Fedor vs. Chael Sonnen Is Stupid and Wonderful

After the electric fight weekend that UFC 229 provided, both in and out of the cage, Bellator is following that up with not one but two cards. There are some well known fighters competing like Roy Nelson, Benson Henderson, and Kimbo Slice's son. The most important fight is likely Matt Mitrione vs. Ryan Bader as the winner will be the favorite to win Bellator's heavyweight tournament. But when it comes to Bellator, I don't care about importance, I care about freakshows, and Fedor Emelianenko vs. Chael Sonnen is my ideal freakshow fight.

Fedor's last impressive performance was in 2010. Most people would argue that it was actually 2009, but Fedor was whooping Werdum's ass before recklessly getting caught in a triangle choke. At the same time, his last impressive win may have been all the way back in 2005 when he fought Cro Cop in a legendary match. In between then and now, he's tattooed more cans than Campbell's (yes, I know that's a very forced joke and only semi makes sense, but it's my best an effort). That has led to Fedor winning six of his last seven, and the only one he lost nearly ended in a double knockout.

Meanwhile, Chael Sonnen is practically still in his prime as his last impressive performance and quality win happened just five years ago when he somehow choked out Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. I had completely forgotten about that, but damn, that shit is impressive. He is also on a two-fight win streak beating Wanderlei Silva and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in fights that...happened. If I had to say something positive about them, I would say they were...televised? TV exposure is cool, I guess.

Anyway, I know I have spent the last two paragraphs shitting on these guys, but let me get to the point. I love both of them. In his prime, Fedor Emelianenko was a cyborg of violence who victimized his opponents without showing the faintest hint of emotion. his workmanlike attitude just added beauty to the violence he was inflicting upon his opponents. It was one of those things that you couldn't take your eyes off of, and his string of dominance to start his career is probably only matched by Jon Jones.

And then there's Chael Sonnen. Chael Sonnen is not a legendary fighter, but he will be remembered. Chael Sonnen nearly won two different titles with the UFC. His beatdown of Anderson Silva will always be remembered, as he was less than two minutes from a dominant decision win before getting caught in a triangle choke. He was actually closer to beating Jon Jones in their light heavyweight title match, although in a very different way. Sonnen got his ass whooped for four and half minutes before the ref stopped the fight, but had he lasted 30 more seconds, the ref would have had to call off the fight as somehow Jon Jones broke his big toe while whooping Sonnen's ass. It would have been the most Chael Sonnen way possible to win a title, and I am so disappointed it didn't go down that way.

Usually, it is uncomfortable to watch guys fight who are well past their prime, but I'm actually at peace with this fight. Chael Sonnen has somehow survived his long career in mixed martial arts without taking very many beatings, and he's smart enough to even admit that he is scared of Fedor's power as getting knocked out is not a great experience, especially for someone who really wants to avoid brain damage. On the other hand, Fedor is clearly a shell of himself after going through many wars in the cage and ring. Even when he won, he rarely exited unscathed. Luckily, Chael Sonnen is not the type of fighter to lay the hammer to Fedor. Even when Sonnen gets his opponent down, he plays it safe on top to maintain position and avoid submission which means that his ground and pound is closer to a pillow fight.

So what's going to happen? I actually see it as very close to Khabib/McGregor, in a much less skilled way, of course. Sonnen's wrestling should be good enough to mostly control where the fight takes place, but while it is on the feet, Fedor has the one punch power to end it at any time. Much like I leaned Khabib last week, I'll lean Sonnen this week, but neither outcome would surprise me. Even if the fight technically sucks, I'll still love it, because it's not about the fight, it's about the spectacle, and this fight will certainly deliver on that.

Khabib Nurmagomedov Is the Ideal Fighter

Khabib Nurmagomedov had another dominant performance this past weekend, this time against Edson Barboza, who is known for finishing opponents with some of the most brutal kicks in all of mixed martial arts. Although Barboza was able to land some hard leg and body kicks early on, Khabib just kept walking through them. In the third round, Barboza nailed Khabib with a spinning back kick to the head, and Nurmagomedov just kept walking forward. At this point, you could see the defeat in Barboza's eyes, and he dutifully took his punishment for the remainder of the fight.

This is why Khabib Nurmagomedov is the ideal fighter. And when I saw that, maybe I should clarify that he is my ideal fighter, but honestly, I don't see how he is not a top-5 favorite fighter for anyone who watches mixed martial arts.

My favorite all-time fighter, and a huge reason I fell in love with the sport, was Wanderlei Silva. Silva's wrestling was absolute shit, but all the dude did was charge forward and try to separate his opponent from consciousness as quickly and violently as possible.

He did this with no concern for his own safety as he was willing to take some punishment in order to get what he wanted. It is not an intelligent way to fight, but it damn sure is entertaining.

