If Benson Henderson had stuck to his grappling / pressure style

taugrim

taugrim

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would he still be in the UFC, and winning most of his fights?

I'm talking about the Bendo that applied heavy pressure to Cowboy twice in WEC and mauled Jim Miller in the UFC.

After the Miller fight, Bendo became a conservative point fighter. I get that he was being careful against good composition, but his pressure and grappling - especially those nasty guillotine chokes - were what made him so good.

It got frustrating watching Bendo in the UFC because he let fighters have range (e.g. against Pettis, 3rd Cowboy fight which Bendo arguably won, and others).

It looks like the old Bendo showed up against Huerta in Bellator tonight.
 
No, he went to Bellator due to pay, not lack of success. The guy was on a two-fight win streak at WW when he went away, with wins over Masvidal and Thatch (Who had tons of hype at the time), so he could clearly hang.
 
taugrim said:
would he still be in the UFC, and winning most of his fights?

I'm talking about the Bendo that applied heavy pressure to Cowboy twice in WEC and mauled Jim Miller in the UFC.

After the Miller fight, Bendo became a conservative point fighter. I get that he was being careful against good composition, but his pressure and grappling - especially those nasty guillotine chokes - were what made him so good.

It got frustrating watching Bendo in the UFC because he let fighters have range (e.g. against Pettis, 3rd Cowboy fight which Bendo arguably won, and others).

It looks like the old Bendo showed up against Huerta in Bellator tonight.
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Wasn't after the Miller fight, it was after the first Edgar fight. He mauled Guida as well. He got reeal boring after he won the belt and all that comes with it.

Nate brought the dog out of him one last time
 
Mo8_98 said:
you think he'd be in top 5 in a division?
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Probably just on the outside of it, his style is tough to win a decision against and he’s still pretty durable
 
Thesnake101 said:
No, he went to Bellator due to pay, not lack of success. The guy was on a two-fight win streak at WW when he went away, with wins over Masvidal and Thatch (Who had tons of hype at the time), so he could clearly hang.
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His fight against Thatch was epic, but of his last 4 fights, that was the only notable one. I think he lost leverage by going too conservative - Dana hates that.
 
Timurd123 said:
Probably just on the outside of it, his style is tough to win a decision against and he’s still pretty durable
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but he's aging. if he were in the ufc, he'd be gettting top 5 fights, either as tune ups for them to get title shots or fighters coming off title fight losses. he'll be gathering up losses, tough ones, and i doubt a champ like like him sticks around to be a stepping stone.
 
McGruber said:
Bendo would beat Khabib.
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Not sure about that, but his skill set actually matches up pretty well against Khabib. Strong as fuck, skilled grappler and good at keeping range.
 
taugrim said:
would he still be in the UFC, and winning most of his fights?

I'm talking about the Bendo that applied heavy pressure to Cowboy twice in WEC and mauled Jim Miller in the UFC.

After the Miller fight, Bendo became a conservative point fighter. I get that he was being careful against good composition, but his pressure and grappling - especially those nasty guillotine chokes - were what made him so good.

It got frustrating watching Bendo in the UFC because he let fighters have range (e.g. against Pettis, 3rd Cowboy fight which Bendo arguably won, and others).

It looks like the old Bendo showed up against Huerta in Bellator tonight.
Click to expand...
Actually if the UFC paid him better he would still be in the UFC. He's didn't get cut, wasn't on a bad losing streak or anything. He just didn't renegotiate a new contract.
 
I think most fighters change their style when they get to be a top contender or champion, look at Tyrone Woodleys fights with Wonderboy hahaha. It happened to GSP... When every fight is a 5 rounder and you're fighting the highest level of competition I think it's hard to keep your same pressure style. Seems to happen a lot. Also Roger Huerta looked like a bum tonight man, he looked slow and sort of amateurish, although I wasn't expecting anything more from him, kind of a shitty last minute fight.
 
the most important question is, is he still fighting with a toothpick in his mouth?
 
Pettis Just has his number + he left UFC on a 2 win streak + beating Huerta in 2018 has very little value

Benson had a great run from wec into ufc, he’s in his twilight years is all
 
Dude was fucking boring, the UFC knew it was doing a good thing by letting him go even though he was on a 2 fight win streak
 
Andre Xiong said:
Pettis Just has his number + he left UFC on a 2 win streak + beating Huerta in 2018 has very little value

Benson had a great run from wec into ufc, he’s in his twilight years is all
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he would destroy (ok, split decision) Pettis and Cerrone today. Has no chance against the upper echelon of current 55'ers though.
 
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