As if the debut of UFC on Fox could not get any bigger or become more important to the organization, the company has announced that the matchup between Benson Henderson and Clay Guida will in fact be a number one contender’s fight, and will determine the next fighter to face current lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in an upcoming UFC event rumored to take place in Japan. While the main event heavyweight tilt this Saturday night is one of the most anticipated events in recent memory, I’m looking forward to this lightweight battle even more.
Benson Henderson and Clay Guida have been garnering comparisons long before the World Extreme Cagefighting organization was drawn into the UFC. I remember even reading a MMA piece that referred to Henderson as “the poor man’s” version of Guida. Looking at that comment now, it’s clear that the writer was taking into account the promotion, rather than the fighters themselves. It was easy to think back then that the WEC lightweights should be held in lesser regard than the 155-pound fighters who were already fighting on the “big stage,” but the last few months have shown us something quite different.
Call it the “Battle of the Hair” if you wish, but this will be a bout in which we will see just how important cardiovascular endurance is to success in the sport of MMA. Watching past bouts, such as Guida’s Fight of the Year candidate against Diego Sanchez, or even Henderson’s Fight of the Year candidate against Anthony Pettis, could lead one to think that both of these fighters are in fact cyborgs with built-in battery packs. They’re continually moving in the cage, and that direction is almost always straight ahead towards their opponents. The question to ponder for this fight is not which fighter will be the first to wilt under this pressure, but if either of them will, once the final seconds of those fifteen minutes tick away.
While I’m not a writer who enjoys giving his opinion on who will win a fight, this battle is simply too important to ignore. Between Guida and Henderson, I believe that Henderson has enough of an edge in every category to win the fight.
Henderson is a big lightweight, and I expect him to use that size and strength advantage to control Guida. He already proved that he can do so against a top wrestler/grappler like Jim Miller during his last outing. And although both Guida and Henderson have great wrestling ability, the difference is Henderson’s often-overlooked Brazilian Jiu Jitsu game. Henderson still competes in grappling tournaments during the year, and while you may not hear about him defeating any big names, that alone shows how astute his mat work must be. Henderson also has the better striking of the two, as Guida has been known to wing punches wildly while looking for takedowns.
The lightweight division has become the “go to” weight class if you want exciting fights, whether they fill the full fifteen minutes with action, or end quickly with a crazy finish. As Clay Guida and Benson Henderson prepare to square off, there is no telling what will go down in the cage. It’s a tragedy that the millions of mainstream viewers who tune into this event will not get to see it on live television, and that this fight will not get the attention and exposure that it deserves.
