick to get back to his feet and give Khabilov a taste of his own medicine. From there the gameplan was set - take him down and try to submit him.
In the 3rd round the gameplan Khabilov once again went back to his bread and butter with another takedown, but once again Henderson popped right back up to his feet, eating a knee on the way out. After Henderson was able to get the better of the stand up exchange with an uppercut, he attempted a guillotine to no avail which afterwards he was taken down once again. But Henderson was able to get on top and land some ground and pound of his own.
It was the championship experience of Henderson however, that would give him the edge in this fight. As Khabilov began to show some obvious signs of fatigue, Henderson landed with a flush uppercut and took his back to secure a fight ending rear naked choke at 1:16 of the 4th round.
After the fight, Henderson took the mic to remind the rest of the lightweight division that if anybody wants a title shot to come see him first.
Although Pettis is scheduled to defend the belt against Gilbert Melendez come December, Henderson let it be known that he's willing to hold onto the number 1 rank in the lightweight, and that anyone in the division looking to take that spot willl have to go through him first.
With this win, Henderson climbs to 21-3 with an octagon record of 9-1. He also gets his first finish inside the octagon, and along with it, his very first performance of the night bonus. He holds wins over Mark Bocek, Jim Miller, Clay Guida, Frankie Edgar (x2), Nate Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, Josh Thomson, and most recently Khabilov while his only loss comes to lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.
As for Khabilov, this marks his first UFC loss and he drops to 17-2 after going 3-0 inside the octagon. "Tiger" was holding UFC wins over the likes of Vince Pichel, Yancy Medeiros, and Jorge Masvidal before running into Henderson.
In other news Diego Sanchez earned a victory over Ross Pearson in what is a robbery of the year candidate. Throughout the fight, Pearson was able to dictate the pace with crisp striking, stellar takedown defense and even dropping "The Dream" with a hard body shot in the second round. He did so much damage, he even opened up a cut underneath the eye of Sanchez.
However, at the end of the day, it was a pure reminder as to why Dana White tells us all the time to never leave it in the hands of the judges. Although dominating Sanchez two judges scored it 29-28 and 30-27 for Sanchez in what prompted several heavy boos in the audience.
The win (though, highly debated) snaps Sanchez' 2 fight losing streak and moves him to 2-2 since returning to the lightweight division. He earned a controversial decision over Takanori Gomi last March in his return to the division but dropped two in a row to Gilbert Melendez and Myles Jury. For Pearson, he drops to 2-1 with 1 no contest as his win resume includes George Sotiropoulos and Ryan Couture, where as his no contest comes from an illegal knee from Melvin Guillard and his most recent loss to Sanchez.
John Dodson stays on top of the UFC's Flyweight division, as he faced off against fellow former title contender John Moraga this Saturday night. The two had previously met in Nemesis Fighting before making their way into the UFC with Dodson taking home a unanimous decision.
Dodson did what Dodson does best - start at a fast and heavy pace tagging Moraga consistently throughout the first round with heavy punches and even hurting Moraga with a knee before the end of the round. Moraga came out of the second round looking slightly stronger, as but still was unable to do a significant amount of damage. Eventually a hard high kick scored which caused Moraga's nose to bleed profusely. This prompted the referee to call the fight in between the rounds and saved Moraga from any further damage.
Dodson now climbs to 16-6 with an octagon record of 5-1. He holds wins over UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, Tim Elliot, Jussier Formiga, Darell Montague, and now Moraga. His only loss comes to UFC Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. Moraga falls to 14-3 with an octagon record of 3-2, his losses come from Johnson and most recently Dodson while he posts victories over Ulysses Gomez, Chris Cariaso, and Dustin Ortiz.
Other results include:
Rafael dos Anjos def. Jason High via TKO (punches) at 3:36 in Rd. 2
Pitor Hallman def. Yves Edwards via Submission (rear naked choke) at 2:32 of Rd. 3
Bryan Caraway def. Erik Perez via Submission (rear naked choke) at 1:52 of Rd. 2
Sergio Pettis def. Yaotzin Meza via Unanimous decision (29-28 across the board)
Lance Benoist def. Bobby Voleker via Unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Scott Jorgensen def. Danny Martinez via Unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Jon Tuck def. Jake Lindsey via Submission (Heel kick to the body) at 2:47 of Rd. 3
Patrick Cummins def. Roger Navarez via TKO (Punches) at 2:28 of Rd. 2
Author: Alex Cochrane
Cited sources: Dana Becker (fightline.com), Luke Thomas (mmafighting.com)
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This was actually a pretty solid card. Good to see Bendo finishing guys now! Let's hope he keeps it up and gets a third fight at Pettis! Both those guys are two of my favs.
Khabilov started out strong tagging the champion and relentlessly taking the former champ down, although he was unable to keep him down at anytime throughout that round. When the horn sounded it was clear the champ had to do change up his gameplan if he was gonna come out with his hand raised.
