The MMA chess match of the year.

You know that cliché “It’s gonna be a chess match” that a lot of fighters used in pre-fight interviews, only to make it more of a cliché (Anderson Silva for instance used it a lot where he should have gone with “it’s gonna be a massacre”).

The closest we came to chess matches was with fighters like Randy Couture and GSP where their opponents seemed to have come to play checkers (sorry, but I couldn’t resist! ). Ben Henderson vs Donald Cerrone was the real thing.

Cerrone knew that Henderson wasn’t planning on standing with him so he worked on his takedown defence. Henderson used a slightly different style of wrestling though, to successfully takedown Cerrone who in turn punished him for shooting with brutal chokes which Henderson obviously trained to defend. Cerrone also seemed to have worked on his transitions and submission combinations from the bottom but Henderson managed to nullify that by controlling Cerrone’s legs and pounding on him while on his feet. That was where Cerrone got outsmarted and didn’t have an answer for Henderson.

It was absolutely beautiful to watch, maybe even more than the Griffin-Bonnar style slugfests (yes, I said it). The MMA chess match of the year (if not of all time). Who wants to see a rematch?

Originally posted on my blog MMAStaredown.com