WEC
WEC QUOTABLES: Ben Henderson on Anthony Pettis' "Showtime Off the Wall Kick" - "I saw it in Mortal Kombat once"
Dec 17, 2010 - 1:23:58 PM WEC QUOTABLES: Ben Henderson on Anthony Pettis' "Showtime Off the Wall Kick" - "I saw it in Mortal Kombat once"

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"I saw [a kick like that] in Mortal Kombat once. I was talking it over a little bit with my coaches – why I lost and what I need to do better. My jab. Stepping to the inside when I need to step to the outside. [Pettis] was a little bit quicker to the punch than me. He did a good job setting up some of his kicks. I checked some of his kicks, but all the wrong things I did, what do I need to do better to get my hand raised? ... [Pettis] did a good job. It's called a jiu-jitsu crucifix position. He did a good job of holding me there and raining down some shots from the top. I was woozy, obviously. I'm not going to lie. He did a great job of landing the kick, but I was fully cognizant...There's a lot of things that go into a fight. It's not just two guys who go out there punching and kicking and stuff. There's a science behind it, and I'm going to figure it out, and I will get my hand raised next time."

-Now former WEC Lightweight Champion Ben Henderson talked about the kick that Anthony Pettis hit him with in the fifth round of their bout at WEC 53 on Thursday, as well as getting back to the drawing board to figure out what went wrong in the fight (post fight press conference quotes transcribed by MMAJunkie.com).

Penick's Analysis: Henderson needs to work on his striking game heading into the UFC. He's got a good wrestling base that will allow him to hang with a lot of fighters on the ground, but the level of striking in the UFC's lightweight division, especially in the top end, is really good, and it's the biggest area where Henderson needs improvement. Pettis was the better striker on Thursday, and despite seemingly being at a disadvantage in wrestling, Pettis was able to neutralize Henderson's dominant positions or reverse position on him when he was in danger, and it won him the fight. But Henderson can compete when he enters the UFC.