Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC

The upcoming UFC Fight Night has one of the weirder main events in recent memory. It's not a bad one, just a weird one.

Benson Henderson is a last minute replacement, and has never fought at welterweight before. Thatch is an enormous welterweight who hasn't gone past the first round in half a decade.

If you haven't seen Brandon Thatch fight, you're missing out on a show, but I don't know how much more than you I actually know about him. Out of all of his fights, most have ended in the first round, and a good few aren't on film—at least that I can find. I'm told by his training partners that he is one of the finest technical strikers that they have ever seen, but his fights are almost exclusive wild affairs where his power strikes melt his opponents.

But there is zero wrong with that. If you've been watching this sport for any length of time you'll know that “great striking” is more vague than “great boxing” or “great wrestling”. Randy Couture and Mark Coleman were both considered great wrestlers, but they were almost polar opposites in methodology. Similarly, there are strikers who excel in long range exchanges, drawing out and countering their opponents, and there are strikers who excel in the close up, clinching portions of a fight.

Thatch is a powerhouse, spending much of his recent matches in wild clinches which tumble all over the Octagon, landing crisp, thudding knees whenever he is given space. Out in the open, Thatch will readily change between stances—a huge bolster to any fighter's offensive arsenal.

One of the dangers of constant stance changes, as I often mention when talking about bantamweight champion, T.J. Dillashaw, can leave you off balance or with your weight in a less than ideal place when the opponent starts firing back or looking for takedowns.



Right stance, left stance, right stance but both feet are close and the takedown comes easily.

Stance changes keep the opponent playing catch up though, and they also allow a fighter to express himself far better than rigidly using one stance. You might have a beastly lead right hook, if you never switch to southpaw, you'll never know that. Thatch's left straight knee from the southpaw stance, and thudding right round kick from orthodox stance are two techniques which he clearly feels are among his best—if he shackled himself to one stance, he would have to give one of those beautiful, natural movements up in favor of an manufactured (and often unsubtle) step or switch of feet.

The finishing sequence from his recent (well, most recent) fight with Paulo Thiago is an excellent example of stance changes over a longer sequence. Thatch lands his brutal right round kick to the ribs as Thiago is punching, then steps into a southpaw stance, throws the lead right hook and uses Thiago's guard as a handle as he brings the left knee in.

How much can I really tell you about Brandon Thatch when he has fought just eight minutes in the Octagon? Well I can tell you that he understands the importance of timing.

There is nothing special about Lyoto Machida's left straight, he just lands it a lot because he makes sure the opponent is entirely focused on hitting him at the time. In the same way, the difference between a kick to the arm and a kick to the ribs or head is often whether or not the opponent is throwing punches. Notice at the beginning of the sequence above that as Thiago is punching, Thatch is kicking underneath Thiago's extending arm. That is how you break ribs.

By kicking quickly (almost hopping into the kick rather than the common stepping swing we see in MMA) as his opponent is punching, Thatch connects on a good percentage of kicks that he has not done anything to set up.



Edwards is swinging, Thatch nails him in the ribs and in the head as Edwards' hands are away from his guard.

Timing your kicks as the opponent punches is a staple of solid Muay Thai, but also a tremendous advantage to taller men. Just the other month Donald Cerrone utilized Badr Hari's favorite quick left kick to the body as Eddie Alvarez stepped in punching. It's not a big kick, it doesn't travel far, but if you can catch the ribs as the opponent's right arm is extending, you've got an excellent chance of doing some real damage.



Two nice instances of that Hari kick in action.

I can also tell you that Thatch, though he has seemingly been overpowering the guys he fights, is a good deal slicker than he's had chance to show us. Here's a nice little in-and-out step set up for a low kick which doesn't quite play out. A classic method for getting off line in karate competition, but also a good way to get a good kick in on the back side of the opponent's lead leg.

Here's an application of the infamous “Nodder” that we joked about in the Jackie Chan article yesterday. Probably an accidental butt as Thatch ducked a return, but you couldn't ask for much better results if you were trying to apply the nodder.



Notice how Thatch immediately begins stepping to set up a knee. He looks for them at every opportunity.

And he ain't above throwing the odd “hipster kick” if he's challenged to a kick-off. Here's a wickedly fast hook kick from his bout with Mike Rhodes that had Rhodes stunned.



Neat

Whether or not he wins this bout, Brandon Thatch is one to watch, and it is something of a tragedy that he has been forced out of the sport with injury for so long. There has been a lot of talk about this event not being a particularly solid card—though it certainly isn't Mir vs. Bigfoot—but the questions in this main event should have your brain ticking over.

Thatch has not been past the first round in eight years—yet he's in against with a five round dynamo. Benson Henderson's “twenty five minute controlled explosion” has wilted others and against Rustam Khabilov, who had never been in that kind of deep water, it was unbelievably effective. Khabilov went from scary suplex machine, knockout puncher, and future contender to a wheezing wreck in just a few rounds with the pace that Henderson put on him.

Yet Henderson is coming up in weight at short notice. Typically, you want to be doing one of those things at most. For Henderson, who it is worth noting is a huge lightweight, the lack of a weight cut might be a refreshing break. I doubt his cardio will be affected, but the strength of a guy who sweats out most of the water in his body to scrape the upper limit of a weight class, and a guy who comfortably makes it can often be considerable.

Finally, Thatch was preparing for Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson. A fantastic distance striker who struggles in the clinch and on the mat. Wonderboy and Henderson couldn't be much more different. How will Thatch adapt to this radically contrasting match up.

Will pace or power win out? How much does weight actually matter? Have Thatch's injuries affected his game at all? The only way to find out is to tune in to UFC Fight Night: Henderson versus Thatch.

Pick up Jack Slack's ebooks at his blog Fights Gone By. Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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