Ben Henderson won't let Nate Diaz get inside his head
Posted on October 20, 2012, 12:12 PM by Mike Drahota
When Ben Henderson steps into the cage at UFC on Fox 5 this December, he will seek to silence all of the critics who may believe he is an overrated champion. While many think that he is lucky to still have the belt after defeating Frankie Edgar via split decision in the main event of UFC 150, Henderson remains Supremely confident heading into his next defense against Nate Diaz. After all, Henderson has cut his way through the UFC Lightweight division with great effectiveness, defeating all in his path to become champion in short order. However, he has also been derided for taking all of these victories to the judges' scorecards. Nate Diaz has also been on a tear as of late, defeating Donald Cerrone in impressive fashion and finishing both Jim Miller and Takanori Gomi. Henderson respects his current opponent's skills, but also believes he has just the plan to emerge victorious:
"Every time a fighter does what they're supposed to do, and improves and gets better every fight, I wouldn't say the blueprint goes out the window, but it can be harder to execute the blueprint. Guys leave holes open in their game. Those holes get smaller if you do what you're supposed to do and get better from fight to fight. Nate Diaz has shown a big improvement from his early years in the UFC and he's made those holes a lot smaller, but I think the blueprint is definitely still out there on how to beat Nate. It's not just, ‘Oh, we think you've got to do this. We think you've got to do this.' No, if you want to beat him, you've got to do A, B, C, and D. And then you beat him. Period. You're done." -via MMAFighting.com
Always one to have a cut-and-dry but never over-emotional view of things, Henderson appears to have analyzed the situation calmly and precisely. Both of the Diaz brothers have been in the news as of late, and both are also known for their high-strung, aggressive, and outspoken antics in the media. They may have used these actions to get inside many a fighter's head in the past, but Henderson realizes this and will not let Nate Diaz affect him mentally:
"Nate and Nick, the whole scrap pack team, they do a good job of getting inside other fighters' heads, whether it's their body language, whether it's their words or whatever the case may be. It works well for them. I'm definitely preparing myself mentally to face that, and when I do face that, act accordingly. I don't intend on it affecting me. I don't intend on going out there and being all mad, all of a sudden getting emotional."
With a calm head and collected gameplan together, Henderson will seek to continue his quest to become the greatest fighter the UFC has ever seen, an ultimately lofty goal that he has set for himself. Will Nate Diaz derail this train before it ever gets out of the station?
Photo: CombatLifestyle.com
Comments
bens the man, top top fighter
Naa homie, **** that. 209.
Nothing wrong with rooting for your man, but I think to most people the Diaz brothers come out as careless punks, and they tend to overlook how hard the boys train and how sick their skill levels really are.
Belt is going back to Stockton, boy
Stockton is a dirty broke meth hole, & its hot ass hell there
As I said before, this fight will look like Rory MacDonald vs Diaz. Benson is stronger, and Nate will be rag dolled.
Diaz will Get INSIDE YOUR FACE !!!
@Ajichiban are you implying people are nerds for writing 2 paragraph comments on a Saturday? what would that make you for wasting your time on every post calling everyone a nerd??
We'll see.
I'm sure Cerrone wasn't planning on getting mad but look what happened to him.
Diaz is one of the few long time UFC LWs who is staying elite and not being owned by the WEC LWs, let's hope Nate continues his trend.
i like ben. i dont like diaz bros...to be honest . i just dont like punks. that said, i wonder, what does ben have to do to mentally prepare to keep nate out of his head ? it does not seem to hard for me to simply, let it go in one ear and out the other, when i know someone is trying to break me psychologically. i went through military basic training, and knowing that someone is trying to get in your head is all you really need to know , or do , for preparedness, after that, just dont give a damn, lol...and it all slides right off your chest. hope ben wins, but nate, honestly, does have a good boxing game.
You see Johnny this is an example of what the kids in the early twenty first century called "Random Word Order Grammar"
Am gutted because i really wanted to see Nate's boxing against Edgar's, the real LW champ.
Cerrone may have beat Diaz if he had been more composed and threw more kicks. Diaz's style of coming forward always may seen him kicked around for a few rounds. Edgar adjusted very well to the leg kicks. Diaz should study Edgar well and see how to counter them. If he manages that he will outclass Ben in the boxing.
True story azzman! One way to slow down either of the Stockton trains is with kicks, and Benson has obviously got a pretty good arsenal...I hope Nate will be prepared and like you said his boxing is on a whole different level. I reckon it will be a standup war à la Stockton!
Cerrone may have beat Diaz if he
threw more leg kicks.....
connected with any damaging punches...
did not become Diaz punching bag....
showed up to fight....
what a dumb statement.
How is that a dumb statement? Watch the fight back and Cerrone caused Nate big problems with his leg kicks just he didn't throw enough of them. Had he been more composed and threw more like a composed Cerrone would have he probably would have won. of course you can add in if he''d choked him out, K'd him etc there's endless ways to win but that post wasn't about that it was about a style that causes Diaz problems and something is relevant to Henderson's style in this upcoming match. Maybe you should engage your brain rather than trolling.
