Ben Henderson becomes UFC lightweight champion by unanimously beating Frankie Edgar – UFC news
In an epic brawl between two of the best lightweights in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Ben Henderson, emphatically nailed UFC’s underdog Frankie Edgar, securing his career’s first ever UFC lightweight gold and headlined the pay-per-view UFC 144.
The octagon for the four-hour show was setup at Saitama Super Arena, Saitama City of Japan on February 25, 2012. Ben, infamous as the ‘Smooth Bendo’, was considered favourite to win the bout, which was spread over five rounds of five minutes each.
Henderson, widely known as the smoothest brawler, has a knack of emerging out of even the most difficult scenarios. He put forth the Japanese audience a startling performance so much so that later on both men grabbed the $65,000 ‘fight of the night’ purse.
Frankie, widely known as ‘The Answer’, has performed feats that not many men have accomplished in their illustrious career. The 30-year-old has boasted authoritative wins over threatening opponents like B. J. Penn and Gray Maynard, the reason why he is denoted
as the greatest underdog in the whole of UFC.
In the first round of the bout, everything went smoothly until a heavy fist by Ben inflicted substantial damage to Frankie’s left eye. In the middle of the second round, Ben threw a huge right foot to Edgar’s face, which was bloodied after his nose was almost
busted.
In the third round and onwards, Ben completely seemed to be in control and wandered in the whole ring confidently placing well targeted, powerful kicks and jabs to Frankie’s face and body.
Near the end of the third round, Ben applied his guillotine choke, which was successfully countered by the champion. The last round saw both men throwing all what they had left in their fatigued bodies.
A strike of the bell brought the five-round showdown to an end and the three designated judges allocated 49–46, 48–47, 49–46 scores to Ben Henderson, officially announcing him the new UFC lightweight champion.
After the brawl, the proud champion Henderson said, “I wanted to use my size to my advantage. I want to make sure my opponents feel that pain.”
Edgar, quiet upset at the decision said, “I thought I did enough to win. That's what my guys told me. But those are the breaks, man. Congrats to Ben. But I thought I landed more strikes and got more takedowns.”
After getting his first defeat in last four years, Edgar now has 14 wins, two losses, and one draw in his resume. Ben, on the other hand, has elongated his win streak and now has 16 wins, two losses, and a UFC lightweight title in his locker.
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