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Stats for Suckas: Benson Henderson vs. Rustam Khabilov

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Let’s be honest: Every now and then it’s fun to get down into the nitty-gritty statistics and see if we can’t perform some MMAth. It helps us analyze future fights and make predictions based on previous history. Fans of all sports do it, so why can’t we? It can help us look for potential trends in a fighter as well. So, with thanks to Sherdog and FightMetric.com for the raw data, let’s examine the main event of the upcoming UFC Fight Night 42: Benson Henderson vs. Rustam Khabilov.


Statistics Benson Henderson Rustam Khabilov
Age 30 27
Camp MMA Lab Jackson’s MMA
Record 20-3 17-1
Stance Southpaw Orthodox
Reach 70.0″ Not Available
Win Percentage 2 (T)KOs (10%) 8 Submissions (40%) 10 Decisions (50%) 4 (T)KOs (24%) 5 Submissions (29%) 8 Decisions (47%)
Loss Percentage 2 Submissions (67%) 1 Decision (33%) 1 Decision (100%)
Last (T)KO Victory Apr. 5th, 2009, over Shane Roller Apr. 27th, 2013, over Yancy Medeiros
Last Submission Victory Apr. 24th, 2010, over Donald Cerrone Nov. 6th, 2010, over Sergei Utochkin
Last Decision Victory Jan. 25th, 2014, over Josh Thomson Nov. 6th, 2013, over Jorge Masvidal
Last (T)KO Loss N/A N/A
Last Submission Loss Aug. 31st, 2013, to Anthony Pettis N/A
Last Decision Loss Dec. 16th, 2010, to Anthony Pettis Feb. 12th, 2011, to Ruslan Khaskhanov
Submission Victories by Method Guillotine 4x (50%) RNC 2x (25%) Punches 2x (25%) Armbar 4x (80%) Triangle 1x (20%)
Submission Losses by method Armbar 1x (50%) Anaconda (50%) N/A
Most Takedowns Allowed in a Fight 9 1
Fewest Significant Strikes in a Victory 3 3
Decision Victories in the UFC 8 1
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute 2.78 2.43
Striking Accuracy 44% 35%
Significant Strikes Absorbed Per Minute 1.49 2.12
Striking Defense 65% 63%
Average Takedown Attempts per 15 Min. 2.74 6.07
Takedown Accuracy 48% 44%
Takedown Defense Percentage 65% 50%
Average Submission per 15 Min. 0.9 0.8
Average Submission Completion Rate 33.07% 61.75%
Most Significant Strikes Landed in a Fight 124, on Dec. 8th, 2012, against Nate Diaz 32, on Nov. 6th, 2013, against Jorge Masvidal
Total Fight Time 5 hrs, 2 min, 24 sec 2 hrs, 31 min, 49 sec

This is a tough one to call, really. Benson Henderson is about as solid a defensive fighter as you’ll see in the UFC these days. Unfortunately, his decision luck appears to be running out, as he was able to eke out only a split decision over Josh Thomson in his last bout. Rustam Khabilov, on the other hand, out-hustles his opponents en route to his decisions – or finishes them. That is likely the key difference between Khabilov and “Bendo” going into this fight, as both are strong grapplers with solid striking, but only the Dagestani seems to be trying to finish fights. Given that, and his absolutely heroic takedown attempt average, I’m going to have to give the edge in this fight to “The Tiger.” Expect the Jackson’s MMA product to take the decision.

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Justin Pierrot is MMASucka.com's resident musicologist and TUF aficionado. When not looking after his family or writing his weekly pieces, he's making music as Stormland or building Gundam models.

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