In the main event, Anthony Pettis defeated Benson Henderson to win the lightweight championship.
The champion gets the clinch, forcing his opponent against the cage. Benson Henderson holds Anthony Pettis’ left leg and kicks his left leg. Pettis gets a leg free and gets out of the clinch. Henderson lands a right punch and gets Pettis back against the cage. He grabs the left leg again and lands a few right punches and kicks before Pettis escapes again, but Henderson gets him back up against the cage.
Henderson gets Pettis low on the cage and lands 29 clinch strikes at 1:50 in the first round. Pettis gets free again and lands a left kick. He goes for a few more left kicks and almost gets Henderson against the cage, but the champion dances away. Henderson gets Pettis on the ground and Pettis goes for the armbar. Referee Herb Dean stops the fight at 0:38 in the first round, and Pettis wins the match by verbal submission (armbar).
Anthony Pettis says body kicks were useful in the win. He also says Henderson played things off well, and that he didn’t make the same face Donald Cerrone did at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Dodson.
Benson Henderson says, “I”l be back, don’t worry about that. Anthony’s a tough dude … Got my arm, did a good job twisting it, turning it in the right direction.”
In the co-main event of UFC 164, Josh Barnett defeated Frank Mir by TKO at 3:04 in the first round.
Both men came out swinging immediately, with Barnett getting the clinch early on. Mir still managed to land some big punches as Barnett tried to wrestle him to the ground, but Mir was able to stay on his feet. Neither fighter seemed particularly concerned with getting out of the clinch, but Barnett was able to land a Muay Thai clinch, battering Mir with his knees. Barnett lands some more hard punches, keeping Mir’ hands up. He lands a devastating knee to Mir’s head and he drops to the ground. Barnett lands a right punch and Dean immediately separates them at 1:56 into the first round. Mir jumps back up, obviously upset by the stoppage.
Barnett says that he didn’t want to stop the fight, and “would rather him kill me, or the reverse.” Barnett also says the whole time he was just thinking “kill.”
Other UFC 164 main card results:
- Chad Mendes def. Clay Guida TKO (punches) – Round 3, 0:30
- Ben Rothwell def. Brandon Vera via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 1:54
- Dustin Poirier def. Erik Koch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
We’ll update this post when we have more information.