But as anyone who frequents this blog knows, I love the sport of wrestling. I believe that it is not only the best fighting background, but it is also just beautiful to watch. Although most people would agree on the first part, the latter usually gets some raised eyebrows. It may be more psychological than physiological, but it is damn near impossible for me to watch someone go out and remove a person from their feet against their will. Ben Askren is the poster child for this in mixed martial arts as he used his Olympic-level background in wrestling to physically dominate every opponent he faced and retire with an undefeated record.

And it's not like I don't enjoy the striking side of mixed martial arts. I just prefer for it to be on a grounded opponent. I think all males, and possibly a good portion of females (I really can't speak for them) have imagined what it would be like to get in a fight. You can imagine yourself standing and trading blows. You can imagine yourself winning, and if you're realistic, you can probably imagine what it's like to be losing a fight on your feet; it's not ideal, but you can at least imagine the scenario.

What nobody imagines is the feeling of getting in a fight and being on the ground as strikes rain down. The feeling of being trapped where your only two options are to take punishment and hang on. There is no escape. I have trained those scenarios in safe environments, and it still makes me a little ill to my stomach thinking about it. Although it is forgotten due to his fighting style later on in his career, Fedor Emelianenko was a monster at this in his prime, as he would get on top of guys and brutally pound through their defense. His opponents' only escape was if the ref decided to show mercy and restart the fight on their feet.

That's why Khabib is so much fun to watch. He combines aggression, wrestling, and a physically dominant style. There are only three things on his mind: Pressure, pressure, and pressure. He will take some punishment from good strikers, but it never deters him. He refuses to give his opponent room to breathe, because he knows that eventually he is going to get a hold of his opponent, and once he does, they are going to be in a world of hurt.

Khabib has ridden this strategy to an undefeated record in his career, and maybe the craziest thing is that everybody knows the strategy to beat him. Be able to strike at range and have excellent movement in the cage. It's easy to say but incredibly difficult to do. Barboza was able to do this for about half a round before he let Nurmagomedov get to him, and then he took a beating for the rest of the round and never looked the same the rest of the fight. After the fight, Khabib said that he could have finished the fight but wanted to fight longer to give himself more time in the cage. He finishes opponents as he pleases.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is the ideal fighter, and if he's not already your favorite fighter, just know that you are wrong, and you need to remedy that situation immediately.

Fedor Emelianenko Didn't Lose This Weekend, Hooray!

Fedor Emelianenko is one of the greatest fighters of all time, and he has a pretty good claim for being the greatest fighter of all time. This past weekend, he was scheduled to take on Matt Mitrione, who was a good, but not great Heavyweight in the UFC who has since moved to Bellator. This is a level of competition that Fedor would have handled easily in his prime, but the type where Fedor should definitely not be favored against at this point in his career.

But Fedor shocked the world yet again and didn't lose his fight this past weekend.

Now, he also didn't win, but that's beside the point. Fedor's legend is enough to give a man kidney stones, and that is how he vanquished his foe this weekend as Mitrione was unable to take the fight. And thank God for that.

With Fedor Emelianenko, more than any other fighter, people underestimate how far this sport has come since his prime. Today, Fedor struggles against middling light heavyweights fighting up a weight class, but people claim that he could still dominate in his prime. I know it was only eight years ago when he was still an unstoppable cyborg who absolutely annihilated opponents, but this sport has transformed in the last eight years.

I know Fedor has this invincibility to him, but let's look at another legend from that time, Matt Hughes. Looking at his resume, Hughes is the second best welterweight in UFC history. But if Hughes is in his prime today, does he come anywhere near the title picture? Hell no. His ceiling is probably a .500 fighter in the UFC, and you can make a pretty good argument that he wouldn't even win a fight in today's UFC. His wrestling pedigree isn't anything special, and his striking straight up sucked. Maybe he can bulldog his way through some strikers without enough takedown defense, or maybe he just takes beatings while going for sloppy takedowns. Either way, he's not anywhere near elite in today's UFC.

It's the same story for Fedor. Fedor has powerful but sloppy striking, his sambo background helps him with throws, solid submissions and good body control, but there isn't one aspect of his game that you could say is elite. Because the heavyweight division is pretty weak right now, I could see Fedor having a solid career, but there is one kryptonite that he would never be able to overcome, and that is a good wrestler. Cain Velasquez, and hell, even Brock Lesnar, would be an absolute nightmare for Fedor. Wrestling is far superior to Sambo, and I think Fedor would learn that the hard way in today's MMA landscape. The only wrestlers that Fedor ever faced were Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman, two guys who almost seemed proud of their total lack of jiu jitsu knowledge. And even with that, Fedor almost had his life ended by this:

Fedor still has a great claim of being the greatest fighter ever, much like Babe Ruth has a great claim of being the greatest baseball player ever. Sure, baseball has changed over the last century, but MMA has changed nearly as much over the last decade. It doesn't take away from their legacy, and that means they have nothing to prove today. Fedor stepping into the cage to fight is as relevant to me as Babe Ruth getting dug up to step up to the plate. It simply doesn't matter. Fedor didn't lose this weekend. To me, that's a win.

