First Donald Cerrone back in the WEC days, then Frankie Edgar (twice) and Gilbert Melendez. Now Josh Thomson is the latest victim of the Benson Henderson judges voodoo curse.
Thomson was the underdog coming into this fight and his odds certainly would not have shortened once he broke his right thumb in the first round. Despite this major handicap he did enough to win the fight in the minds of a hell of a lot of people including one of the judges sitting ringside. The bad news for ‘The Punk’ was that Brian Puccillo scored the bout 48-47 against him and Sal Damato inexplicably turned in a 49-46 score in favour of Henderson.
It certainly wasn’t a robbery because there were a few close rounds, but I thought Thomson clearly won the first, fourth and fifth rounds. The former Strikeforce champion spent extended period of the fight locked onto his opponent’s back with a body triangle. He threatened with submissions and threw some strikes but his offence was by no means remarkable. On the other hand it was definitely enough to take each of those frames. He also had a case for winning the second frame which – of all the close rounds in the fight – was the closest. Henderson threw a fair amount of strikes in the clinch and up against the cage that could have reasonably earned a 10-9. There was no doubt about round three. Thomson really seemed to be affected by his injury and looked pretty helpless. In fact, that’s just what made his performance so impressive. I had pretty much written him off by the beginning of round four, but the heart and determination he showed to wrestle back control of the fight was inspiring.
We should really be making predictions now about how ‘The Punk’ would fare in a title match against Anthony Pettis but he seems destined to forever fill the role as the jilted bride. Coming out on the wrong side of a split decision against Gilbert Melendez was probably hard to swallow, but the AKA lightweight standout even admitted that fight could have gone either way. Ben Henderson working his voodoo mindwarp powers on the judges once again to take this win seemed to really hit hard in the post-fight presser. He’s now talking about retirement, which is hard to swallow off the back of a controversial decision and the fact that the 35-year-old is still performing at the highest level.
Gabriel Gonzaga showed the consequences of having poor cardio as he faded towards defeat after a decent showing in the first round.
The Brazilian showed off a bit of strategic thinking by hammering some kicks into the leg of Miocic early on. He continued to have success on the feet and looked to really put a stamp on the round by taking the fight to the mat. The ground is Gonzaga’s world and it was great to finally see him have the inclination to drag someone down there into his BJJ net. It was not to be, however, as Miocic defended well and got back to his feet quickly. This was the beginning of the end for ‘Napao’.
Miocic kept busy while Gonzaga continued to fade in the second frame. By the third, Miocic was slipping the sporadic hail-Mary right hands that were fired his way and landing punches in volume. He even got top position towards the end and landed some solid ground and pound while staying well clear of submission danger.
Gonzaga’s mini-renaissance is over and looks like he’ll be going back to occupy his former gatekeeper-to-the-stars role he held in the UFC heavyweight division before he was cut a few years back. Miocic will hold his spot in the top 10, but he needs a victory over another of the top 10 to have any chance of making strides towards the title.
This one was finished early as ‘Cowboy’ knocked Martins out cold. Martins had kept busy with body kicks throughout the fight to that point, but almost every one was met with a response from his opposite number. The knockout kick was perfectly placed and put Martins out cold. There was no need for any follow up.
There was no post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, so no opportunity for Cerrone to respond to Cole Miller’s call out from the last UFC Fight Night, but that’s ok. Cerrone showed that he belongs in the upper echelons of the lightweight division and that he should continue to fight highly ranked men in that weight class. The results are likely to be explosive.
Who’d of thought that Jeremy Stephens would be riding so high after a nightmare year in 2012. He has put an arrest and the first KO loss of his career behind him, and now deserves a spot in the 145 pound rankings.
Lil’ Heathen controlled this fight from the word go. Every one of Elkins’s takedowns was defended, and while a lot of strikes didn’t hit their mark, Stephens landed regularly. He even got the fight to the mat in the third and comfortably survived the only real threat of the fight when Elkins tried to grab a guillotine in the closing seconds.
Alex ‘Bruce Leeroy’ Caceres picked up two bonuses for his effort against Sergio Pettis. It was a great, back and forth fight that showed Caceres’s continued maturity and improvement. It also showed that Pettis should probably pick a fight at flyweight next because he was far smaller than his opponent.
Eddie Wineland showed that he still deserves to be regarded as one of the top bantamweights in the world with another TKO. He looked good against Renan Barão until he was knocked out so I wouldn’t be adverse to seeing him line up across the cage from the champion again at some point in the future.
Daron Cruickshank’s fight-ending combination was a thing of beauty. He landed a highlight-reel spinning back kick to the face of on Mike Rio before swarming him with a flurry of punches that is well worth a watch.
Nikita Krylov looked absolutely horrible in his debut gas-fest against Soa Palelei. I was quick to write him off ahead of this fight but he delivered with a cracking high kick right out of the gate. Don’t go counting on a world-beating win streak just yet though.
