Duo again connected by kick
Anthony Pettis again found his hope for a title bout in Zuffa’s Ultimate Fighting Championship linked to Benson Henderson and a single, stunning kick.
But this one featured Henderson landing it, not absorbing it.
Unless UFC executives repeat recent history and change their minds regarding Pettis, he will get the title shot originally slated for him last year and it will come against the last man he defeated to win a championship.
“It means the world to me,” he said. “Henderson did his thing tonight. We’ve got unfinished business. Let’s take care of it.”
Henderson won the 155pound title with a decision Saturday night (Sunday in Japan) against Frankie Edgar in UFC 144 in Saitama, Japan. The result raised Henderson’s record to 4-0 since UFC absorbed World Extreme Cagefighting, where he was lightweight champion before Pettis dethroned him in the final WEC bout.
That December 2010 affair was USA TODAY’S Fight of the Year. The bout’s climactic moment — Pettis’ eye-popping kick after he ran up the side of the cage — has become an iconic MMA image.
As the last titleholder of WEC, he was promised a title-unification bout against the victor of a Jan. 1, 2011, matchup between UFC champ Edgar and Gray Maynard. However, they fought to a draw, prompting a rematch right away while relegating Pettis to a June showdown with Clay Guida, who won a decision.
This past weekend, Pettis used the Saitama show to vault himself back into the title picture with an 81-second knockout of Joe Lauzon, the No. 11 lightweight in the USA TODAY/ MMA Nation consensus rankings. It was Pettis’ second win in a row since the Guida setback.
Pettis’ legs again delivered the victory, this time with a left kick to the neck that crumpled Lauzon to the ground. Pettis walked away with the event’s knockout of the night award, including a $65,000 bonus.
Yet Henderson produced the kick with the most significance.
After almost 10 minutes of fighting, Henderson was on his back after giving up a takedown and likely on his way to losing the second round before firing his right foot into Edgar’s face with 13 seconds to go. The up- kick collapsed Edgar instantly, a welt ballooning under his left eye and a new gash on the bridge of his nose gushing blood.
After eating the up kick, Edgar found himself on the defensive, unable to outrace an opponent for the first time in years. None of his 11 previous UFC foes hit him as much as Henderson did.
Henderson won four rounds on two judges’ scorecards and three on the third, giving him the belt for which Pettis would have challenged last year had Edgar or Maynard produced a decisive finish almost 14 months ago. Pettis probably will be penciled into the No. 1 contender spot again, UFC President Dana White said. “I think he’s going to get it,” he said.
Edgar wants to reprise his role in spoiling Pettis’ party. Edgar thinks he deserved the judges’ nod Sunday, and he’s not alone. He won the bout in the eyes of many, including White.
Two of Edgar’s three title defenses in 2010 and 2011 were quick sequels to close bouts vs. BJ Penn and Maynard.
“I’m not trying to shoot anybody out of anything they deserve, but I had to do two immediate rematches,” Edgar said. “So what’s right?”