The UFC announced a lightweight co-main event for their April 4th UFC Fight Night card in Fairfax, Va. as former champion Benson Henderson faces Jorge Masvidal. Henderson is o-2 in his last two outings and is trying to prevent an all out freefall, while Masvidal quietly went 3-0 in the UFC for 2014, which clearly earned him this fight which is a huge step up in competition.
On paper, this one could be a thrilling fight if both men let loose with what they know, however both have a tendency to counter-fight and both have at times in their career appeared happy to go to the judges as they have appeared to not be looking to finish fights. Masvidal’s last four outings have gone the distance, as have 12 of his last 13 bouts. Win or lose, Masvidal is hard to take out. Most people remember his Bellator appearance where he was caught with a brilliant inverted triangle by Toby Imada, but Masvidal has become a gritty survivor who is very hard to take out.
Henderson is coming back quickly coming off his recent loss to Cerrone. For Henderson, it is the right thing to do, as a third loss in a row would render him meaningless in the lightweight title picture. His tentative nature at times in fights has seen him lose twice in the opening round and, even when he was champion, he won a lot of split decisions. Some of those he allowed to be close because he did not press the attack. Henderson beat Rustam Khabilov in the fourth round of their June bout, but prior to that, nine of his last 10 fights had gone the distance.
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Both men would be best served to come out firing, try to hurt the other man and execute a fast finish. The fact is that it might be there best chance to catch the other in a slow start. With their resumes, if they settle in to a face-to-face fight, Henderson may be the better fighter, but Masvidal is close enough that a stalemate is likely. Lay the juice on the over.
Here is a pre-fight interview with Benson Henderson, prior to his most recent meeting with Donald Cerrone in Boston:
