Edgar vs. Henderson

This is the official discussion thread for Edgar vs. Henderson. Let's see what you've got.

@james01 anytime either of these guys step in the cage its probably gonna be fotn and quite possible foty. No matter what happens or how it ends it will be exciting that is almost guaranteed.

Landed strikes by round -   (via@compustrike)


1: Edgar 24-14; 


2: Edgar 36-33; 


3: Bendo 27-19; 


4: Bendo 26-19; 


5: Edgar 26-14.


And...


Edgar had 7-2 edge in takedowns (via@compustrike)

His shots barely did anything. Look at both fighters faces after the fight. 

Even though Edgar landed 3 more strikes in round 2, Bendo had a knockdown so I'd give him the nod.

The upkick changed the whole fight after that Edgar wasnt the same. 

Damage is a weak argument for winning a fight if you ask me! Some guys cut easier than others.....too many variables to use that to a large extent

*Allow me to elaborate,I mean if one guy looks worse than the other that in no way means the fighter with less damage won!

* Edited at 02.26.2012, 2:14 AM ET *

The questions that need to be answered in order to determine the victor, IMO:

1.) Who controlled the pace?
2.) Who controlled the octagon/ring?
3.) Who landed the most significant blows?
4.) Who had the most takedowns?
5.) Who had the most submission attempts?

Total those up per round and then answer the following question:

- Who won the most rounds?

That equals your victorious fighter in the event of a decision.

I think after theses last two ppvs producing fights that are causing such big arguments I am going to look in to finding the criteria that the judges use find some kind of video online that explains this **** to me because I have a hard time with the whole damage and "controling" the fight argument.  

Just because you are chasing a guy doesn't always equal to being in control of the fight.

* Edited at 02.26.2012, 2:26 AM ET *

@darth_nanners, you're right, chasing somebody the entire fight doesn't mean you're controlling the fight.  A particular fighter may allow his opponent to chase him down so that he can pick his opponent off from a distance, a la Lyoto Machida.  In a situation like that where it's clear that the fighter is setting traps for his more aggressive opponent, I would say that the counter fighter is the one controlling the pace of the fight. 

* Edited at 02.26.2012, 2:31 AM ET *

That's wild that Compustrike says Edgar outlanded Henderson in 3 of the 5 round since FightMetric (which is the official stats provider for the UFC), shows that Henderson attempted more strikes in all 5 rounds and landed more strikes in rounds 2,3,4,5 and they landed the same amount in round one.   They also list takedowns as 5-1 Edgar, not 7-2.  And submission attempts were 3-0 for Henderson. So per the official UFC stats provider Edgar didn't attempt more, or land more, strikes in *any* of the 5 rounds.  

Just shows that stats have more gray area than judging sometimes.

http://blog.fightmetric.com/2012/02/henderson-vs-edgar-official-ufc.html


I had Frankie taking the first, Benson winning the next 4.  I didn't think there was any question who won the fight to be honest.  This coming from someone who picked Edgar.

* Edited at 02.26.2012, 3:35 AM ET *

I gave it to Bendo 4-1, with Frankie taking a close 1st. Fantastic fight put on by both fighters, though, and hats off to Frankie. Smooth nation baby.

This is a fight man. Damage matters. Henderson clearly landed the harder and more damaging shots. 

When adding up the total strikes landed for each fighter, you have to remember Edgar's pitter-patter-point-punches in general do little to no damage (the exception of course being the knockdown/slip in the 5th) whereas Henderson's punches and kicks sent Edgar's head bobbing back every time.

 I would let Edgar punch me 10 times before taking any kick or punch from Benson.

great fight just like i knew it would be

i like Edgar but saw this coming as his pitter petter style's days were bound to be numbered any way.

I thought Edgar took the first. Ben took the 2nd because of the upkick and the other 3 were razor close. It's really hard to get past the damage done to Edgar but most of the damage came from that one kick he was in the fight every round. Really close fight both fighters certainly brought it.

I'm watching the fight now.  Edgar won the first round, hands down.  Henderson started finding his rhythm, but not until the last 45 seconds or so. 

