Benson Henderson Photo: Josh Hedges / Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Jiu-Jitsu saves!

BJJ black belt Benson Henderson gave what the fans wanted and put on an amazing performance this Saturday night in Broomfield, Colorado.

In the main event of UFC Fight Night 60, the former lightweight champion made his debut in the welterweight division against Brandon Thatch.

Exactly four weeks after a true war against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Bendo was at it again for another five-round battle.

On rounds 1 and 2, Thatch used his size advantage to chase henderson around the octagon and the fight seemed to be one punch away from an early stoppage on several occasions.

“I was not going to stand in front of a big guy like Thatch. He hits like a truck! That’s why I tried to be more elusive on the first two rounds”said Benson after the match.

From round three on, Thatch was visibly more tired than Henderson and the former champion took advantage of that.

A first takedown followed by a back take ended round 3 with Benson trying to get the choke in place, but not being able to.

Round 4 started the same way with Benson getting a fast takedown and getting to Thatch’s back.

This time, the arm went right under the chin and the tap came seconds later.

Ps. Bendo did all that with the toothpick in his mouth.

Asked if he’s gonna stay at 170lb or go back to 155lb, Henderson was as elusive as he was in the fight: “I have to talk to my wife and my coach. It’s all up in the air.”

Here are the full results of the night.

UFC Fight Night 60: Henderson vs. Thatch Results

Main Card (on FOX Sports 1)

Benson Henderson def. Brandon Thatch by submission (RNC) at 3:58 of R4

Max Holloway def. Cole Miller by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Neil Magny def. Kiichi Kunimoto by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:22, R3

Daniel Kelly def. Patrick Walsh by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Kevin Lee def. Michel Prazeres by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)

Ray Borg  def. Chris Kelades by submission (kimura) at 2:56 of R3

Prelims (on FOX Sports 1)

Efrain Escudero def. Rodrigo Goiana de Lima by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Chas Skelly def. Jim Alers by TKO (strikes) at 4:59 of R2

Zack Makovsky  def. Tim Elliott by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

James Moontasri def. Cody Pfister by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:49 of R2

Jiu-Jitsu world champion Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes took another step forward in his MMA career.

This Friday, Tanquinho reached his third victory in the cage with a round 1 rear naked choke finish on Richard Delfin.

The fight was quick and after chasing Delfin around the cage, Mendes managed a takedown, a guard pass and mount.

Delfin turned on his stomach and Tanquinho worked the choke for the fast tap.

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson was in his corner and was the first to come into the cage to celebrate the win.

Tanquinho wrote on his FB page: “All glory goes to my God Jesus Christ! Thank you all my training partners from @themmalab , @megatondias , @soulfightersbjj the training was hard but it pays off…Also thanks to my girl @mackenziedern and all my family in AZ and Brazil for all support during this journey! Thanks to my students from SF AZ. @arizonajjacademy for all love and support! I’m excited to fight again soon!”

Mendes has two other fights in his contract with Legacy FC.

Rafael dos Anjos Photo: UFC

Rafael Dos Anjos was an underdog before tonight’s main event at UFC Fight Night, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

That changed fast once the bell rang and the Brazilian moved forward against former UFC lightweight champion, Benson Henderson.

In only 2min31s, Dos Anjos was able to connect a few punches before hitting Bendo with a powerful knee that left the #1 contender disoriented.

Rafael finished the job with a left that sent Henderson to the ground defenseless, causing referee John McCarthy to stop the fight.

The crowd booed thinking the ref acted too soon.

In the after-fight interview, Dos Anjos said that he was ready for anything Henderson could throw at him: “I trained for every situation. I trusted my striking was superior to his. I respect Henderson a lot, but it’s my time now!”

Asked who he wants to face now, Dos Anjos didn’t have a name to give: “Whoever the UFC put in front of me, I’ll fight!”

Henderson, still trying to understand what happened, also talked: “I have to take a look at the tape. I thought I could go on, but you have to accept the ups and downs in life.”

The co-main event of the night also ended fast.

Jordan Mein landed a huge left hand on Mike Pyle with 1min12s of the first round to win by TKO.

Here are the full results of the night.

UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Dos Anjos
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Rafael dos Anjos def. Benson Henderson by KO at 2:31, R1
Jordan Mein def. Mike Pyle by TKO (strikes)  1:12, R1
Thales Leites def. Francis Carmont by KO at 0:20, R2
Max Holloway def. Clay Collard by TKO (strikes) at 3:47, R3
James Vick def. Walmir Lazaro by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Chas Skelly def. Tom Niinimaki by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:35, R1

Preliminary Bout (on Fox Sports 2):
Neil Magny def. Alex Garcia by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Beneil Dariush def. Tony Martin by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 3:38, R2
Matt Hobar def. Aaron Phillips by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Ben Saunders def. Chris Heatherly by submission (omoplata) at 2:18, R1

Preliminary Bout (on UFC Fight Pass):
Wilson Reis def. Joby Sanchez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

So you can see how the former UFC light-middleweight champion is preparing to his rematch with ruling champion Chris Weidman.

