Will Benson Henderson Break The UFC Lightweight Title Defense Record ?

With the his win over Gilbert Melendez, Benson Henderson tied B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar's lightweight title defense record at 3. With one more win he will be the sole owner of that record, but that is easier said than done. After UFC on Fox 7, Dana White annouced that the winner of Maynard v. Grant will fight Benson next. Both men are much bigger than Benson, as was Gilbert Melendez, who some believe won that fight.
Also back in WEC, Henderson fought Jamie Varner, who was also much bigger than Henderson, to unify the title, and for most of that fight Jamie Varner bullied Ben Henderson, until he slap on a guillotine on Varner.  


TJ Grant is a former welterweight and Gray Maynard could easily fight at 170. Both have great wrestling, and Gray Maynard has a killer right hand and has proven he could go 5 rounds without gassing out.

I think the question here should be... Will Benson Henderson finally have a title defense that the majority of people actually thought he won?

Nate Diaz ?

You got me there. I just am of the mind that Frankie beat him twice so that in turn would've meant he had a minimum of 5 title defenses, I think he would have beat Nate and Gilbert too and thus would have 7 title defenses and be undoubtedly the best ever, but sadly he got jipped and then immoediately had to fight a ******* prodigy.

* Edited at 05.12.2013, 7:37 PM ET *

Benson's going to beat the winner of Maynard vs. Grant and will probably lose if they give Aldo a title shot when he beats Pettis as promised.

* Edited at 05.12.2013, 8:19 PM ET *

@messiah Frankie most certianly did not get jipped. He lost the first fight plain and simple. No one has any right to ***** about the second fight because NOTHING happened. The fight could've been scored 50-50, 50-45 Benson, 50-45 Edgar, or anything in between and it would have been a completely reasonable score. And, as Curtwag said, Nate Diaz.

To answer the OP, I think Benson beats Maynard, not sure about Grant. 

Please lets not turn this into another Benson vs. Frankie thread.

That's already a played out discussion which won't really result in anything now.

* Edited at 05.12.2013, 8:20 PM ET *

People just can't face the fact that Benson is the Lightweight champion. He has DECISIVELY beaten everyone. The only close fight was Gil. 

Benson Henderson will end up facing someone like Thomson next. 

I know Dana said Maynard/Grant winner, but that is him banking on the Gray winning. Grant just isn't a big enough name sadly, and I think Grant will win. His next fight will probably be someone like Thomson/Healy/Grant/Maynard, all 3 of those will end up having to win atleast one more fight before the title. And I think regardless of who Benson fights, he will end up winning. 

* Edited at 05.12.2013, 7:59 PM ET *

Benson/Edgar 2 wasn't decisive at all.

Maybe not decisive, but I thought Benson won ... even after watching the fight a few times, I didn't see the debate. 

Most MMA news outlets had Frankie, so I don't get how you don't see the debate.

Mikes first post:
"People just can't face the fact that Benson is the Lightweight champion. He has DECISIVELY beaten everyone. The only close fight was Gil. "


Mikes second post:
"Maybe not decisive, but I thought Benson won ... even after watching the fight a few times, I didn't see the debate. "

* Edited at 05.12.2013, 8:10 PM ET *

"DECISIVELY!"
......


"Maybe not decisive,"

heh ... 

* Edited at 05.12.2013, 8:11 PM ET *

Maynard gasses, that's how Frankie beat him. To be the champ, you've got to beat the champ and Melendez didn't do that.

haha Amazing...

I actually think the only fighter Benson has beaten since he entered the title picture is Nate who himself is an incredibly beatable fighter. Since he entered the UFC he's been employing a GSP-esque style except GSP is good enough to leave the outcome of his fights without question. Benson....is not....

I don't see why everyone can't just realize that Benson is good. Has he had close fights? Most definitely. Does it mean that he lost to every fighter that he had a close fight with? No, otherwise he would have had losses to Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, 2 to Frankie Edgar, and Gilbert Melendez.

I have come to the conclusion that people will say he lost a fight unless he absolutely destroys his opponent merely because there is a predisposition for most MMA fans to not like his personality. So there ya have it, Benson loses to everyone he can't utterly dominate and he loses by way of personality.


The Gray Maynard fight is interesting, but I agree with Yaspaa, I think Gray gets tired and beat by Benson. With Grant, it's really hard to say. I haven't seen a lot of weaknesses in his game since coming down to 155. I think it will depend on how well he can deal with the championship rounds against Benson, since I don't see anyone (with the possible exception of Jose Aldo) getting a stoppage against Ben. 

