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UFC 144 Results: Ben Henderson Claims the Lightweight Title in Close Fight
By Chris Leslie on February 25, 2012
UFC 144 takes place tonight live from Saitama, Japan and MMAFrenzy will have complete coverage of tonight’s card. Coverage will begin with tonight’s Facebook and FX cards starting at 7:30pm EST and 8pm EST respectively. MMAFrenzy will also have play-by-play of tonight’s PPV main card beginning at 10pm EST.
Be sure to check out MMAFrenzy’s full coverage of UFC 144: including play-by-play, and recaps.
MAIN CARD (PPV)
- Ben Henderson defs. Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision (49-46,48-47,49-46)
UFC Lightweight Championship - Ryan Bader def. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson via unanimous decision (30-27,30-27,30-27)
- Mark Hunt def. Cheick Kongo via TKO (strikes) at 2:11 of Round 1
- Jake Shields defeats Yoshihiro Akiyama via unanimous decision (30-27,30-27,30-27)
- Tim Boetsch def. Yushin Okami via TKO (strikes) at :54 of Round 3
- Hatsu Hioki defeats Bart Palaszewski via unanimous decision (30-27,29-28,29-28)
- Anthony Pettis def. Joe Lauzon via KO (head kick) at 1:21 of Round 1
PRELIMINARY CARD (FX)
- Takanori Gomi def. Eiji Mitsuoka via TKO (strikes) at 2:21 of Round 2
- Vaughn Lee def. Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto via submission (armbar) at 4:29 of Round 1
- Riki Fukuda def. Steve Cantwell via unanimous decision (29-28,30-27,30-27)
- Chris Cariaso def. Takeya Mizugaki via unanimous decision (29-28,29-28,29-28)
- (Facebook) Issei Tamura def. Tiequan Zhang via KO (punch) at 0:32 of Round 2
Pictured: Frankie Edgar (c) vs. Ben Henderson via UFC.com
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25 COMMENTS
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I’ve got:
Henderson
Rampage
Kongo
Akiyama
Okami
Hioki
Lauzon
Gomi
Lee
Cantwell
Mizugaki
Zhang
you sure know how to pick them lol
This was who i had to lose duh!
My picks are pretty much the same, except I’m picking Bader to beat Rampage.
KO of the night goes to Tamura for sure.. insane
Good for Gomi!! Glad he could get the win….
Shields sucks… He should not have won that fight…
i had it 29-28 for the Sex.. but really it could have gone either way, just depends on how you looked at it
I wonder whats next for Pettis…hmmm?
Difference between Japanese fans and all other fans. Japanese fans are respectful and cheer everybody.
I really like that they are quiet for most of the fight unless something good happens ( i.e. combo, takedown )and they even cheered when someone transitioned into side mount…. I wish all American fans would act like they do, it makes the viewing experience that much better.
I totally agree the viewing of this event is great. The crowd is very respectful and know whats going on; which is a no brainer. Can’t wait for henderson vs edgar. Great fight but I have henderson all day!!
I think Nelson and Hunt should fight it would be fun for us they both have iron chins and both are decent strikers, Glad that Rampage lost, Good win for Henderson I feel like 155 is going to be how 205 was two years ago, there are many extremely well rounded fighters who an win on any given fight card. I bet Edgar will get a rematch though, Which he shouldn’t they should throw Pettis a bone and give him the shot, he already beat Henderson once and he could have waited for the title shot but decided to fight instead, Ufc should hook him up
I think a Hunt/Nelson fight would not be good for Hunt. He is on a 3 fight win streak while 1-3 in his last 4 fights. Hunt should fight someone like Travis Browne. Nelson should fight Kongo
Nelson is 1-3 in his last 4.
Pettis could have waited for a title shot? Not likely he had 1 win after losing to someone who the new champ dominated… He had to win this fight and maybe one more before he gets a shot…
bigguy
Pettis beat Henderson for the WEC title in chich then came to the UFC and was slated as the number one contender and instead of waiting he took the fight against Clay in which he lost, just for a little mma knowledge for ya
good fights tonight. however i do think Frankie won the fight. i feel he won 4-1 maybe even 3-2 but i do feel Frankie won. hats off to Benson though he made a great fight.
Jackson did not look himself tonight. Edgar lost due to signifigant strikes landed and Hendersons octagon control. Frankie I guarantee you outstriked Bendo but did not land the harder shots. Frankie also scored nice takedowns but failed to control on the ground. Could really have been called either way…was very close. KO of the night to Boetch! Also sick knockout by Pettis. All around an awesome fight night.
Edgar won the fight. You have to do more than Ben did to take the title. That goes for any title fight – its on the challenger to finish or convincingly win. Great fight but it should have went to Edgar and a possible rematch.
Unfortunately, that isn’t how any fight is scored. From the looks of things, Henderson did more than enough to win a 5 round fight – every judge had him winning AT LEAST 3 rounds and no one had Edgar winning even 3 rounds.
There is nothing in the judging criteria for a round that says “throwing a bone to the champion,” so….no, Edgar shouldn’t have won.
@ kevin caroll. i total agree with everything you wrote
I want to congratulate Bendo on his stellar performance, it was a great fight. It was a very close fight but I feel Frankie Edgar did enough to win the fight. I’m usually not a fan of instant rematches unless they are very close fights which makes it deserving of one. I feel this was a close enough fight to deserve an instant rematch but I don’t see it happening. I don’t see the UFC making the 3 consecutive instant rematches with the lightweight title and Frankie might not be healed up in time to be ready for an instant rematch. Ben might be able to defends that belt to someone that’s ready to go before Edgar has fully healed up. That person could very well be Pettis. Even though a rematch is what I’d like to see I understand if it doesn’t happen and I’m fine with that as well.
Edgar did say in the press conference that he had to do 2 instant rematches in a row, so what’s fair? I think a rematch between him and Bendo is fair because of how close the fight was. If it wasn’t close and Ben dominated him then I would say a rematch isn’t necessary. Frankie’s fight with Penn wasn’t this close and Penn got an instant rematch, Condit’s fight with Diaz wasn’t this close and Diaz got an instant rematch (if it wasn’t for him failing his drug test), so why not Frankie? If Edgar would of won that fight they probably wouldn’t of given Henderson the instant rematch because Edgar had to do that with his last 2 opponents, so it’s understanding if it doesn’t happen.
Whatever does happen I wish both fighters good luck and health and look forward to seeing them fight again, whether it’s against each other or not. Thanks again for the great main event and an entertaining card, it was worth it.
great points you make
Smooth won the fight, no question. If anything, a champion shouldn’t rely on just outlasting a challenger….