Penick's Take
Penick's UFC on Fox 10 Notebook: Henderson's latest controversial win, Cerrone's head kick, impressive bantamweights, and more
Jan 26, 2014 - 9:30:54 PM Penick's UFC on Fox 10 Notebook: Henderson's latest controversial win, Cerrone's head kick, impressive bantamweights, and more

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

There are quite a few lingering thoughts remaining in my head after last night's Benson Henderson-Josh Thomson main event at UFC on Fox 10, so we'll start there with a quick event notebook this afternoon.

--The 49-46 card given to Henderson by judge Sal D'Amato is among the worst cards handed down in several years. If you want to make an argument for 48-47 Henderson it's not as egregious - I still don't agree with it in the least - but an argument can at least be made. But only giving Thomson one round of that fight is unacceptable, and for me at least it's up there with Douglas Crosby's 50-45 score for Frankie Edgar against B.J. Penn at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi amongst the worst cards.

Look, this wasn't a blowout for Thomson. It wasn't the type of fight where he beat Henderson up for 20 of 25 minutes and the decision came down for Bendo. And Henderson did indeed accumulate strikes at a much higher clip than Thomson. But when the fight is scored round by round, 1, 2, and 4 at the least were Thomson's with his grappling and positional control, including improving his position on the ground when he got takedowns. Then the fifth round was so close it could have gone to either fighter. But Henderson lost three of those rounds, and this one was worse than his second "win" over Frankie Edgar or his fight with Gilbert Melendez.

--Moving on from the main event, there were some stand out performances to highlight on Saturday night. Donald Cerrone's head kick KO was fantastic over Adriano Martins. It was just perfectly timed, technically sound, and absolutely brutal. Granted, he was losing the round before that point, and he's got holes that can be exploited by the right fighters. That said, when he's on, man is he on, and that kick was just sick.

--Jeremy Stephens continues to surprise at featherweight, and he had a very strong performance that kind of exposed Darren Elkins. Though he's got six wins in the UFC's featherweight field, Elkins has nothing for those who can avoid his takedowns and have a striking game. That's not good in a division filled with guys who have that type of combination. I'm not sure what Stephens' ceiling is at 145 lbs. right now, but he might be getting a shot at a top ten guy to find out.

--It was a tale of two levels of bantamweight fighters in the UFC on the preliminary card, as the four-fight stretch of 135 lb. fights showcased an elite-level talent, a rising competitor, and a couple not quite there yet. Alex Caceres might not be elite, but he's very good, and Sergio Pettis was still on his way to a win. Pettis survived a flash knockdown in the second and showed a ton of poise for a fighter his age. That makes it all the more impressive that Caceres was able to transition into that rear naked choke in the final minute, and I came away from that fight wanting to see more from both of them. It's a huge, propelling performance for Caceres who really seems to be hitting his stride at bantamweight, and it's a learning experience for Pettis, who remains a bright prospect for the future.

In the other three bantamweight fights, Eddie Wineland looked excellent against Yves Jabouin, setting things up in a back and forth first round before just breaking Jabouin down in the second. Wineland might not ever beat the best of the best in this division, but he's going to pick second-tier fighters apart for the foreseeable future.

As for Chico Camus and Hugo Viana, they picked up victories, but didn't leave the best impressions in doing so. Viana swings wildly and often, but leaves himself very open in his exchanges, and a faster, more dynamic fighter than Junior Hernandez could have done a lot of damage. Camus had a rough time preparing for this fight after a falling out with Duke Roufus' camp, yet was still clearly the better fighter than Yaotzin Meza. It just wasn't a great fight, and Camus simply gets the win and not much more.

--Quick thoughts on the final four fights on the card: Stipe Miocic looked a lot worse against Gonzaga than he did against Roy Nelson last year; Daron Cruickshank is massively entertaining against fighters he's just clearly better than; the UFC should stop booking short notice fights between newcomers just to fill out a card or we're going to get more tentative fights like Biggie Rhodes vs. George Sullivan; to prove that point, Nikita Krylov looked like a different fighter than his debut because of that fact, and took out Walt Harris with an impressive head kick to start the night.