Benson "Smooth" Henderson vs Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez

I think it would be a competitive fight with Benson beating Melendez.
 
coming from a guy who dislikes bendo, and loves the scrap pack..

I don't see how gil comes close to beating benson
 
I think this fight is gonna be war , the fact that it's on fox could be huge for the sport
 
Evangelion said:
People are way underestimating Gil. He's not going to beat Gil easily by any means.
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I agree, but it's not hard to see why. He hasn't been active lately, his fight against Thomson was very uninspired. By the time he fights Henderson it'll have been more than two years since Melendez had a great performance.

But then, what a performance it was. Kawajiri was coming off a one-sided domination of Josh Thomson. His performances have been consistent and stellar ever since. Yet Melendez ragdolled one of the best wrestlers in the division and quickly swarmed him with one of the most brutal barrages of ground and pound I've ever seen. As impressive as Henderson looked in dominating Diaz and Miller, I don't think either comes close to Melendez against Kawajiri.

I'm picking Henderson, but it's a super intriguing fight. I wouldn't really be all that surprised to see either guy win in one-sided fashion. Should be a fun ride.
 
Evangelion said:
People are way underestimating Gil. He's not going to beat Gil easily by any means.
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I never thought it was an easy fight for Bendo to begin with. Good standup, much better wrestling and extremely tough. Gil is gonna be hard to beat, though I take Bendo by UD.
 
elvis 78 said:
I think this fight is gonna be war , the fact that it's on fox could be huge for the sport
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A year ago, we always predicted what would be the best fights to put on Fox. Well, there you have it. Can't wait..along with Cormier/Mir.
 
I think Gil puts up a great fight and possibly hurts Bendo once or twice, but I think Ben takes a UD.
 
remember when Gil VS Frankie was THE fight to make. Man, things changed quickly.

I had Gil beating Frankie but losing a close decision to Ben.
 
Melendez does well when he pressures his opponent.

if you seen his fights, you know he doesn't do all that well when he gets pressured. I'm betting money on this fight, and its been a long time since i found the right one to lay cash on.

Melendez will get ran over.
 
Substance Abuse said:
Gilbert has been fighting underwhelming competition over in Strikeforce for a while and his performances have mirrored that of his excitement level in regards to his match-ups. It's been apparent that Gil thinks he should have been in the UFC a long time ago and in my opinion, he lost his last bout.

Whether it is actually Gil not being as good as we thought when he looked merely decent against Masvidal, demonstrating paltry combinations (nothing but one-twos) and meandering through a fight where Jorge messed his face up despite not throwing many strikes, and in my eyes, losing a close decision to Josh Thompson, Gil better hope this lights a fire under his ass or it's going to be a long night against Benson.

A long while ago, Benson used to be an after thought, the guy who got more strife for asking if he could get an amen, not what he had done in the cage. Now, he's the undisputed UFC lightweight champion, coming off his most impressive win and second title defense. People always say fighters have improved when they win, but Benson is a much different fighter than he used to be and is consistently showing more facets of game and how to properly utilize them.

I think he bullies Gilbert around, utilizes his size and tires Gilbert out, slightly mixing in his ability to abuse range with his kicks. Gilbert is used to fighting slightly better than average guys while Benson has been fighting the best guys there is. I think he'll drop a decision to Benson. This has the potential to be a great fight if Gilbert fights up to his, but Benson is on a roll and is a much tougher match-up than anyone Gilbert has fought in a long time, if ever.

Gilbert's key here is to take advantage of Benson's striking defense liabilities and use his massive power to hurt Benson and take control of the fight. However, Benson is notorious for his recovery, so that might not be an option. For a lightweight, Gilbert does have cement in his fights, though.
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good post but more importantly, good avatar.
 
People keep saying that everyone is underestimating Gil, but I honestly think that this is going to be Benson's first submission in the UFC.
 
I hope Gil knocks his head off into the 4th row.
 
Bendo by UD
 
bendo EASILY el nino hasnt done anything impressive in quite awhile.. oh yeh ever... thompson can still kick his ass and fight him to a decision and thompson is garbage and has been for awhile.
 
Angelassassin53 said:
People keep saying that everyone is underestimating Gil, but I honestly think that this is going to be Benson's first submission in the UFC.
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Bendo is going to get his first finish in the UFC by submitting a guy who's never been finished and spends his time training with Shields and the Diaz bros...
 
Would be a goid fight. I favor Bendo, but I've underestimated Gil before. With his power and wrestling he certainly has a shot.

He outboxed Masvidal which was very impressive. The way he destroyed Kawajiri was also impressive. Josh seems to always give him fits though.
MMA Fan 505 said:
Love this fight.

It's too bad that whoever loses was never that good to begin with and should just go back to WEC or Strikeforce since they can't hang with UFC, I mean WEC or Strikeforce fighters.
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Haha, awesome post, perfectly captures how idiotic "UFC has *all* the best fighters" nonsense is.

I remember people calling WEC the minor leagues, and to an extent I was guilty of that myself.

But it turns out guys like Bendo, Pettis, Certone can hang with or beat any UFC fighter. That was certainly a surprise!
 
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