Once again, the UFC is going through a rough patch with injuries, and the Feb. 14 UFC Fight Night 60 event scheduled for Colorado now has a main event of Brandon Thatch vs Benson Henderson.
Henderson, a former UFC lightweight champion has been rumored to be heading up to the welterweight division for some time, and he last fought in mid-January when he dropped a lightweight bout to Donald Cerrone, so Henderson will be fighting on six weeks notice. There is no line up for this one as of yet at the books.
Thatch is basically forced to play good soldier, as he has not fought in more than a year. He was forced to pull out of an August fight with Jordan Mein due to a busted toe, but with a 2-0 record in the octagon and an impressive 11-1 overall, Thatch just needs to get back to being active again. Thatch has a lot of first round stoppages and he is a bigger welterweight, so it will be interesting to see how Henderson matches up.
Henderson deserves credit for the risk taking, as he is fighting just six weeks apart and moving up a weight class. Skill-wise Henderson can hang with anyone, and maybe he was having trouble making the cut to 155 lbs, but moving up a weight class to face a tough up and comer who is returning and probably hungry, Henderson is facing the very real possibility of losing three fights in a row.
Should Henderson dispatch Thatch, is he going to be staying at welterweight? Even as a fan of Henderson, it is hard to see how he will match up with some of the division’s top talent. He is going to be way too small for the likes of Rory MacDonald or Hector Lombard, for example.
Henderson is making roughly $50,000 to show up for a fight, double that if he wins. This is where a third loss in a row puts him at risk, because it may give the UFC the ability to cut him, and keeping him around at his pay-scale in a weight class where he is not going to be competitive may not make business sense.
Check out the last UFC appearance for Brandon Thatch, from November 9th, 2013 when he faced Paulo Thiago:
