UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Thomson (Jan. 25th)

[CPT]

Sanchez vs. Bendo is absolutely a UFC on Fox kind of main event.

Jury, not so much, even if he beats Diego.

[NZB2323]

I don't know if it's fair to lable Henderson as a split decision machine. Sure, he has split decisions over Edgar, Thomson, and Melendez. Thomson and Melendez had a split decision fight against each other, and Edgar has been involved in a lot of close fights. How many LWs could face Thomson, Melendez, and Edgar and have all 3 judges vote for them in all 3 fights? Henderson beat Diaz, Cowboy, and Guida in convincing fasion, and his first fight against Edgar was a legit win.

I'm not even a fan of Henderson, but it seems like a lot of elite fighters at LW and WW are involved in split decisions against other elite fighters.

[REDDzone]

I don't know if it's fair to lable Henderson as a split decision machine. Sure, he has split decisions over Edgar, Thomson, and Melendez. Thomson and Melendez had a split decision fight against each other, and Edgar has been involved in a lot of close fights. How many LWs could face Thomson, Melendez, and Edgar and have all 3 judges vote for them in all 3 fights? Henderson beat Diaz, Cowboy, and Guida in convincing fasion, and his first fight against Edgar was a legit win.

I'm not even a fan of Henderson, but it seems like a lot of elite fighters at LW and WW are involved in split decisions against other elite fighters.

People are just sour because he always wins fights that the majority of people don't feel he deserved. Edgar/Bendo II...I checked, and not one, not a single media scorecard (out of ~12) went to Bendo in that fight. Yet he won. For Thomson, I think the split was 10-3 in favor of Thomson, yet we have judges scoring 49-46 Bendo lmao. Bendo/Melendez was literally 50/50 iirc, 5-6 media scorecards apiece and Bendo wins.

What are the odds that the same guy wins all these fights? Can you name a similar case of a guy winning 3 split decisions that people don't think he really won in the past couple of years? He has the Guida thing going on. He hops a lot, his hair moves around a lot when he strikes with his pawing volume strikes...for some reason judges love the dude.

[NZB2323]

I agree that his 2nd fight with Edgar was a robbery.

But your sample size is small- 3 fights, which really come down to only 3 individual judges-1 per fight. And if media members have the Melendez fight as 50/50, then you're only talking about 1 individual judge making a close call on two different nights. I believe that early in his career Dan Henderson won a lot of split decisions in fights that people thought that he lost, and most media members had his fight against Shogun as a draw. I don't know how the media have rated these fights, Hendricks has 3 split decision wins.

[REDDzone]

And he used to be known, not affectionately, as 'Decision Dan'. I think that example actually helps my point.

It really is just a matter of 3 prominent/headlining 5 round fights, all in a very short amount of time.

edit: and I'm not even the one who said the split decision train thing lol.

[Bernman]

I don't know if it's fair to lable Henderson as a split decision machine. Sure, he has split decisions over Edgar, Thomson, and Melendez. Thomson and Melendez had a split decision fight against each other, and Edgar has been involved in a lot of close fights. How many LWs could face Thomson, Melendez, and Edgar and have all 3 judges vote for them in all 3 fights? Henderson beat Diaz, Cowboy, and Guida in convincing fasion, and his first fight against Edgar was a legit win.

I'm not even a fan of Henderson, but it seems like a lot of elite fighters at LW and WW are involved in split decisions against other elite fighters.

You disagreed, then displayed he is in point of fact, a split decision machine. He's had a lot of split decisions lately. It's been 3 of his last 5. And he's remarkably managed to win them all, like ReddZone talked about. While I think he actually won the Cerrone and Thomson fights, the media didn't agree, and they disputed others he got too, showing his resume would look dramatically different with other random sets of judges. He's actually +3.5 in win differential when comparing official scoring to media scoring. That's by far the highest in Zuffa since media scoring started being documented. Next highest is like +2 for guys like Maynard.

And my point with that was him winning that way is killing off contenders but then doing him no favors with his re-marketability as potential champ. So he should be slowed down and face lower level guys than he has because if he gets these results against other contenders, all he's doing is killing off one, he's not creating another.

He has the Guida thing going on. He hops a lot, his hair moves around a lot when he strikes with his pawing volume strikes...for some reason judges love the dude.

He's got a lot more tricks to sway the judges. Like against Thomson he styled his hair with the Punk on his back, as if to say he was in no danger, and in complete control at the end of a close round. Then throughout his career he's often pumped up the crowd after a close round. He did it against Thomson too, when he didn't have any business. If you're asking for acknowledgement from a crowd, you really should be kicking the other guy's a$$. Or at the end of close fights he makes sure to throw his hands up quickly and emphatically before the other guy, then makes a circle appeal with his arms still up. He obviously doesn't feel like his fighting can do enough talking for him, even though he's frequently said that's what he's going to do.

[Bernman]

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/1/29/53 ... hit-bs-gif

That's an interesting article posted today on Bloody Elbow called: Ben Henderson and the Art of B.S; which touches upon what I was talking about above, how Bendo intentionally manipulates judges thru gamesmanship to have the most decision luck in the UFC by far.

They also point out how Thomson was involved some of his own for the same reason, as well as to gain lower expectations and favor from fans, although some flowed naturally from the circumstance.

Seemingly the writer says he disagreed with the decision at first, but after breaking it down, Bendo actually deserved to win because he was the more effective fighter, in spite of the b.s.'ing that leads to him always winning the close decision. The sympathy for Thomson due to his partly real, but exaggerated injury, had more influence live.

[Gibby]

I personally had henderson winning all his "close" fights except the second Edgar fight. I thought that was a robbery

[Shaazzam]

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/1/29/5346386/****

That's an interesting article posted today on Bloody Elbow called: Ben Henderson and the Art of B.S; which touches upon what I was talking about above, how Bendo intentionally manipulates judges thru gamesmanship to have the most decision luck in the UFC by far.

They also point out how Thomson was involved some of his own for the same reason, as well as to gain lower expectations and favor from fans, although some flowed naturally from the circumstance.

Seemingly the writer says he disagreed with the decision at first, but after breaking it down, Bendo actually deserved to win because he was the more effective fighter, in spite of the b.s.'ing that leads to him always winning the close decision. The sympathy for Thomson due to his partly real, but exaggerated injury, had more influence live.

still havent made it to the main event of that card
when i do ill watch it with the sound off

[Bernman]

still havent made it to the main event of that card
when i do ill watch it with the sound off

You're going to have so much fun! I'm jelly you get to have that experience. Like somebody watching Breaking Bad for the first time.

[Shaazzam]

still havent made it to the main event of that card
when i do ill watch it with the sound off

You're going to have so much fun! I'm jelly you get to have that experience. Like somebody watching Breaking Bad for the first time.

i read the BS article this morning as well, so i will be looking for that too

[Shaazzam]

man was that a good fight
and it's not really one where i could get too choked by any of the judges scores
certainly not a robbery by any stretch, even the 49-46 wasn't egregious imho