Saturday night inside the United Center in Chicago, former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson (19-3) will square off with former Strikeforce titleholder Josh Thomson (20-5) in the main event of the first UFC on FOX fight card of 2014.
Odd as this may sound, it is both the right fight and the wrong fight for the UFC to have made at the same time.
Obviously, pitting these two together wasn’t the organization’s first choice—that was having Thomson challenge Anthony Pettis for the lightweight title on last month’s UFC on FOX event in Sacramento, but those plans were felled when “Showtime” was forced to have knee surgery. As far as fallback plans go, they don’t get any better than this in the 155-pound ranks.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch five hours of UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Thomson action on Sportsnet 360 Saturday starting at 5 p.m. EST
Henderson is the last man to share the cage with Pettis, and looking to start his journey back to the top of the division following an 18-month reign as champion. He headlined UFC on FOX events in December 2012 and April 2013, successfully defending the lightweight title against Nate Diaz and Gilbert Melendez respectively, and is arguably the most well-known contender hovering around the top of the deep, but injury-riddled division at the moment.
With just a single UFC appearance under his belt since returning to the promotion following a lengthy run in Strikeforce, Thomson needed an established dance partner for his return to the Octagon, having last competed in April, and Henderson fits that bill.
From a stylistic standpoint, these two make for a compelling fight on paper. Each is well rounded and durable, technical and efficient in the stand-up, skilled and powerful on the ground. Both have shown the ability to go five rounds without slowing down and have been under the main event spotlight multiple times, so closing out the show on Saturday isn’t anything new.
Given the fighters each man has already faced over the last two years and the shifting landscape in the lightweight division, this is the best pairing the UFC could have positioned atop tomorrow night’s fight card.
But it also feels like the wrong call as well.
Henderson currently resides in “The Rich Franklin Zone,” a state of MMA limbo reserved for fighters that have suffered a pair of defeats at the hands (and knees, feet, elbows, etc.) of the sitting king of their division. Fighting your way out of purgatory and back to another title shot takes a Yeoman-like effort, not a single victory, which is one of the red flags with this main event match-up.
UFC president Dana White has said that “Smooth” isn’t going to get a third crack at Pettis any time soon—he called the second meeting a “first-round annihilation” for the new champion—so why run the risk of Henderson halting the climb of a potential challenger?
With Canadian T.J. Grant still sidelined and no one interested in facing off with unbeaten contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, a win for Henderson would leave Gilbert Melendez as the only marquee fighter capable of making a legitimate play for facing Pettis upon his return.
The winner of the impending bout between Rustam Khabilov and Rafael dos Anjos will have done enough to merit consideration as well, but neither are known outside of the hardcore set, which means the victor would probably need one more win over an established foe before fighting for the title.
Thomson could stake his claim to the title shot that slipped away when Pettis opted for surgery by beating Henderson, but if he comes out on the wrong side of things, we’re down a contender with nothing to show for it, and that’s never a good thing.
As much as Henderson’s two years at or near the top of the lightweight division should keep him from slipping too far down the rankings, bringing him back to potentially snuff out one of the few viable fresh options doesn’t make sense.
From a long-range perspective, the UFC would have been better off going the Chad Mendes route with Henderson, having him fight a series of up-and-comers and fringe contenders as they did with the Team Alpha Male standout following his loss to Jose Aldo. Though he was still one of the top-ranked fighters in the featherweight division, there was no rush to return him to a title shot, so Mendes was dropped back into the fray to work his way up again, without allowing him to pick off emerging contenders.
Henderson could have been situated opposite any number of veterans atop a Fight Night card, kicking off this event, or as part of a Pay-Per-View main card, with Thomson slotted in against another potential title challenger like dos Anjos or Khabilov so that a contender emerges regardless of the outcome.
But that would have necessitated finding a new main event for this show, and with the dearth of championship talent available to the UFC at this time, they had to make due, and this is the best they could come up with.
And it’s pretty good. It just happens to feel like the wrong decision at the exact same time.