Silva vs. Weidman is the main event of UFC 168, on December 28, 2013.

Have you picked your favorite?

Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will be back sooner than expected.

Late Friday, Henderson’s representative forwarded a statement from the fighter, explaining that he’ll return to training right away after suffering an armbar loss to Anthony Pettis at UFC 164.

“My elbow isn’t going to be an issue,” Henderson said in the statement. “Dr. Shafer said I can resume training immediately, but to take it slow and steady for a couple of weeks and do my rehab work. Of course I am anxious to get going full speed again but I will be smart and patient about it as well.

“I want to thank my hardcore fans for their awesome support, not just in the past week, but throughout my career. I can be better. I will be better.”

Henderson suffered an injured elbow in his submission loss to Pettis at UFC 164 last week in Milwaukee. Pettis locked on the armbar to win the fight and UFC belt in the first round of the main event. The loss was Henderson’s first since losing to Pettis at WEC 53, a match that saw Pettis taking the WEC lightweight title from his opponent.

Pettis was also injured during the fight, suffering a sprained knee that will keep him out of action for seven weeks.

Watch on GRACIEMAG how his training went on Team Moraes, on Governor’s Island, with Diego and Daniel Moraes, as well as the final part of the preparation at Roufusport in Milwaukee, USA.

The UFC has updated its fighter’s rankings for all its weight divisions as well as the pound for pound overall ranking.

The two major changes came in the P4P listing.

For the first time, Anthony Pettis made the top ten, after snatching Ben Henderson’s lightweight belt with a first round armbar win at UFC 164.

He is now in 8th place.

Also as a result of last saturday’s fight, Bendo has dropped four spots and is now in 10th place on the overall ranking.

The second major change was in the top three positions.

After losing his middleweight belt to Chris Weidman at UFC 162, Anderson Silva also lost the third spot on the P4P ranking for fellow countryman Jose Aldo, who comes from a win over the Korean Zombie at UFC 163.

Also in the overal ranking, Renan Barão (7th) and Demetrius Johnson (6th) have climbed one position each.

In the division rankings, the most notable change was the switch between Lyoto Machida and Glover Teixeira in the light-heavyweight.

Teixeira is now contender no. 2 and Lyoto dropped to no. 3.

All the rankings are composed by votes of select fight journalists from all over the world.

For the full rankings, go to www.ufc.com/rankings

For UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, his upcoming title defense at UFC 164 against old rival Anthony Pettis is like any other fight.

From the outside looking in, it’s a bigger deal than he makes it out to be because his last loss in mixed martial arts came at the hands of Pettis, but the champ said he moved on. He can’t get the loss back, but getting another chance to scrap with Pettis is something “Bendo” is very much looking forward to.

“It will be nice to just go out with him again, get my hands on him, that’s for sure,” Henderson said on a recent media conference call.

The difference between this upcoming fight and their fist meeting at WEC 52 in December 2010, Henderson said, is the circumstances. For example, their first fight was on a cable network, Versus, and this time it will be on pay-per-view.

Regardless of how the things have played out, though, Henderson said the circumstances won’t matter come fight night.

“You’re going to have a different circumstance every time you fight,” he said. “You have to treat every fight like it’s the most important thing there is because that’s really what they are. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. It’s the most important thing … of your career so far. So that’s how I’m viewing this fight.”

Check out the full UFC 164 fight card below.

UFC 164
Henderson vs. Pettis
Date: August 31, 2013
Venue: HMO Harris Bradley Center
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Main Card:
Benson Henderson (19-2) vs. Anthony Pettis (16-2)
Frank Mir (16-7) vs. Josh Barnett (32-6)
Chad Mendes (14-1) vs. Clay Guida (30-13)
Ben Rothwell (32-9) vs. Brandon Vera (12-6-1)
Erik Koch (13-2) vs. Dustin Poirier (13-3)

Prelims: 
Jamie Varner (21-7-1) vs. Gleison Tibau (27-9)
Louis Gaudinot (6-2) vs. Tim Elliott (9-3-1)
Pascal Krauss (11-1) vs. Hyun Gyu Lim (11-3-1)
Chico Camus (12-4) vs. Kyung Ho Kang (11-6)

Prelims on Facebook:
Soa Palelei (18-3) vs. Nikita Krylov (14-0)
Ryan Couture (6-2) vs. Al Iaquinta (5-2-1)
Jared Hamman (13-5) vs. Magnus Cedenblad (10-4)

He’s beaten him before, and Anthony Pettis says he’ll beat Benson Henderson again.

Pettis and Henderson first faced off at the last WEC event back in 2010, a fight wherein then-WEC champ Henderson lost his belt to rising star Pettis. The notable part of that fight was Pettis’ “Showtime kick” off the cage that sent his opponent crashing to the floor, en route to the unanimous-decision win.

Check out the video above as Pettis talks about the rematch and how he feels he’s the best lightweight fighter in the world.