Benson "Smooth" Henderson vs Nate Diaz
Finally, after breaking down the fights as best as I can, we move onto the main event. One of the most anticipated title fights of the year. Benson Henderson(17-2) will look to make his second title defense against Nate Diaz(16-7). Coming off two dominating victories over Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller, Diaz has finally lived up to his potential. For years, he was living in the shadow of his older brothers accomplishments. But now, now he might have surpassed his brother. Nick Diaz lost a close fight with Carlos Condit, freaked out, retired, and was busted for marijuana in his system. Nate Diaz is on the brisk of winning the title and he has a very great chance. Better than his brother does. But Ben Henderson is no easy fight for anyone. Bendo, his nickname given to him by the fans, earned his title shot by dominated three top opponents in a row. He fought Frankie Edgar and won the title. An immediate rematch was granted and Edgar should have been awarded the victory but the judges didn't think so. Nearly every fan and media outlet scored the fight for Frankie. Shortly after, it was announced Bendo and Diaz would fight for the title at UFC on Fox 5. On December 8th, these two will finally face off to see who is the best lightweight on the planet. Let's start this breakdown with the stand-up department. The Diaz bros are two of the best boxers in MMA today. They frequently train with professional boxers and sometimes with Andre Ward. They are similar to Alexander Gustafsson in the way they are amazing in using their combinations and range. Take a look at Nate's fight with Donald Cerrone. Cerrone was expected to dominate with his boxing and kickboxing. I was one of the few who knew Nate could light him up with his boxing. I didn't think he would run a freaking clinic on him. It was a masterful performance. Cerrone couldn't start anything on the feet due to Nate's volume, accuracy, and range. Bendo's stand up strength doesn't lie in his boxing, it's his kickboxing that makes him so great. The 1st round of the Edgar rematch, Bendo dominated him with punishing kicks. After the 1st round he abandoned them and was picked apart trying to box with Frankie. Bendo cannot afford to box with Diaz. Diaz will pick him apart too. Bendo must use his strength which is Nate's weakness. Bendo has a major advantage in his kickboxing. He must keep him at bay with leg kicks and teeps. Nate has to walk through them and land his patent volume punches. This is close but I'm giving Diaz a very, very slight advantage in the striking. Moving onto the wrestling department. Bendo has an overwhelmingly huge advantage here. He is a college wrestler who has translated his wrestling well to MMA. Only Frankie Edgar, a national college wrestler, has been able to negate his wrestling. Bendo has a major advantage in his size, speed, and strength. He will be able to take Nate down anytime he feels like it. The Diaz's are the farthest from being great wrestlers. They rely on their amazing BJJ. Most of their losses come from strong wrestlers. Bendo will be able to out wrestle Nate but will he want too. Like I previously said, Nate's strengths on the ground is his BJJ. He has a lot of fighters scared of it. Wrestlers would take advantage of his non existent wrestling when he was as good in his BJJ as he is now. Now wrestlers won't touch him unless they have too. The most interesting question is can Nate submit Bendo? Jim Miller had never been submitted until he met Nate. Bendo has one submission loss five years ago. Since then it is impossible to submit him. His limbs have become rubber and his neck is so huge it's hard to choke him. Bendo is no slouch when it comes to submissions either. He holds 6 submission victories. In his rematch with Cerrone, no one expected him to submit him but he did. If Nate can't submit him, then I expect Bendo to over power him and control him on the ground. I don't give anyone the grappling advantage. Cardio will not be a factor in this fight. Both men are known for their unstoppable pace and cardio. Bendo has a big advantage in strength and speed. Both men have never knocked out in their careers. Bendo took a cage kick from Anthony Pettis and survived. Diaz fought at a higher weight class and huge power punchers. Both men have a lot of heart. There is one thing Diaz is known for in the past. If the fight isn't going his way, he will sometimes mentally fade. This has caused him to make a few mistakes. We saw this against Dong Hyun Kim. If Bendo is putting too much pressure on him, we might see Diaz mentally start to fade. One thing that worries me about Bendo is his attitude. Recently he has acted very cocky and arrogant. After winning the title, he bragged about how easily he is going to win the rematch with Edgar. During the fight, he was getting cocky by acting like he was so much better than Edgar. He tried mimicking Anderson Silva to no avail. After the fight, he bragged about dominating Edgar again even though he should have lost. He kept asking why a judge scored the fight for Edgar. If he acts cocky against Nate, he is losing that title. I really have no idea who is winning this fight. Both men have big advantages over each other but there weakness also negate each other. This is a toss up, but I'm going with Benson Henderson retaining the title by extremely close decision. Comment on who you think will win and what you thought of my article.