Did you think these 2 were gonna dominate the division for a while? What do you think happened?

[Kung Fu bb]

At the time they were fighting for the ufc lw belt, Bendo and Pettis seemed like they would stay on top of the division for a long time. But it didn´t last very long.

What do you think happened?

Thoughts?

 

[Son of Werdum]

Pettis was very flashy and had some impressive performances but always had some holes in his game mostly defensively.

Bendo was ultimately more complete despite losing to Pettis and he strung together an impressive little title run.

Yeah he didn't have a full Anderson/GSP style run but he did very well relatively. The difficulty to put together a run like GSP or Anderson against the truly elite is what makes it so impressive and rare. You can have a decent career/legacy without ever having a title run like that.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

I heard Rogan say that there's a consensus in the MMA world that you can only fight at the top level for about 8 years before mileage, damage, competition and life catch up to a fighter. I think that's what happened here in both cases.

Both guys were world champs with multiple defenses on their resume. Both were on top of the world for a decent amount of time.

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

No I didn't lol, Benson was never dominate and Pettis isn't really great at fights that go the distance. Pettis has good kicks, a good offensive guard and... that's it.

 

[RyuHayabusa]

Pettis - has always been overrated

Bendo - solid fighter but always fought the same style, never seemed to change the way he fought and became obviious to figure out

 

[dickcheney]

Bendo was Riding on a string of gift decisions...so no

 

[UFCfan91]

Edgar got robbed

 

[davisftw]

I feel like pettis had a quick physical decline. You cant catch people with all that spinning shit if you dont have the speed to surprise them with it

 

[DOMMA]

USADA had an impact on both, more so for Pettis. Neither looked the same after full testing began. Bendo never seemed to evolve as a fighter, same style and skill set throughout his career.