Preview: UFC Fight Night 60 - Henderson v Thatch

Brendan Bradford
and others
• 3 min read
Brandon Thatch

What: Five round welterweight main event
Who: Benson “Smooth” Henderson v Brandon “Rukus” Thatch
When: Sunday, 15 February – 2pm (AEDT)
Where: 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, Colorado 
I can watch it on: Sky Sport 5

Records

Henderson: 21-5-0 (Wins: 2KO/TKO, 9 submissions, 10 decisions – Losses: 1KO/TKO, 2 submissions, 2 decisions

Thatch: 11-1-0 (Wins: 8KO/TKO, 3 submissions – Losses: 1 decision)


Stats

Henderson: 31-years-old, 175cm, 77.1kg 

Thatch: 29-years-old, 1.57cm, 77.1kg


What they did last time

Henderson: A three round unanimous decision loss to Donald Cerrone (27-6-0)

Thatch: A first round knockout win over Paulo Thiago (15-8-0) in November 2013. 


Last five fights

Henderson: LLWWL

Thatch: WWWWW


What you need to know

Benson Henderson is a former UFC lightweight champion but is moving up to welterweight for the first time in his career. He took the fight on short notice after Thatch’s original opponent Stephen Thompson, was forced to withdraw. 

His last outing was a controversially narrow loss in January which gave him back-to-back losses for the first time in his career. 

This will be Brandon Thatch’s first time ever headlining a main event. He hasn’t fought in over a year, but all of his 11 wins have come via a first-round stoppage. 

His pro debut, back in 2008, was simply brutal. It only lasted 38 seconds. Check out the video below. For the record, Thatch’s shortest fight only lasted 15 seconds, but it hardly seems worth showing that video. 

Thatch has a height and reach advantage and although Henderson is a good striker, he’ll most likely be looking for takedowns. 


Bold prediction

After piling on up to 6kg for the step up in weight class, Henderson won’t be the same fighter – that’s not to mention the short-notice he’s taken the fight on and his two match losing streak.

Thatch is one of the best strikers in the welterweight division and will keep up his tradition of ending fights in the first round. 


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Author(s)
Brendan Bradford