Henderson vs Edgar: Controversial Decision Makes 3rd Fight a Must
It seems impossible for Benson Henderson or Frankie Edgar to dominate the another. Henderson won a controversial split-decision over Edgar in their rematch at UFC 150 on Saturday night.
They could fight five times and each decision would be close. Even though Nate Diaz is next in line for Henderson, at some point Edgar and Henderson need to meet again.
Nothing was really etched in stone with their second meeting.
I had the fight a draw, but either way Henderson would have kept the title. Still, the point of these fights is to definitively decide who the better man is, and I think there are still doubts about that.
In the first fight I had Henderson winning, and I really didn't see what the controversy was about. He landed most—if not all—of the significant strikes, and even though Frankie was catching the leg kicks, he wasn't countering off them.
In Saturday night's fight, Edgar made some significant adjustments. He used skip-kicks and feints to land leg kicks on Henderson, and he used his height disadvantage to his advantage. He easily ducked under Henderson's punches and countered with the right hand.
But you can't ignore Henderson's effective leg kicks—especially in the first round—his up-kick to Edgar's head in the fourth round and the grazing head kick in the fifth factored into the decision.
Neither man hurt the other, but those strikes and counters scored.
All those details equate to a hotly-contested battle between two of the best fighters in the world. I don't blame Dana White for plugging Nate Diaz between these two guys to cut down on redundancy, per MMA Junkie.
But Henderson-Edgar must become a trilogy.
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