That's bullshit.
Cerrone threw a bunch of leg kicks, but he didn't throw more because he continuously got punched in the face. Whether Cerrone was composed or not mattered little (it was an overrated point to begin with). Cerrone just doesn't match up well with Nate, and he got beat up.
The only thing that would have helped him out more was if he mixed in takedowns with the rest of his game. However, then he would run into Nates Jits game.
If your making a plan on how to keep him out of your head , it means he is already in there.
Diaz brothers get in EVERY fighters head, can't miss. Look at what Nick did to GSP, and they didn't even end up fighting. Have you ever seen GSP so pissed? NO
Hell, they're in my head!
Bens got this
"Ben's got this" like a scorching case of Herpes. All painful and can't get it off of you.
From reading Bens comments it's clear Nate's already in his head. It's alot easier to say how you're going to fight Nate when you're not in the cage with him. Everything changes once you're there. I am not impressed with Benson's performances against little Franky he better step his game up if he expects to beat Nate especially in a 5 round fight.
If you wanna know the blueprint to beating Nate, do what Clay Guida and Gray Maynard did, Grab him by the waist and hang on for dear life for 3 rounds and hope for a judges victory. If you come to ACTUALLY FIGHT either Diaz, chances are you're going to lose.
Or just pick them apart like Condit did.
I'm calling Nate by guillotine.
Oh I forgot to laugh out loud at Benson becoming the greatest UFC fighter ever. Come on Bendo you didn't even beat Franky in either fight in my opinion and look at the size difference. Long way to go to be the greatest bud.
After a few months of patch work matches that needed the hype machine to work overdrive, I'm really looking forward to this scrap.
Yeah, Nate won't get inside his head, but he will mess up his face....
.....then take his belt.
Wow a lot of butt hurt FE fans hating on Bendo, Bad decisions happen all the time stop hating
I dont see much hate on Bendo, just some hate on bullshit judging. That cheshire on him in the pic though is enough to hate lol
New Champion Nate Diaz, in one awesome fight.... War Diaz....
The best blueprint for defeating Nate Diaz was the Rory MacDonald fight.
The only problem with that is MacDonald had an equal reach with Diaz-Bendo won't. So standup exchanges will be tougher for Bendo.
MacDonald had the choice of standing or taking it to the ground--keeping Diaz guessing. MacDonald danced out of the way when Diaz tried to walk him down--but then MacDonald would score with a strike then go for a takedown.
MacDonald did not stay in Diaz's guard--but postured up and rained down hard strikes--forcing Diaz to get up and expose his back. Instead of trying for the RNC--MacDonald used the back position to suplex Diaz three times in a row.
MacDonald kept the pressure on Diaz constantly--not allowing Diaz to control the octagon. MacDonald won the clinch game--stopping the pummel--and wearing out Diaz in the push and tug of war.
Diaz was getting pounded with G'nP in the 3rd, and only his toughness kept him from being finished.
I don't know if Bendo can match MacDonald's feat--since he is shorter and has 6" less reach. Bendo probably should try to get it to the ground and use GnP from a postured position--which will nullify some of Nate's BJJ--but allow Nate to get up easier.
Everyone likes to use the Rory fight as their basis. Nate was in too heavy a class, was out weighed big time come fight time AND hasnt been tossed around once since he made the move to LW.
He's also learned a much better TDD as apparent in the Miller fight.
Nate by cardio and ground game when Bendo gets tired.
I disagree. I don't know their exact weight on fight night, but I've seen the fight 7 times, and Nate did not look small next to Rory--maybe a touch skinnier.
The reason Rory suplexed Nate was because Nate kept trying to get back to his feet because Rory was posturing up and hitting him with HARD punches, and exposed his back in doing so.
Rory used the suplex because it was there. A suplex requires some strength, but positioning is all important.
I think Nate was so desperate to get up, and so confident of his ground game--he did not fear an RNC from Rory--but RoryMac used a suplex instead.
I don't buy this nonsense that Nate was undersized for WW. His brother Nick does OK at that weight class, and Nate was doing OK too, until he ran into MacDonald.
Nate would have won his fight wilh the Stun Gun except for a technicality. Kim Dong-hyun was in trouble and he barely touched his fingertips to the canvas when Nate kneed him. The fight should have been over, but Kim was allowed to recover because the ref said Nate kneed a 'grounded' opponent.
The point is that Nate Diaz was doing fine at WW until he ran into Rory MacDonald. No one was saying he was undersized until he lost.
Now Nate is a very big LW.
I'm not sure if the Rory fight is the bluprint Ben is talking about. Much more likely that he is speaking on the Clay Guida/Joe Stevenson fights IMO. Shoot takedowns from exchanges. Risk submissions like the guillotine. Keep position on the ground.
It's just not a certainty that this blueprint still exists at LW anymore. IMO Ben will look to implement it though.
Codemaster- Expanding on the Nate - DHK fight; Stats actually point to Nate winning (even without the knee). I remember watching it figuring that he would lose, but at the same time being annoyed that he would lose because of judging not equipt to deal with a fight of that nature. DHK did next to nothing with his takedowns.