Dos Santos puts the Champ Velazquez to Sleep and Ben "Smooth" Henderson Outhustles Clay Guida

Much has been made of Cain Velazquez' decision to stand against Junior dos Santos. He should have gone for the takedown, pushed him against the fence, dirty boxed, etc. It's easy to judge in hindsight. I don't know what the strategy was for Cain Velazquez. He has stated he did not follow the gameplan. Dana White was livid after the fight, stating that dos Santos tires late in fights. No one knows what would have happened if Junior dos Santos had not landed so early in the fight. What we do know is this : 1)dos Santos has and will have the heaviest, most talented hands in the Heavyweight division and anyone is a fool to intentionally stand against him. 2)Many fans, analysts and especially Cain himself had been enamored with his progress in stand up especially with the results against Brock Lesnar. But to believe that your stand up after a few years (or months) of training can be as good as someone's who has trained his entire life is ridiculous. If CroCop trained the rest of his life in wrestling, he could never out-wrestle someone like Velazquez or Lesnar. He may get the upper hand briefly, but ultimately he will lose a wrestling battle. It is very similar to Gray Maynard's success against Frankie Edgar. Gray hurt him badly twice, but in the end superior stand up, footwork and all-around MMA won the fight for Frankie Edgar. So while he is criticized by choosing to stand, let's remember all the praise he received for his 'beautiful' combinations and progress in his fights against Big Nog and Lesnar. 3)Regardless if Cain had chosen to go for a take down or the clinch, every round would start on the feet and dos Santos has shown against other grapplers to have the ability to stay on his feet or get to his feet quickly. I was wrong in my prediction that Cain Velazquez would have been able to ground and wear out Junior dos Santos. Does that make Cain a chump and Junior dos Santos unbeatable? Absolutely not. Everyone has holes, not everyone allows those to be exposed. Cain had been rocked before, does he have a glass chin? We'll find out in his next outing against a striker. Can Junior dos Santos keep every fight standing long enough to wear out or KO his opponent? So far the answer is a resounding yes. Whether it's Brock Lesnar or Alistair Overeem to get the next crack at the champ, both will need to sharpen every aspect of their game to stand a chance against 'Cigano.'

The biggest and best surprise of the historic night was "Smooth" Ben Henderson. Not only did he dominate Clay Guida, he made the fight exciting and went to win every minute of the fight. For anyone who believes the WEC lightweights did not belong in the UFC, take a look at Henderson's fights. He is exciting, athletic, inventive, dynamic and most of all lays it on the line every time. His scheduled match against Frankie Edgar has fight of the decade written all over it. For the first time in a while the champ will face someone with the same mobility, skill set and cardio as he does. He will not have an easy upper hand in the later rounds as he has become accustomed. We are all in for a special night when Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson meet in the Octagon.

Ben Henderson and Clay Guida battle for Next Shot at Frankie Edgar

Eventhough FOX only sees fit to put the Heavyweight title fight on TV for free, a fight that promises to be a candidate for Fight of the Year is Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida. Both fighters are high octane, non-stop style that are willing to take calculated chances if they feel the outcome may win the fight. Ben Henderson has been steady throughout his career, suffering a loss early in his career than losing a tight decision to Anthony Pettis when "Showtime" landed a highlight kick to end all highlights that would have floored most men but Ben Henderson kept plugging along. Clay "the Carpenter" Guida is on a nice little run since suffering two straight losses back in 2009.

Guida has fought a who's who of the UFC's lightweight division and has held his own. Early on, Clay's all out style hurt him in the sense that it seemed he had no game plan as to how to win. His only focus was to not get hurt and hurt the other guy. But since joining Greg Jackson's camp, Clay Guida goes into matches with an idea of how to win a match against that particular opponent. Then he augments it with his kill or be killed style and goes in for the kill when the timing is right. Hence 3 finishes in his last 4 fights. But in his fight against Anthony Pettis, he reverted back to ground and hold style that won him a razor thin split decision victory that I disagreed with.
Unfortunately for Ben Henderson, Guida's style may be his Achilles heel. Ben Henderson, for all his skill and resilience, has a tendency to place himself in bad situations that he somehow works his way out of. Clay Guida is the wrong guy to end up in a bad position against. He can and is very willing to keep you in said position. Very few have the ground and pound and wrestling pedigree that Guida does in any weight division. He grounded Nate Diaz and Anthony Pettis, two fighters well known for standing at will when taken down. While Ben Henderson may have shown he can escape peril thus far, if he does escape from Clay Guida's ground and pound, it will zap a lot of his will and energy. Then "The Carpenter" will utilize his elite cardio and insane pace on his way to a unanimous decision victory. Will it matter to Frankie Edgar who wins? Probably not. Frankie Edgar will face anybody, anytime.


The rest of the card :
Pablo Garza finishes Dustin Poirier
Ricardo Lamas outlasts Cub Swanson
Clay Harvison slips by Damarques Johnson
Darren Uyenoyama upsets Kid Yamamoto
Robert Peralta finishes Mackens Semerzier
Aaron Rosa KOs Matt Lucas