@zarog No one will ever give Benson Henderson credit...ever. When your boss thinks that you should be 1-3 in your last 4 fights instead of 4-0, there's a problem.

I think Benson Henderson should be 2-2 in his last 4 fights and I will refuse to give him credit for his next wins unless he defeats Edgar and Melendez again, conclusively. I'm sorry but I just can't get around how Benson wants to be considered the GOAT when he retires but the guy is on the positive end of every judges' decision.

Finally, the conclusion that you've come to is a stupid one. If Benson Henderson should win, people will consider him the winner. If Benson Henderson should lose, people will consider him to be the loser. It's not rocket science. I thought Benson clearly beat Frankie the first time, I thought Frankie clearly beat Benson the second time and I thought Gilbert barely beat Benson.

I don't see how anyone could see the Frankie/Benson fights in any other way without being biased to be quite honest.

I have no problem with his personality nor do I have any problem with close fights...

He was a beast in the WEC diving on guillotines, blasting Shane Roller in under 2 minutes and going to war with Cowboy until Pettis took it to him and floored him like a sack of **** with that kick. From then on he has been fighting much more conservatively in comparison as if he's fighting not to lose more so than to win. 

His fight with Guida was sick but that was more Clay going after him and Benson reacting in my opinion. I mean, just look at his fight with Bocek... It only took Frankie of all people a round to dispose of Bocek.

I'm not saying he's boring but more output and less fixing his hair would benefit him greatly..

@Anik I think your judgement's clouded to say that you can't see how anyone can view the 2nd Edgar fight and Melendez fight were obviously won by them respectively. The 2nd Edgar fight was a tossup the entire time, because nothing happened. The real losers were the fans because that fight was a terrible title fight. As for the Melendez fight, it was extremely close and I could've seen it being a draw or even a win for Melendez, even though I personally scored the fight 3-2 Benson. And you admitted that your judgement's clouded because you're basing your opinions of his next fight on previous fights.

@jaffa I thought the Frankie stoppage over Bocek was early, just my opinion. Second, Benson absolutely crushed Bocek, so what exactly does it matter that he didn't get the finish. I do agree he needs to be more aggressive and just cut his hair (way too big of a distraction). He has the cardio edge in basically every fight, I don't understand why he doesn't push the pace and take it to his opponents like he did against Bocek and Miller.

When a fighter has question marks at the end of his decision victories, not just from fans and MMA analysts, but from the president of the promotion said fighter is fighting for, that really makes it hard for that fighter to be considered the GOAT of that division.

Ben Henderson is a great fighter, and from the looks of it, also a great gameplanner. He obviously knows exactly what to do to score points and win in the judges eyes. He is definitely the most successful LW thus far, but as far as being the GOAT..........unfortunately............NO.

However BJ Penn has a lot of marks against his legacy as well. Mainly the question of his heart and drive to actually be the best fighter. In the first Edgar fight, it was a considered by many a controversial decision, but in the 2nd fight, because it didn't go the way that Penn wanted it to, he basically gave up, and Edgar won the rematch with leaving no doubt in anyone's mind.

With that, Frankie Edgar is not the greatest LW of all time, because though he decisively defeated Penn in the 2nd fight, and KO'd Maynard in the 3rd fight, as many think that he beat Gray Maynard in the 2nd fight, and won both Ben Henderson fights, there is just as many people on the "Maynard and Henderson won" trains.

Gilbert Melendez is also not the greatest LW of all time, because even for those who think that he won the Henderson fight, it wasn't decisive, and even if Melendez had earned the decision, there would be just as many people screaming that Henderson won the fight. Also Melendez had a couple of close fights with Josh Thompson that could've gone either way.

One thing that rings true in the LW division, is that there are just so many fighters that are just plain and simply that ******* talented that they fight to close decisions, and any one of them could be the greatest of all time, but there is nothing decisive that says that any one of them actually are at this point and time.

Personally, I see one solution that may end the debate, but then again, it could create more controversy. Have an 8-man LW tournament like how Strikeforce had a HW tourney.

1. Ben Henderson

2. Gilbert Melendez

3. the winner of Gray Maynard/TJ Grant

4. Anthony Pettis

5. Josh Thompson

6. BJ Penn

7. Nate Diaz

8. Diego Sanchez

All fights are 5 rounds under the Unified MMA rules. The tourney starts with these fights.

Ben Henderson vs. Diego Sanchez

Anthony Pettis vs. Josh Thompson

Gilbert Melendez vs. BJ Penn

the winner of Maynard/Grant vs. Nate Diaz

 

* Edited at 05.12.2013, 9:57 PM ET *