mma UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson (February 25, 2012)

Date: February 25, 2012
Location: Saitama, Japan
Venue: Saitama Super Arena
Broadcast: Pay-per-view, FX and Facebook

Preliminary card (Facebook)

• Featherweight bout: Zhang Tiequan vs. Issei Tamura

Preliminary card (FX)

• Middleweight bout: Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell
• Bantamweight bout: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee
• Lightweight bout: Takanori Gomi vs. Eiji Mitsuoka

Main card (PPV)

• Lightweight bout: Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon
• Featherweight bout: Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski
• Middleweight bout: Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
• Welterweight bout: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields
• Heavyweight bout: New Zealand Mark Hunt vs. France Cheick Kongo
• Catchweight (211 lb) bout: Quinton Jackson vs. Ryan Bader
• Lightweight Championship bout: Frankie Edgar (c) vs. Ben Henderson

At the UFC 144 weigh ins, Quinton Jackson failed to make the 206 lb weight limit and came in 5 lbs overweight at 211 lbs. Jackson was fined 20 percent of his earnings and the bout will be contested at a catchweight of 211 lb.

That ko from Pettis was ruthless, great way to start to main card.

Damn what a comeback, Okami looked great as well.

Great comeback by Boetsch. lold at Rogan on commentary.

Well that was an odd fight. Akiyama is in theory easily the better striker, but just didn't throw, that's crazy. I feel as though the fight was there for him if he went looking for it, he just seemed too content on going for trips and throws though, rather than pressing. Which again is insane, Jake is a ground fighter, and you stuff all but 1 of his attempts, yet you don't go for it. Crazy.

Man, Rampage just looked out of shape there. Don't think I've ever seen him look that bad in a fight, possibly an illness/injury?

Nah, it was only a quick one with Bader.

Probably right, I wouldn't be surprised to see Jackson retire or go on a hiatus.

Man I love Henderson, one of my favourite fighters. That up kick was just brutal, great fight.

I think he probably just didn't realise how much went against him, and his corner didn't help. The kicks landed, that was the main problem right there. Seems the game plan he had was catch the kick and work the straight right, or the sweep. Just majority of the kicks Ben through, hit then got caught. Combined with the fact Frankie A) Didn't have the height going in his favor, so the catch straight combo was going to be hard to work B) He doesn't have great power in his leg kicks, so the sweep was going to be hard too. Really it was a bad fight for him to have, he was really going against it going in. When your 'strengths' in a fight are 'A great heart' and a 'granite chin' you know you probably have something to worry about. It's all good being able to take a punch, but if you can't give anything significant back then you're boned.

He should drop down is the morale of the story, not having to cut does have some benefit, but when everybody else is it always means you're going to be facing bigger guys. If he went down one division he wouldn't be outsized, and really there are some potentially great fights there for him.

Hoping that Henderson/Pettis will be the first defence, that'd be crazy good.

Didn't look at the fight metrics at all, but just from watching the fight as it happened was clear cut Bendo won it. Just seems anymore there's "controversy" any time a title is on the line. Which is dumb. Fighters need to stop leaving it to judges decisions. Fans need to stop crying foul. Those naysayers can go cry in the pub with the Diaz brothers and the Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu camp for all I care. lol

Post-fight conference, Dana was asked if Frankie should drop down and agreed with it, but it's ultimately up to Edgar. Rampage talked about his injury (hurt his knee, says doctors told him not to fight). Says he still has years left before he retires.

Edgar comes out, all suit and tie and a big ass shiner on his face. Says he won the fight, while Pettis should get his title shot, he deserves his immediate rematch first "because it's fair" since Penn and Maynard got their rematches. Eff off. Just look at your face son, you got *bleep*ed up. Take your loss, be humble and earn your rematch. Bendo vs. Pettis should be next. That's a rematch I've wanted since UFC collapsed WEC.