The beginning of the second round where the first one took off with Tiger taking Henderson down and able to land some decent ground and pound, before Henderson himself used a modified up kick to get back to his feet and give Khabilov a taste of his own medicine. From there the gameplan was set - take him down and try to submit him.
In the 3rd round the gameplan Khabilov once again went back to his bread and butter with another takedown, but once again Henderson popped right back up to his feet, eating a knee on the way out. After Henderson was able to get the better of the stand up exchange with an uppercut, he attempted a guillotine to no avail which afterwards he was taken down once again. But Henderson was able to get on top and land some ground and pound of his own.
It was the championship experience of Henderson however, that would give him the edge in this fight. As Khabilov began to show some obvious signs of fatigue, Henderson landed with a flush uppercut and took his back to secure a fight ending rear naked choke at 1:16 of the 4th round.
After the fight, Henderson took the mic to remind the rest of the lightweight division that if anybody wants a title shot to come see him first.
Benson Henderson said:
Although Pettis is scheduled to defend the belt against Gilbert Melendez come December, Henderson let it be known that he's willing to hold onto the number 1 rank in the lightweight, and that anyone in the division looking to take that spot willl have to go through him first.
Benson Henderson said:
With this win, Henderson climbs to 21-3 with an octagon record of 9-1. He also gets his first finish inside the octagon, and along with it, his very first performance of the night bonus. He holds wins over Mark Bocek, Jim Miller, Clay Guida, Frankie Edgar (x2), Nate Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, Josh Thomson, and most recently Khabilov while his only loss comes to lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.
As for Khabilov, this marks his first UFC loss and he drops to 17-2 after going 3-0 inside the octagon. "Tiger" was holding UFC wins over the likes of Vince Pichel, Yancy Medeiros, and Jorge Masvidal before running into Henderson.
In other news Diego Sanchez earned a victory over Ross Pearson in what is a robbery of the year candidate. Throughout the fight, Pearson was able to dictate the pace with crisp striking, stellar takedown defense and even dropping "The Dream" with a hard body shot in the second round. He did so much damage, he even opened up a cut underneath the eye of Sanchez.
However, at the end of the day, it was a pure reminder as to why Dana White tells us all the time to never leave it in the hands of the judges. Although dominating Sanchez two judges scored it 29-28 and 30-27 for Sanchez in what prompted several heavy boos in the audience.
The win (though, highly debated) snaps Sanchez' 2 fight losing streak and moves him to 2-2 since returning to the lightweight division. He earned a controversial decision over Takanori Gomi last March in his return to the division but dropped two in a row to Gilbert Melendez and Myles Jury. For Pearson, he drops to 2-1 with 1 no contest as his win resume includes George Sotiropoulos and Ryan Couture, where as his no contest comes from an illegal knee from Melvin Guillard and his most recent loss to Sanchez.
John Dodson stays on top of the UFC's Flyweight division, as he faced off against fellow former title contender John Moraga this Saturday night. The two had previously met in Nemesis Fighting before making their way into the UFC with Dodson taking home a unanimous decision.
Dodson did what Dodson does best - start at a fast and heavy pace tagging Moraga consistently throughout the first round with heavy punches and even hurting Moraga with a knee before the end of the round. Moraga came out of the second round looking slightly stronger, as but still was unable to do a significant amount of damage. Eventually a hard high kick scored which caused Moraga's nose to bleed profusely. This prompted the referee to call the fight in between the rounds and saved Moraga from any further damage.
Dodson now climbs to 16-6 with an octagon record of 5-1. He holds wins over UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, Tim Elliot, Jussier Formiga, Darell Montague, and now Moraga. His only loss comes to UFC Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. Moraga falls to 14-3 with an octagon record of 3-2, his losses come from Johnson and most recently Dodson while he posts victories over Ulysses Gomez, Chris Cariaso, and Dustin Ortiz.
Other results include:
Rafael dos Anjos def. Jason High via TKO (punches) at 3:36 in Rd. 2
Pitor Hallman def. Yves Edwards via Submission (rear naked choke) at 2:32 of Rd. 3
Bryan Caraway def. Erik Perez via Submission (rear naked choke) at 1:52 of Rd. 2
Sergio Pettis def. Yaotzin Meza via Unanimous decision (29-28 across the board)
Lance Benoist def. Bobby Voleker via Unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Scott Jorgensen def. Danny Martinez via Unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Jon Tuck def. Jake Lindsey via Submission (Heel kick to the body) at 2:47 of Rd. 3
Patrick Cummins def. Roger Navarez via TKO (Punches) at 2:28 of Rd. 2
Author: Alex Cochrane
Cited sources: Dana Becker (fightline.com), Luke Thomas (mmafighting.com)
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This was actually a pretty solid card. Good to see Bendo finishing guys now! Let's hope he keeps it up and gets a third fight at Pettis! Both those guys are two of my favs.