Henderson closes out UFC deal with split decision in five-rounder
Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has made a career off of winning close five-round fights and that experience may have helped him come out on the right end of yet another of those battles on Saturday.
Henderson was awarded a split decision over Jorge Masvidal in a welterweight bout that served as the main event of an Ultimate Fighting Championship card in Seoul, South Korea. The scorecards were all over the place, but the outcome essentially came down to judge Barry Foley awarding Henderson the fifth round.
Mark Craig scored the bout 48-47 for Masvidal and Charlie Keech had Henderson winning 49-46.
Foley gave Henderson the fifth round, which gave him a 48-47 advantage in the fight and the victory.
It’s nothing new for Henderson, who is now 5-0 in five-round split decisions in his UFC career.
“We had a good fight and I’m thankful I got my hand raised,” Henderson said. “We all know decisions can go either way.”
It was an important win for Henderson, whose UFC contract expires after this fight. After losing two consecutive lightweight bouts, he moved up to welterweight and has won two straight.
Now he must not only determine what weight class his next fight will be in, but also which organization.
During the post-fight news conference, he confirmed the widely speculated notion that he would explore his value on the free-agent market.
“When I retire, it will be retiring in the UFC — I know that for sure,” Henderson said. “But I’m going to test the market, yes.”
His value wasn’t hurt by a winning performance on Saturday.
Henderson found himself in familiar territory as he engaged in a close fight beyond the standard three rounds. It was his 10th fight scheduled for five rounds in his last 11 appearances.
Conversely, Masvidal’s only appearance in a five-round fight was a loss to Gilbert Melendez in a 2011 Strikeforce lightweight title bout.
He had been training for a another three-round fight, but was bumped up to the five-round main event just two weeks ago when his teammate Thiago Alves had to pull out of a scheduled fight against Henderson due to injury.
“I’m not happy,” Masvidal said. “I want to give thanks to God, win or lose. I got to compete on the biggest stage. I wish I had more time to prepare for five rounds, but that’s the nature of the beast. I had about a week to prepare for five rounds. I’ll be back.”
Veteran Dong Hyun Kim, who had been scheduled to face Masvidal, improved to 6-1 in his last seven fights with a first-round knockout of late replacement Dominic Waters.
“When everyone said I had an easy opponent, I tried to be even more cautious,” the South Korea native said. “I thought this match will go up to three rounds but luckily I found a chance early that led to a quicker finish
“I will make my title match happen next year right here in Korea.”
Veterans Yoshihiro Akiyama and Sam Sicilia suffered defeats to round out the main card.
Akiyama dropped a split decision to Alberto Mina in a welterweight bout and Doo Ho Choi knocked out Sicilia just 1:33 into the first round of a featherweight bout.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.