I had Edgar clearly winning the second until the upkick in the last 16 seconds of the round.  While I think it's BS that that one moment would give a fighter the entire round after he previously lost the last 4 minutes and 44 seconds, that's the rules in the 10-point must system.  A fighter is awarded a 10-8 round when a knockdown is scored.  I think that rule needs to be adjusted for MMA rules, because the action doesn't stop with a knockdown.  Frankie's left knee barely sc****d the ground as a direct result of the upkick, before he shot for a double-leg which was stifled by Henderson's sprawl, so this knockdown was borderline.  Simply stunning a fighter doesn't earn you the round, but his knee did touch the ground, so I scored it a knock down.

Round three was a tough one to score.  While Henderson landed the more damaging strikes, Frankie used effective counter punching and seemed to control the octagon a little better.  He also scored a couple of takedowns.  I could see arguments for either guy.

Round four looked a lot like round one to me, with Frankie controlling the pace and the cage.  He caught nearly every kick that Henderson threw, and returned fire with leg kicks and punches while holding the leg.  Again, the effective counter punching seemed to make it difficult for Henderson to find any real rhythm in this round.  Henderson's best moment in this round was his guillotine submission attempt, which came off of an Edgar takedown from a shot.  Regardless, I think this is a clear Edgar round.  If one submission attempt won a fighter a round, this sport would be ridiculous to score.

Round five was a close round, but Edgar scored a knockdown when he put Henderson on his ass after a landed punch.  He also landed more counter punches.  The story of this fight has basically been Edgar landing more counter punches and using lots of lateral movement.  He continuously caught Henderson's kicks and returned a couple of his own.  Henderson however, landed the more powerful shots and clearly did more damage.  Most of the bruising and bleeding on Edgar's face came from that upkick, so I think the argument that Edgar's face looked worse really holds little value in this fight and its scoring. 

Rd 1 - 10-9 Edgar
Rd 2 - 10-8 Henderson
Rd 3 - 10-9 Henderson
Rd 4 - 10-9 Edgar
Rd 5 - 10-8 Edgar

This is me trying to be as unbiased as possible.  I don't have any disliking toward Henderson, he's a game competitor and a stunning prospect.  I am a huge Frankie Edgar fan though, and I tried to watch this fight with a fair perspective.  Even still, I had Edgar winning 3 rounds to 2 over Henderson. 

47-46 in favor of Frankie Edgar.  Very close fight, could have gone either way.  I don't think it's highway robbery by any stretch that Henderson got the nod.  A rematch is an absolute must in a fight like this, and I would argue that Edgar should get the rematch before Pettis receives a shot at the title. 

* Edited at 02.26.2012, 12:38 PM ET *

Edgar lost and I did pick him, but props to Henderson. We have ourselves a humble badass champion. I gotta give credit considering he beat my two favorite LWs as well. Jim Miller who he dominated and Clay Guida who he had a WAR with!

Just watched the fight a second time. The fight was closer than I originally thought, but I think everyone should watch it without sound. There were at least 4 points where Henderson started landing big shots and Joe & Mike were still just talking about the caught kicks. It wasn't until the mid-point of the third round that I thought Joe started even mentioning what Ben was doing outside of that big upkick. I initially thought Ben won every round, but now I see it a little differently. Edgar probably won the first round, although it was very close. 10-9 Edgar. Second round was Ben's because the first 4 and a half minutes were essentially even and then the last 30 seconds had the most telling blow of the fight along with 5-6 strikes to follow it up. 19-19 Even. 3rd round was pretty close, but I felt Ben won the round. Did a little more in the striking department. 29-28 Ben. 4th round seemed like Ben won because even though Frankie was catching the kicks, it was after the damage had already been done. Edgar was doing very little after he caught the kicks as well. 39-37 Ben. 5th round was pretty close. The last 15 seconds were probably the best shots of the round, but Edgar did the majority of the work the rest of the round. Edgar eked it out in my opinion. Had Ben gotten the TD 30 seconds earlier and rained down those blows the entire time, I would have given it to Ben, but as it is I think Edgar barely did enough to win. 48-47 Ben.

* Edited at 02.26.2012, 12:55 PM ET *

Benson clearly won 2&4 and those were the only rounds imo with a clear winner. With 1,3,5 up for grabs, Benson at least won at least one of those rounds to take the decision.