The Turning Point: Henderson vs. Guida

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Shortly before Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez took to the Octagon for their brief heavyweight title bout on Saturday, a pair of contenders from the UFC’s deepest division engaged in a three-round thriller which lived up to just about every expectation placed upon it.

Ben Henderson and Clay Guida’s duel for No. 1 contender status in the 155-pound class may not have been viewed by the record-breaking millions who watched dos Santos punch out Velasquez on Fox, but what the matchup lacked in high-profile promotion it more than made up for with momentum shifts and high drama.

Though pegged as the bookmakers’ favorite, few expected former WEC champion Henderson to have an easy time with Guida, an unrelenting ball of energy who entered the bout at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on a four-fight win streak. Thus, it came as some surprise when Henderson, not known as a power puncher, was able to slug Guida to the canvas twice in the fight’s opening 40 seconds.

Beginning the fight in his typically frenetic fashion, Guida circled the center of the cage and sought to land long right hands, but he soon erred by crouching low and walking into the pocket of his rangier foe. A right hand from Henderson took the legs out from beneath the swinging Guida, who popped up to flail wildly and was quickly floored again by a left hook. Less than a minute into the fight, Henderson turned the momentum in his favor by making Guida pay for attempting to stand and trade. The 27-year-old, from Colorado Springs, Colo., also forced his opponent into what would prove a recurring position throughout the match: Guida digging hard for a takedown against the cage, with Henderson defending.

“There were flashes, but I was in and out, and in on single-legs. But his sprawl was good,” Guida said at the UFC on Fox 1 post-fight press conference when asked how seriously he was rocked by the early offense. “I didn’t get to the wrestling. My wrestling coach, Israel Martinez, we worked over and over on single-leg finishes, pushing him up against the fence. He’s good in that over-under, he’s good in double under hooks, whatever.”

After spending the better part of the first round trying to put the bigger man on his back -- absorbing knees and punches all along -- Guida gave up on the clinch and went back to slugging. The lunging punches and leaping knees of “The Carpenter” appeared ineffective until a wild right hand connected, forcing Henderson to shoot a single-leg of his own. Guida sprawled and attempted to lock up a guillotine choke, but Henderson kept pushing and turned even Guida’s sprawl into an advantageous position, winding up atop the 29-year-old, throwing elbows.

Despite coming up short in a tough first frame, Guida appeared undeterred as he jogged back to his corner, flashing a smile and a thumbs-up. Forty seconds into the round, however, Guida hit the deck again, this time courtesy of a powerful Henderson double-leg. A notorious grinder, Guida got a taste of his own medicine, as Henderson dished out hard ground-and-pound from top position.

Guida got off his back and, in fact, scored his only two takedowns of the bout in the middle stanza, though neither kept Henderson pinned for longer than 10 seconds. With a minute left, Guida offered a glimpse into the final period by jumping guard with a tight-looking guillotine; Henderson flashed a bit of the future, as well, gutting out the attempt and finishing the round glued to Guida’s back.

Henderson put his stamp on the fight in the final round, though Guida did not make it easy. Being soundly out-struck in the late goings -- Henderson landed 23 strikes to Guida’s eight in the third, and won the overall striking battle by a wide margin of 102-35, according to FightMetric.com -- the Chicagoan threw caution to the wind with a wild combination and was plowed to the mat for his trouble. Henderson once again secured Guida’s back with a body-triangle, but the position was not as strong this time, allowing Guida to twist loose and scramble to his feet.

When the lightweights attempted leaping knees at the same moment, Guida landed on top in the clash and applied another solid guillotine. As he had done countless times during his WEC tenure, Henderson waited out the choke and escaped when Guida moved to adjust the hold from his knees. Henderson closed out the fight still looking fresh, punching away at the prone Guida to the final horn before hearing scorecards of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 read in his favor.

Utilizing powerful, accurate strikes and strong defensive grappling, Henderson earned an impressive victory over one of the lightweight division’s toughest and, with it, a February crack at divisional kingpin Frankie Edgar in Japan. In spite of his quickly rising star and finest UFC showing to date, the man called “Smooth” gave a harsh assessment of his performance.

“I can do a lot better than that. I can go a lot faster than that. I can do a lot more than that for five rounds,” Henderson said in a video posted to UFC.com. “Of course, it was good enough to get a decision, but I don’t want decisions. I want to crush people.”