Former WEC lightweight champion Ben Henderson defeats Mark Bocek by unanimous decision at UFC 129.
What was the high spot of this fight?
It's hard to pick a single "defining moment" of the fight but late in the second round saw Henderson display his trademark choke defense before doing big damage to Bocek with a flurry of strikes. In that flurry he cut open the scalp of Bocek.
Where do these guys go from here?
Henderson is going to be a tough fight for anyone on the UFC roster with his well-rounded game, but his striking is improving very rapidly. Rather than rushing him into the title picture like the UFC seems to want to do with Anthony Pettis, I'd say let him get some more wins and build up his profile. I think he'd work over Mac Danzig and I would have liked that fight as a "profile builder" but Danzig is being fed to Donald Cerrone. Henderson vs. Jim Miller would be awesome, but probably go against my "don't rush him" statement.
Bocek is still very good and a fine fit for the UFC lightweight roster. I'm not sure where you go with him exactly but the UFC style is to match up guys coming off losses and the only lightweight coming off a loss that I can think of off the top of my head is Kamal Shalorus (thanks to talking about Jim Miller a moment ago).
Watch it now, later, or never?
It's entertaining but not "must see." Watch it later.
More UFC 129 Results and Analysis from Bloody Elbow after the jump.
- Next Day Thoughts - Donna Hurrle
- GSP Tried to Force the KO Against Jake Shields - Kid Nate
- Jose Aldo Continues Fight for Mainstream Recognition - David St. Martin
- Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva Loses Steam - Brent Brookhouse
- Great Judging Should Be Applauded Sometimes - Tim Burke
- UFC Hits Home Run With UFC 129 Live Experience - Matt Bishop
- Zuffa and the UFC Finally Hit It Big - Matthew Roth
- Hours After, GSP Still Can't See With His Left Eye - Anton Tabuena
- UFC 129 Play by Play and Live Commentary - Brent Brookhouse
- Is Steven Seagal Secretly a Martial Arts Genius? - Jonathan Snowden
- Georges St. Pierre Holds Back UFC's Canadian Coming Out Party at UFC 129 - Jonathan Snowden
- UFC 129 Post-Fight Press Conference Video
- Georges St. Pierre Slips Past Jake Shields
- Jose Aldo Holds Off Mark Hominick
- Lyoto Machida Clouts Randy Couture
- Vladimir Matyushenko Mops the Floor With Jason Brilz
- Ben Henderson Whips Up On Mark Bocek
- Rory MacDonald Ragdolls Nate Diaz
- Jake Ellenberger Brutalizes Sean Pierson
- Claude Patrick Edges Daniel Roberts
- Pablo Garza Submits Yves Jabouin
- John Makdessi KO's Kyle Watson With Spinning Back Fist
- Jason MacDonald Triangles Ryan Jensen
- Ivan Menjivar Clocks Charlie Valencia