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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
In what is an absolutely insane matchup, former UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson is stepping in on two weeks notice to fight Brandon Thatch at welterweight in the new main event for UFC Fight Night 60.
UFC President Dana White announced the new fight during the UFC 183 post-fight show on Fox Sports 1 Saturday night.
Henderson gets back in the cage just under a month after a bad decision went against him at UFC Fight Night 59. Henderson fought Donald Cerrone for a third time, with Cerrone actually stepping in on less than two weeks notice following a fight at UFC 182 earlier in the month, and seemed to have done enough to win the decision, but the judges gave it to Cerrone.
He was preparing to return quickly anyway, as he booked a fight with Jorge Masvidal in April, but he'll speed that return up to take on the extremely dangerous Thatch.
The 11-1 Thatch is returning for the first time since November of 2013 after suffering injuries last year, but he'll try to follow up on consecutive first round wins to kick off his UFC run. The 29-year-old's sole blemish was a split decision loss in his second career fight back in 2008, with each of his 11 wins ending in the first round.
The fight now serves as the third scheduled main event for the Feb. 14 card from Broomfield, Colo. Thatch was originally supposed to fight Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, with that fight getting bumped to the main event when Tarec Saffiedine was forced out of a fight with Matt Brown. Thompson then suffered an injury this week, with news of his removal breaking on Friday night.
[Benson Henderson art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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