UFC Fight Night 82: Hendricks vs. Thompson (2/6/2016) - Las Vegas, NV (MGM Garden Grand Arena)

[glfpunk]

Good wrestler with knockout power is a great skill set to have.  When your opponent is an elite striker, you better be able to get that takedown though or this is the potential outcome.  I do enjoy when the difference between knockout power and good striking is made apparent as it was in this fight.  

 

Interested to see what they do with Wonderboy next. 

[Hail Sabin]

When I heard Wonderboy's walk out song I wanted him to win even more.

[Setsuna]

 

In Craig's defence, everybody had the opportunity yesterday to call the fight for Wonderboy and I remember reading a lot of "I want Thompson to win but....".

 

But holy man that was great.

 

Edit : And Lawler - Thompson would be a really interesting fight. One, because as Elsalva mentioned it is tiring to see the same dudes dominating 170 regardless how great said dudes are. Secondly, just because it's a really interesting style match-up. Lawler's not great against headkicks and I haven't seen enough of Thompson to see how he would fare in a really scrappy fight against a guy like Robbie.

 

In defense of what, or rather, what's there to argue about? A bunch of folks were on the fence and even Elsa said to make a choice instead of the same old 20/20 hindsight stuff. So, I went with the fighter I always pick to win. He lost. Oh well.

 

No, I get that. I was trying to say the same thing. It irked me that right after the fight there were two straight posts that amounted to "baha, you're wrong". That's not why I lurk here!

 

Didn't want to drag this on and have nothing to offer here. Oh, I guess Nelson proved he's still relevant among the sea of mediocrity that makes up most of the HW division.

[J.T.]

Good win for Thompson.  His stock went down with me after the decision win over Cote (he really should've KTFOed Cote).  The Ellenberger KO made me a believer again, but I did not think Wonderboy could cope with Big Rig's wrestling.  Oh well.

 

Lawler is even more hittable than Hendricks and Lawler likes to stand and trade, so a championship fight will make for an interesting match-up.

[Craig H]

I watched this fight again because it was so short and Wonderboy stopping Johny from completing that takedown is really scary. If Wonderboy has that part of the game figured out, man, I could almost see him having a GSP-like stranglehold on the division. 

[J.T.]

If Wonderboy has that part of the game figured out, man, I could almost see him having a GSP-like stranglehold on the division. 

 

Condit / Lawler and MacDonald / Lawler showcased what a stubborn bastard that Robbie is and what he is willing and able to weather when his pride kicks in. 

 

Robbie has won a fight or two against elite level strikers, so the match-up will be interesting.  I am reticent to say that Thompson is an overall better striker than Condit, but I will say that I think that Thompson is perhaps a more surgical striker.

 

I don't think that RRL can take too many of those shots from Wonderboy without going down, but if Robbie can absorb a few good blows and walk Thompson down, we'll see how that tests Wonderboy's fortitude.

[Setsuna]

Maybe I'm wrong here, or it's just that Thompson's style is so different from what we expect from top level guys, but I just can't see him being the guy that dominates 170 now or in the future. Because of his style, he leaves himself wide open at times. Hell of a fighter and I'm all-in to see what comes next but as far as a long run at the top of a division, I just don't see it. Champion at some point? Absolutely a possibility.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Maybe I'm wrong here, or it's just that Thompson's style is so different from what we expect from top level guys, but I just can't see him being the guy that dominates 170 now or in the future. Because of his style, he leaves himself wide open at times. Hell of a fighter and I'm all-in to see what comes next but as far as a long run at the top of a division, I just don't see it. Champion at some point? Absolutely a possibility.

 

It's tough to see who dominates 170 over the next 2-3 years. Sure, there are going to be dudes that go on win streaks like every other division. However, it's going to take a special talent to just mow through guys, win the belt, and then defend it with no problems. Look at Robbie Lawler. This guy is a KO machine. However, a good portion of his fights to the title and his fights as champion have been ridiculously tough. It's hard to see anyone being able to keep up those type of fights and be champion long. Maybe Lawler has it in. You got to think at same point there will come a time where we think Lawler might be able to easily defeat someone, has an off night (or succumbs to career wear-and-tear), and we got a new champion. Right now, there is big risk and reward in that division. You can face someone who is a terrible style matchup for you or you can take advantage of the biggest opportunity of your MMA career. Over the last two years, it seems very much that way.

[AxB]

On paper, Wonderboy is a horrible style match-up for Lawler, because he's a guy who can do damage in stand-up without taking any in return, and Robbie's great strength is his ability to outlast and outdamage people in a 'get one to give one' type war. But by the same token, everyone who picked Hendricks to beat Thompson did so thinking Hendricks' style and strengths matched up perfectly with Thompson's weaknesses... nobody knew that Thompson's weaknesses weren't weak any more.

 

But you can't predict anything going forward based on that, because it was one fight. And in the immortal words of Ken Shamrock, I will beat you into living death. No, wait, wrong quote. "Anything can happen in a fight."

[Elsalvajeloco]

I wouldn't even say that it is because that he is not weak in those areas. I would say that being able to go around and be a training partner to people like Chris Weidman who knows how to wrestle is better than just being some karate dude in South Carolina training with his dad making infrequent trips to Tristar. Hell, you can argue that same thing with Northcutt. Right now or just a month ago, he is just some kid (who happens to be way greener than Thompson) training in the middle of Texas with his dad who is semi committed to doing MMA along with being an engineering student. Northcutt just happens to be at the point of life where his family is extremely well off and can quit MMA anytime he chooses to do something else. Because of his age, he can stop MMA right now and come back in 3 or 4 years to try again. Thompson is a grown fucking man with a limited number of years he can do this. So it's either shit or get off the pot. It was great when he was that kid who was GSP's training partner and knocking out no hopers like Dan Stittgen with video game shit. Now, it's of the upmost importance he take advantage of all the opportunities that he has. You don't want to be one of those cautionary tales who tries to make those critical career moves too late and it's just sad. We get a slew of those guys every year. So he can't get complacent and just pick-and-choose what he wants to do. You clown someone like Johny Hendricks, it's no going back to the Chris Clements of the world.

[TheVileOne]

Welterweight right now is almost in a bit of a renaissance.  It's a stacked, talent-rich division.  It is now probably UFC's second most-stacked division behind lightweight.  Wonderboy is definitely someone I've been excited about the last couple years, but wasn't sure he could go on a run like this and knock out Hendricks.  

 

EDIT:

 

In terms of ratings, the main card on FS1 averaged 1.3 million viewers.  1.467 million viewers for the main event.  FS1 prelims averaged 1 million viewers and were the second most highest watched FS1 Fight Night prelims after Cruz vs. Dillashaw.  Post-fight show averaged 535,000 viewers and was the highest-watched UFC post-fight show ever.