Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight kingpin, Benson Henderson, is still waging war on the 155-pound division en route to another rematch against Anthony Pettis and looks to defeat Evolve MMA representative, Rafael dos Anjos, this Saturday night (Aug. 23, 2014) at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Since losing his lightweight title last Summer, Henderson has continually proven he's still a top mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. Although his decision victory over Josh Thomson was certainly controversial, he earned the first finish of his UFC career over Rustam Khabilov in a very strong follow-up performance.
For those keeping count, this will be his third bout since he lost his title about a year ago. The champion has yet to return to the cage.
Though he was plagued by inconsistency in the beginning of his UFC career, Dos Anjos has settled into the Octagon quite well. Since 2012, the Brazilian has gone 6-1, with his only loss coming to Dagestani wood chipper Khabib Nurmagomedov. Now, he looks to regain some momentum by giving Henderson his second career loss.
Who is the superior martial artist?
Let's take a closer look.
Striking
Henderson utilizes a combination of Muay Thai and Tae Kwon Do. From the Southpaw stance, Henderson and his powerful legs have been knocking around his opponents for years.
The best weapons in "Smooth's" arsenal are his low kicks. Once Henderson commits to a low kick, he usually sends his opponent stumbling or swept off of his feet. By feinting high with the kick then chopping low, Henderson is routinely able to land.
Additionally, Henderson mixes up how he throws the leg kick. He lands hard on his opponent's thigh frequently but will also attack his opponent's calf. This painful technique is excellent for destabilizing his opponent's base, making it rather difficult to counter. These kicks work especially well against fighters who heavily utilize lateral movement, such as Frankie Edgar.
As a Southpaw, Henderson primarily relies on his straight left hand. He's very quick with the strike and will throw it as a lead, in combination, or to intercept his opponent's straight right. In addition, he used a stepping left elbow to cut up Gilbert Melendez numerous times.
With his lead hand, Henderson is still developing. He still pumps out an ineffectual jab from time to time, but he's gotten much better. For example, he repeatedly landed a nice lead right hook to Josh Thomson's body and got his head off the center line each time. In his last fight, he began his finishing combo with a beautiful lead uppercut, which landed as Khabilov's hand dropped to defend his body
Rafael dos Anjos is what I would describe as a Muay Thai slugger. Though he makes use of strong kicks from the outside whenever possible, he loves to step inside and whip hard punches at his foe as well. It's also important to note that Dos Anjos can effectively fight out of either stance but generally prefers Southpaw.
For the most part, dos Anjos relies on two and three punch combinations. After aggressively stepping towards his foe while moving his head, "RDA" will fire off some short combination of hooks, uppercuts, and his straight right hand. Dos Anjos puts his all into each of these punches, ensuring his opponent has to respect every strike. Additionally, Dos Anjos is very quick to land a couple of hard shots off the break of the clinch, which opponent's try to grab as "RDA" moves forward.
One thing Dos Anjos does extremely well is dig to the body. He really likes to throw a long left hook to his opponent's body and then come upstairs with a right hook to the jaw, his most powerful strike. By mixing in punches and kicks to his opponent's body so often, Dos Anjos makes it much easier to land high.
On the outside, Dos Anjos fires off a high volume of kicks. He doesn't usually set them up with anything except feints, but has been quick enough thus far to get away with it. In addition to his thudding leg kicks -- which he throws very often -- Dos Anjos' outside leg kick is quite powerful, and he delivers the kick well.
Wrestling
A two-time NAIA All-American, Henderson is a talented takedown artist and overall wrestler. Between his explosiveness and balance, Henderson is a tough man to wrestle with.
Henderson's best takedowns come from inside the clinch. He's very good at using his dirty boxing to slip in underhooks. Once he secures a body lock, Henderson will cinch up his grip and squeeze down on his opponent's waist, forcing him to the mat.
Unlike many clinch grapplers, Henderson does his best work in the center of the Octagon. After pushing and pulling his opponent around, Henderson will switch directions with a trip. Once he gets a grip on his opponent, Henderson fully commits to his trip and usually succeeds.
Additionally, Henderson is very skilled with the double leg takedown. He usually succeeds with the double after pinning his opponent to the cage, which allows him to lift his foe high and finish with a slam.
Defensively, Henderson's wrestling is nothing short of incredible. His sprawl shuts down a vast majority of double leg takedowns, and his balance makes single legs nearly impossible. Additionally, he showed in his last fight against Khabilov that his clinch defense has improved since the Josh Thomson fight. Throughout the early portion of the fight, Henderson repeatedly shut down "Tiger's" suplex attempts by hooking the inside of the Dagestani's leg with his own.
Dos Anjos has come a long way with his wrestling. Though he's always been decent at dragging his opponent to the mat. he now looks positively fluid when wrestling.
