Benson Henderson and Gilbert Melendez had a potential fight of the year candidate as Henderson won a close split decision to retain the UFC lightweight title in the main event of UFC on FOX 7 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California on Saturday night.
In a fight between two lightweight champions, all five rounds were close and could have gone either way.
Henderson (19-2) was able to land more total strikes in four of the five rounds and the two fighters had the same amount of total strikes landed in the third round.
Nearly all of the fight was on the feet as Henderson was able to land his leg kicks, but Melendez (21-3) was able to push the pace throughout the fight and have Henderson on his heels.
At the end of the second round, Henderson appeared to find his range and began to be more efficient with landing his strikes. In the third round, Henderson appeared more confident and had one of his better rounds. As the fight headed to the championship rounds, Henderson looked to have more left in the gas tank and he pushed the action.
After the fourth round, Melendez’s corner told him that the fight was likely tied heading into the final round and needed to win the round. The two exchanged strikes till the final bell and the crowd at the HP Pavilion felt that Melendez had done enough to win the fight.
However, two of the three judges scoring the fight from the California State Athletic Commission scored the fight 48-47 for Henderson. With the way this fight went down, an immediate rematch could be in the works.
Cormier wins UFC debut with decision win over Mir
The only heavyweight bout on the UFC on FOX 7 card was in the co-main event and Daniel Cormier won his UFC debut with a decision victory over Frank Mir.
Cormier (12-0) was able to control where the fight went in all three rounds as he was able to get Mir against the fence and dominate the fight with his clinch work. He was able to keep the fight on the ground and not allow Mir to work his submission attacks.
During the opening round, Cormier was able to land 35 total strikes and 24 of those were considered significant strikes. Mir was unable to get much offense going in the opening round and had his moments in the second and third round.
However, Mir (16-7) was unable to hurt his opponent and Cormier nearly landed double the amount of total strikes than Mir. This is the second straight lost for Mir and the future for Cormier is unknown as he has talked about moving down to the light heavyweight division.
The full UFC on FOX 7 results are below:
Main Card: (FOX)
Benson Henderson def. Gilbert Melendez via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
Daniel Cormier def. Frank Mir via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Josh Thomson def. Nate Diaz via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:44
Matt Brown def. Jordan Mein via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:00
Preliminary Card: (FX)
Chad Mendes def. Darren Elkins via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:08
Francis Carmont def. Lorenz Larkin via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Myles Jury def. Ramsey Nijem via KO (punches) – Round 2, 1:02
Joseph Benavidez def. Darren Uyenoyama via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:50
Jorge Masvidal def. Tim Means via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
TJ Dillashaw def. Hugo Viana via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:22
Preliminary Card: (Facebook)
Anthony Njokuani def. Roger Bowling via KO (punch) – Round 1, 2:52
Yoel Romero def. Clifford Starks via KO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:32