Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

This weekend the UFC heads to Tulsa, Oklahoma for a Fight Night card headlined by lightweight number one contender, Benson Henderson, and number five ranked, Rafael Dos Anjos. It promises to be either a coming out party for Dos Anjos or another feather in the cap which Henderson is preparing as he pushes for another title shot.

But there are plenty of gems to look out for further down the card. You could be forgiven for overlooking the undercard of most events, particularly televised cards—but there are always treats to be had. Fighters and fighting share the simple rule that if you understand them better, watching them is far more enjoyable. So here is a quick rundown of the fights—and the combatants—who are on my radar coming into UFC Fight Night: Henderson versus Dos Anjos.

The Main Event

Obviously, the main event is going to be the attraction for most fans. Benson Henderson is in ranking purgatory—he is not doing any climbing, just trying to hold his position against young guns who would love to knock off the number one contender and move straight into line for a title shot.

Henderson's most recent performance, against Rustam Khabilov, is being called his best in recent years. To me, it not only highlighted an improvement in Henderson's hands, but also the difference between the murderer's row that Henderson fought as a champion, an “almost there” lightweight contender.

Through five rounds, Henderson put the pace on his Dagestani opponent and by the fourth round, Khabilov could hardly get out of the way of the charges. A Prince Naseem special—the lead straight uppercut into left straight—put Khabilov into a daze, and Henderson put him away with a rear naked choke.

Henderson's obvious advantage coming into this bout with Dos Anjos is that he is a well practiced five round fighter. Not simply a fighter who prepares to get through five rounds, but one who uses all five rounds to wear opponents down. If you are a lower weightclass fighter, you are very rarely going to be headlining cards and getting those five rounds in. Think of Demetrious Johnson—it has to help his confidence that no new challenger he faces has gone five rounds before.

Dos Anjos has never been in a five round fight—but he has certainly shown to be a slow starter who gets stronger through his bouts. Getting stung by Jason High in the early going of their bout, Dos Anjos finally warmed up and stopped High in the second. Aside from the win over High, Dos Anjos' recent wins, and losses, have all come over the distance.

Timings and cardio concerns aside, another interesting dynamic to this bout is that both men are southpaws. Both rely heavily on their rear leg roundhouse kick—a favorite of almost all southpaw kickers—but where Dos Anjos has an excellent left straight, the great southpaw threat, Henderson's money punch is undoubtedly his right hook. So the question is, how will these match up?



That's not to say Dos Anjos can't hook though. Here's a lovely left to the body, followed by a left to the body and a rapid right hook to the head. Simple set up, executed perfectly.

In a traditional southpaw versus orthodox engagement (which I normally term Open Guard), it is each fighter's rear hand which will normally land the easiest simply because of the angles involved. When two southpaws meet, however, it is simply the mirror of a normal orthodox versus orthodox engagement (I term both Closed Guard). In a closed guard match up, it is the lead hand which lands quickest and easiest. The go to modern example is of David Diaz versus Manny Pacquiao. Everyone knew about Pacquiao's great left straight, but in that bout he had to show off his right hand dexterity, and boy did he.

But then, the whole dynamic is different when a southpaw meets another southpaw and it can throw them off no matter which side the blows are coming from. Dos Anjos memorably had great difficulty with the winging shots of the southpaw, Gleison Tibau. It was also noticeable that against Jeremy Stephens and Tibau, Dos Anjos would put himself on the fence far too often and get into trouble there under fire.

Title implications aside, this is a match that you should watch just to see two fighters taken out of their comfort zone.

The Return of Killa B

The card also features the quiet UFC return of one of my favorite fighters, Ben Saunders. Saunders is a pretty bizarre story—he was an elite welterweight back in 2009, before picking up three losses. One by knockout, two by decision, but to solid competition. Saunders went to Bellator, won a streak of fights, but came up short in a pair of fights against current Bellator Welterweight champion, Douglas Lima.

He's had some tough losses, and he hasn't fought since losing to Lima in 2013. But damned if he isn't one of the most entertaining fighters at welterweight—and that's more than enough reason to tune in. A right hander, influenced by Jeet Kune Do ideas, Saunders carries his strong hand forward in a southpaw stance.

Three especially interesting facets of Saunders game are his use of upkicks from the guard—even to the chest if the opponent has a knee or hand down, the frequency with which he lands body kicks—which are quite rare in MMA altogether, and his knees from the double collar tie.

A gangly welterweight, Saunders uses his height well and locks himself over the collar of the opponent, then lets them flail around while he knees away. Saunders will hold the double collar tie for half a minute at a time if he can. He's been away a while, and I've no idea what he can still do, but if you enjoyed Anderson Silva versus Rich Franklin, and you like powerful mutton chops, you should be watching out for Saunders.

Odds and Ends

Elsewhere on the card, Max Holloway takes on Clay Collard. While he looked out of sorts against Conor McGregor, you should by no means sleep on Holloway. The 22 year old has a ton of potential but doesn't seem to realize what makes him special.

Despite brilliant body work and smart boxing—left hooks to the body straight off of the jab, you love to see that—Holloway's great weakness is that if he suffers a set back, he can start getting wild and get too into the long kicks and jumping knees which aren't really the staples of his A game. He certainly brawls far too much for a guy who usually has a reach advantage and a good jab which he can go back to.

Conor McGregor got the better of Holloway on the feet early, but after that the bout was mainly won and lost in Holloway's head. Don't miss Holloway if you like body work, lanky jabbers and copious flying knee attempts.

Brazilian jiu jitsu black belts are a dime a dozen in the UFC nowadays—but we so rarely see the art applied to its full potential in MMA. If you love the subtleties and intricacies of the grappling game, do not miss out on Wilson Reis' fights. Even in losses, you can normally count on Reis to show a slick guard pass or two, and he can explode out of bottom position and into a sweep or takedown at a moment's notice.



For my money, one of the most entertaining grapplers out there.

Of course, Reis is most famous for the so called “Wilson pass”. With an underhook from inside the guard, he shift shis weight to kill the opponent's hip movement, bringing them onto their side, then switches his hips, reaches back and breaks the guard at the ankles with his hand.

Looks suicidal, and if you're not as practiced as Roberto Tozi or Wilson Reis, it can be an easily conceded triangle choke.

Here's Buchecha not standing for it.

Finally, in Francis Carmont versus Thales Leites we get to see a striker who desperately needed to up his grappling game, against a grappler who experienced the exact opposite!

Francis Carmont, coming back from being wrassled all over the place by Jacare Souza and C.B. Dolloway, is out to prove that he's still the next big thing. Meanwhile, Thales Leites—yes the same guy who embarrassingly flopped guard against Anderson Silva for 25 minutes—has rebuilt himself and suddenly become a polished striker in his own right. Adding a solid jab and lead hook to his game, and some nice kicks, Leites is starting to look like an all around fighter rather than just a jiu jitsu ace.

As you can see, even on a card that has been called fairly weak, there is plenty for the experienced fight fan and martial arts enthusiast to be excited about. Free up your Saturday night, get yourself a takeaway, and tune in to UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs Dos Anjos. Then get over here Sunday morning for the post fight breakdown!

Pick up Jack Slack's new ebook, Fighting Karate at his blog Fights Gone By. Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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