There's little doubt that the double leg takedown is Dos Anjos' best shot. He almost always shoots when his opponent's back is to the fence and routinely yanks his opponent's legs out from under him. To set up his double leg, "RDA" often begins with a quick flurry of punches. As his opponent's hands raise up, Dos Anjos changes levels and latches onto his opponent's hips. Similarly, dos Anjos is very good at distracting his opponent with strikes from the double collar tie and then dropping for a shot.
Another wrestling skill that Dos Anjos is excellent at is returning with a shot. After defending his opponent's shot or attempt to clinch, Dos Anjos immediately springs into his own shot. He did this numerous times against Mark Bocek, spinning the Canadian out of the clinch and following him with a double leg against the fence.
In addition to his offensive wrestling skill, Dos Anjos has solid takedown defense. He has a very quick sprawl; even when his opponent times a shot well, Dos Anjos manages to sprawl hard. Additionally, he's excellent at using the cage to his advantage. Recently, the only fighter to have continued success at wrestling Dos Anjos was Khabib Nurmagomedov, but "The Eagle" is a takedown machine.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)
Though both men hold the rank of black belt, Dos Anjos is the more accomplished grappler. In fact, Dos Anjos may have the best jiu-jitsu in the lightweight division and has had some success in larger grappling tournaments.
From the top, Dos Anjos is a very solid guard passer. He likes to cut his knee through the guard, maintaining heavy pressure as he does so. Once he's around his opponent's guard, Dos Anjos is active with his submission attempts.
If his opponent remains in side control, dos Anjos will begin to isolate an arm with the kimura. In fact, Dos Anjos attacks with kimuras frequently and from many positions, top or bottom. Usually, Dos Anjos will latch onto the arm and then attempt to move into the north-south position. If he cannot break his opponent's grip and get the arm behind his opponent's back, Dos Anjos will sit back into an armbar.
Should Dos Anjos' opponent turtle up, "RDA" will often look to hop onto the back. From there, he'll usually attack with the rear naked choke. However, he also nearly ended Tyson Griffin's night early back in 2009 with a beautiful calf slicer.
Off of his back, Dos Anjos is a very smooth grappler. He utilizes a number of guards, such as the open guard, deep half, and De la Riva guard. Dos Anjos transitions between these positions very well, using them to create distance and keep his opponent off balance, meaning that it's hard to land strikes from the top against Dos Anjos. Additionally, "RDA" is constantly looking for an opportunity to kick off his opponent during his transitions.
Henderson's grappling game is much more focused on his bread and butter, as almost all of Henderson's submission finishes in major promotions come from the guillotine. Henderson usually latches onto his opponent's neck during scrambles or takedown attempts; he doesn't really look to set the choke up; it's more of a reactionary move.
Once he grabs the neck, Henderson finishes by sitting up into the choke from full guard. This is the common finish of the arm-in guillotine, but Henderson relies on it regardless of whether he has a grip on the arm or not. Though not as efficient as a high elbow finish, Henderson's tight squeeze from guard makes it harder for his opponent to spin out. Plus, Henderson's strong grip is usually enough to make up for it.
Though Henderson is rarely on his back, he's quite capable from that position. Henderson does not allow his opponent to settle and is constantly threatening to either come up for a takedown/sweep attempt -- and thus return to his feet -- or attack with a submission. As his opponent reacts to either, Henderson will also get a foot on his opponent's stomach and use his powerful legs to shoot his opponent backwards.
Best chance for success
Henderson's focus for this fight should be slowing Dos Anjos down. While the Brazilian is fresh, he's likely the quicker fighter and may be the sharper striker as well.
Luckily, a couple hard shins to the thigh and calf will change that quickly.
In addition to frequently attacking with leg kicks, I'd love to see Henderson go back to his clinch assault. I didn't even mention it in this combined breakdown because "Smooth" hasn't used it in a long while, but Henderson is brutal within the clinch. If he can drown Dos Anjos in a sea of elbows, knees, and dirty boxing, he'll gas "RDA" very quickly.
For Dos Anjos, he preparation for this fight is hugely important. In some fights, such as his battle with Bocek, Dos Anjos' conditioning is stellar, and he can fight at a crazy pace for three rounds. Yet not long after, he slowed down significantly against Donald Cerrone in the third round of a fight he was clearly winning.
That won't cut it in a five round bout.
Assuming Dos Anjos' conditioning is up to par, he needs to force Henderson into a boxing match. Henderson very much prefers to kickbox at range, but Dos Anjos has the boxing, aggression, and power to successfully slug it out on the inside. Plus, Henderson doesn't have Nurmagomedov's raw wrestling ability/strength, so "RDA" should be able to resist his takedown attempts or possible shoot for some of his own.
Will Dos Anjos earn the biggest win of his career, or can Henderson earn another rematch against Anthony Pettis?