When they first met, they went the distance and the judges gave it to Benson Henderson.� But this time, when former lightweight champ Frankie Edgar and reigning champ Henderson scrapped, it seemed just a little more clear-cut, and it appeared as if "The Answer" had done enough in their five rounds of hard-fought conflict to reclaim that precious belt that was once his.� But the judges ? in their infinite wisdom, or lack thereof ? disagreed.� That's the story of UFC 150's main event.� More after the jump.
- The youngest man on the UFC's roster also just happens to possess a wicked body shot, as TUF veteran Justin Lawrence found out much to his dismay.� In the bout between 20-year-old striker Max Holloway and 22-year-old striker Lawrence, there was zero grappling on the ground and tons of lightning-quick exchanges on the feet, with both fighters dinging each other up throughout all of the first and most of the second round.� But Holloway was relentless in his pressure, and when he softened Lawrence up with a knee to the body, then followed it up with a pair of hooks to the ribs, Lawrence folded in pain against the cage.� The ensuing storm of punches had referee Josh Rosenthal stepping in and making the TKO official at 4:49 of Round 2.
- Buddy Roberts established early on that standing and trading with him would be a very dangerous prospect ? established with hard jabs, crosses and kicks that clearly hurt ? so former middleweight contender Yushin Okami made every effort to make this match a ground war.� And he was successful, pulling Roberts down and punishing him with punches from back-mount at the end of the first round, and doing the same early on in the second.� The American had no answer for the predicament Okami put him in, and the referee was forced to end it at 3:05 of the round, giving the Japanese fighter the win via TKO.
- For some odd reason, Ed Herman felt that his best chance at beating Jake Shields was to pretend the walls of the Octagon were a giant cheese grater and the former Strikeforce champ was a piece of cheese.� That was the uneventful story of Round 1, and Shields avoided being the cheese in Round 2 by taking the TUF runner-up down and trying to methodically jiu-jitsu him to death.� The third round was pretty much the same as the second, and though it was the furthest thing from an exciting, crowd-pleasing battle, for Shields, it got the job done.� He took the unanimous decision (29-29, 30-27, 30-27) when time ran out.
- It was quick, but damn was it fun.� In the lightweight co-main event between former teammates Donald Cerrone and Melvin Guillard, Cerrone came out full of confidence and walked into a left hook that had him stumbling and in grave danger of going to sleep.� But even though Guillard pursued him and tried to land the coup de grace, Cerrone recovered ? at least, well enough to clip the "Young Assassin" with a high-kick and finish him with a devastating right.� Guillard was out cold at 1:16 of the first round, and while it lasted, this one was a thriller.
- Whenever Henderson and Edgar fight, they're destined to go five rounds.� No ifs, ands or buts about it.� That's simply what they'll do.� Round 1 saw the former champ eating low-kicks to the calf that had him stumbling and falling, and though he scored a takedown in the late seconds of the frame, Edgar was caught in a tight guillotine.� He survived, and in Round 2, he dropped Henderson with a right and threatened with a guillotine of his own while sprawling away from the champ's takedown attempt.� With Henderson and Edgar picking and choosing their shots and neither really hurting the other, the third was extremely tough to score, but "The Answer" made it a little easier in the fourth by landing a takedown.� If we've learned anything from watching these two fight for so many rounds, it's that they'll never make it easy for the judges, and Round 5 was true to form, as both pecked at each other and neither took the definitive lead.� However, when it came to scoring, his unerring right hand seemed to be at least racking up points, it did seem like Edgar took the round� The end result?� A split decision (46-49, 48-47, 48-47) in favor of Henderson, who retained his belt but was showered by boos from a crowd that thought Edgar had deserved the "W."
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