Is TJ Grant The Man To Take Benson Henderson’s Title?

TJ Grant put on the performance of a lifetime at UFC 160 this past Saturday, The 29 year old Canadian took less than a round to take out Gray Maynard. For his knockout of the long time LW contender, TJ earned a cool 50k bonus for KOTN-also thanks to some lobbying by Mike Tyson. With TJ Grant vs. Ben Henderson rumoured for the main event of UFC on Fox Sports 1: Boston, I’m left pondering about whether TJ Grant is the man to take ‘Smooth’s’ title at 155lbs.

Grant has some pretty nasty striking, evident in the way he disposed of Maynard this past Saturday, a brown belt in BJJ helps to make Grant quite a well rounded scrapper. With his win over Maynard, Grant has broken in to the top 10 of the Lightweight division and earned his title shot. The man he faces will be a huge challenge for Grant though.

Benson Henderson, in my opinion, is a perfect example of a truly athletic martial artist. His striking is crisp and clean, he is almost impossible to submit, has a great chin and is a multiple champion in submission grappling. Basically what that means is that wherever the fight is-Ben probably has the advantage, on paper at least.

TJ Grant kind of reminds me of Jim Miller, not only in the way he looks, but the way he fights. He has a bullish, nasty striking Arsenal with plenty of elbows and dirty boxing. I remember when Miller fought Henderson, I thought that Miller could just be too strong and aggressive on the feet for Henderson, boy was I wrong. Smooth put a really nasty beatdown on Miller throughout the fight, I’m not using Miller as a measuring stick but the styles are similar.

In reality you have to look at it in terms of ability, technicality, intelligence, movement and mechanics. All of which I feel Ben Henderson takes the advantage of in the cage. He has an awesome chin, as I said, so Grant’s power won’t deter Bendo. He negates TJ’s 13 career submissions with his own grappling prowess. Bendo’s athleticism and cardio means he can keep such a high pace and consistency that opponents are just always lagging behind.

Maynard is undoubtedly the biggest win of Grant’s career, but the Nova Scotian has fallen to lesser foes. Ricardo Almeida, Dong Hyun Kim and Jesse Bongfelt all hold wins over Grant. When it comes down to it, Henderson just has the advantage over Grant in all aspects-consistently higher level of opponents, more experience in title fights, cardio is off the scales, super high work rate and I would also say that Bendo’s striking is light years ahead of Grant’s. Obviously Grant has knockout power, but don’t forget that Maynard isn’t renowned for having the most awesome chin and Matt Wiman isn’t exactly the Anderson Silva of the Lightweight division.

So personally I don’t think Grant is the man to beat Henderson, but I think it will be a damn good fight! Stay tuned to Lowkick!