BEN HENDERSON VS ANTHONY PETTIS FIGHT VIDEO – WEC 53 « mma versus
Just re-watched it...I scored rounds 2, 3, and 5 for Pettis. In my opinion all of the first 4 rounds were pretty close.
Bendo controlled alot of the first round but Pettis clearly landed the most effective strike by rocking Bendo with about 25 seconds left. But ya gotta give the round to Henderson based off of the large portion of the round he controlled.
The 2nd round was very close, but I gave it to Pettis because he landed the more effective strikes imo. Bendo was able to clinch fuck Pettis and land some knees to the legs, but the thing is, Bendo had to work really hard to get underhooks when he had them, and couldn't complete any of the takedowns he tried. And when they would seperate Bendo would look a little winded and Pettis didn't seem to have lost and spring in his step at all from the knees Henderson was landing, so I didn't personally put much stock in them.
The 3rd was cleary Anthony's round. He didn't do alot of damage but he had Bendo's back the entire round and landed some decent punches to the body.
The 4th was another close round in my opinion, but I gave it to Bendo due to controlling the round more and having Pettis in a deep RNC. Anthony had Ben in a deep guillotine late and should have bailed and got top position, but instead he was overzealous and
Ben reversed and put him on his back...but it was another round where Anthony landed the better strikes imo.
The 5th round was all Pettis and by far the most dominant round of the fight. Before the cage kick, after the cage kick, Pettis had Ben's number in this round. He landed a really hard straight right and a beautifully timed flying knee in this round as well.
You can make case for Bendo winning if you go by round by round MMA scoring criteria, but I still feel Anthony won even so. I felt like he clearly won at least 2 rounds whereas Ben clearly only won 1. But Pettis definitely won the fight as a whole. He rocked Bendo 3 or 4 times in the fight, completed the only 2 takedowns he tried, easily...and achieved more dominant positions in the fight.
I put alot more stock into someone rocking someone with a good counter than landing a hard leg/body kick. Plus I just felt like Pettis's strikes were gradually taking more out of Henderson than vice versa. Another thing you have to take into account is that Pettis landed at a higher percentage than Henderson, he was able to find his range much easier than Bendo. Alot of the time, for Bendo to land strikes, he would have to throw 1 or 2 or 3 to set up a strike to land. Pettis could enter range more comfortably, and thus land his 1st and 2nd strikes more often.