Benson Henderson vs Gilbert Melendez

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Round 1: Leg kick from Gilbert Melendez. Leg kick from Benson Henderson. Gilbert lands a right. Henderson lands a left on a Melendez leg kick. Gilbert catches a kick, pops Benson in the face and climbs into Benson’s guard. Benson is sitting up against the fence.

Henderson stands up and takes a knee to the face. Henderson throws a punch that goes over Gilbert’s curly head. Gilbert catches another kick and goes for a flying knee, but the champ grabs him and pushes him against the fence. Benson working the knees from the clinch. Melendez gets separation and lands a punch on the break.

Head kick from Benson blocked. Head kick from Benson misses. Henderson with a leg kick. Leg kick from Gilbert. Leg kick from Melendez. Body kick by Benson, Gilbert catches it and throws him down. Leg kick from Benson is checked. Benson comes in and Gilbert lands. Gilbert catches a kick and lands another right as the round ends.

10-9 Gilbert Melendez.[[MORE]]

Round 2: Gilbert lands a leg kick then whiffs on punches as the champ circles away and fixes his hair. Gilbert catches all bodykicks. Gilbert lands a bodyshot, Henderson lands a knee to the body. Henderson lands a knee. Knee to the body by Benson. The fighters exchange punches, clinch and break. Benson punches the leg. Weird.

Benson lands a nice left hand. Head kick by Benson misses. Gilbert catches another kick. Gilbert lands a leg kick. The champ lands a few shots on the advancing Melendez. The fighters are really throwing now. Nice jab by the champ. Right by Melendez lands.

10-9 Henderson.

Round 3: Henderson pumps up the crowd between rounds. Right by Gilbert lands. Big leg kick from Henderson. Huge leg kick from Benson knocks Gilbert on his ass. Uppercut from Benson lands. Huge right by Gilbert as the champ comes in. Gilbert lands it again. Best punch of the fight I think.

Henderson lands two punches and then shoots for the takedown. Gilbert goes down on one knee, but he pops right back up. Henderson lands some nice shots from the clinch and Gilbert lands a left as they break. Henderson throws a body kick and Gilbert catches it again. Can’t believe he keeps throwing that. Front kick from Henderson. Benson comes in and lands but also eats a shot. Benson falls down, but pops right back up.

Henderson throws the kick to the body again. Henderson comes in, gets hit with a right, and clinches up with Melendez. Melendez fights him off and lands a knee. Leg kick from Melendez. Benson gets him with a left hand. Benson lands a leg kick and both fighters go down. Benson throws a few elbows with an extra shot after the horn.

10-9 Henderson.

Round 4: Henderson throwing leg kicks. Leg punch by Henderson. Referee Big John tells the fighters to watch their heads. Apparently Jake Shields told Gilbert he was up during commercials. Big leg kick by Benson. Gilbert is bleeding on the bridge of his nose. Gilbert lands a right. Benson clinches, but Gilbert shakes him off.

Gilbert catches another kick, then lands a knee. He stuffs a takedown. Benson comes in with an elbow. Benson lands a left and Gilbert fires back. Benson attacking the lead leg. Another left elbow from Benson. Both fighters kick and Gilbert goes down, but pops back up. Gilbert lands a shot to the body. The champ lands a kick to the body.

Gilbert is not pushing hard enough. It might be because his corner has him thinking he has the fight won already. Nice uppercut from Gilbert, then he does it again. Big right to the face by Melendez. Gilbert has Henderson against the cage.

10-9 Henderson. Jake Shields tells Gilbert he’s got the fight in the bag if he wins this round. I don’t know about that.

Round 5: Leg kick from the champ. Gilbert lands a shot to the body, then a shot to the face. Benson’s hair is now totally out of control. Gilbert doesn’t have enough of a sense of urgency. The champ lands another leg kick and a left elbow. Gilbert is following Henderson around the cage as he retreats. Henderson throws the left elbow  Leg kick from Benson.

Gilbert keeps coming forward and catches a kick. He pushes Benson into the cage. Flying knee from Gilbert. This is going to be close. Another body punch by Gilbert. Benson is just coasting, trying to avoid damage. Gilbert lands again.

10-9 Melendez.  

Both fighters throw up their hands as though they won. Benson probably took it, as he stayed way more active with the striking.

Judges have it 48-47 Melendez, 48-47 Henderson, and 48-47 Henderson. Henderson by split decision.

That’s how I had it as well. There’s going to be some complaining on this one, probably due to the close second round, but I think that was the right call. Benson was way more active. He proposes in the cage while the crowd boos. They finally stopped booing for a second when she accepted.

Chael Sonnen immediately starts hyping his fight against Jon Jones like a true pro. He might not be the best fighter, but he’s the best talker, that’s for sure.