Dan Henderson: The World's Most Interesting Fighter

Dan Henderson recently retired after a close (some would say controversial) decision loss to UFC Champion, Michael Bisping. Henderson's career will be underrated by many, as his prime happened outside of the UFC. Even with that, it's tough to make an argument that Henderson is the greatest fighter ever, but it's also hard to make an argument against him being the world's most interesting fighter.

Unless you are a truly hardcore MMA fan, you probably don't remember Dan Henderson's early UFC career. It was during the dark ages of the UFC, and Henderson, with two fights and limited MMA training, went out and won a four-man tournament at 205 pounds. You would probably assume that he was facing off against guys that were just as limited as him, but he actually went out and beat two legitimate mixed martial artists. Allan Goes, who did not have any signature wins, had two of the most high quality draws in the sport against Frank Shamrock and Kazushi Sakuraba. And then in the finals, Dan fought Carlos Newton, who although was undersized for that weight class, became a UFC Champion by beating Pat Miletich a few years later. Those were guys with years of training and fights, and Dan Henderson walked in and beat them.

I should also mention that this began the legend of "Decision" Dan Henderson (the nickname was fair early in his career, even though he had enough huge finishes to make it obsolete by the end). Henderson had 22 of 47 of his fights go to decision, but that number is toned down due to late career Dan Henderson, with seven of his final eight fights being finishes. More incredible is he had nine split decisions in his career. Almost 20% of his fights were split decisions. I don't know where to find the records for that, so I'll just assume that Henderson is the Babe Ruth of split decisions.

After that, he went to Rings where he took out a couple of nobodies, and then on February 26, 2000, he had maybe the most impressive night in MMA history. In the first round, he faced Gilbert Yvel, who was 20-3 at the time and basically knocking out everyone that he faced (when he wasn't getting DQ'd), but Decision Dan would not be denied. Then he took on the greatest heavyweight fighter before Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. a man that only lost once in his first 21 fights. Unfortunately for Nogueira, that one loss was to Dan Henderson by split decision. After that, he took on Babalu in the finals. Babalu, a man who won his first twelve professional fights before taking on Henderson where he experienced the unlucky number 13, as Henderson won by majority decision. Yvel, Big Nog, and Babalu: There is nobody who has beaten anything close to that caliber of competition in a single night.

With that, Henderson made the move to Pride. Since this is Dan Henderson, he lucked into an easy fight to start off his Pride career, taking on the most terrifying fighter in MMA history, The Axe Murderer, Wanderlei Silva. Pride was the premiere organization at the time, and Silva didn't lose in his first 17 fights, and when he lost in his 18th, it was controversial. Although Henderson took his first loss, you could make a pretty strong argument that he won the fight.

He followed up his first loss by beating Renzo Gracie. That's a good win, but not too special. What was special was that Henderson won by knockout. He learned to throw a right hand, and that would become incredibly important later in his career.

I'd like to take a brief aside to address something. During this whole time, Henderson was still working on representing the United States in Greco-Roman Wrestling, as he didn't give up wrestling until 2001, when he had already twelve professional fights over four years without yet focusing on fighting full time. Yes, he had probably the greatest night in MMA history without even being a full time mixed martial artist. Dan Henderson was so fucking cool.

He finally bedcame a full time MMA fighter and fought in Pride for the next six years. Over that six year span, he lost four times, but only once was it to someone in his actual weight class. Otherwise, he lost to both Nogueiras and Ricardo Arona (which just reminds me how tough Arona was back in the day).

The highlights were mostly centered around that big right hand as Henderson started showing the ability to knock dudes out. He also became the first (and only) Pride Welterweight Champion (welterweight was 183 in Pride) by beating Murilo Bustamante, who is one of those legendary tough guys from Brazil that had his prime about 5-10 years too early.

But the biggest highlight was his rematch against Wanderlei Silva. It was the final fight in the history of Pride, and it was for the middleweight title. Henderson lost their first fight by decision, but he wouldn't let the same thing happen again as he about knocked Silva's head off in the third round to get the knockout victory and be the only guy in a major organization to hold titles in multiple weight classes at the same time.

And after all of that, he finally went back to the UFC.

Since it's Dan Henderson, there was no easing him in. he started with not one but two title matches in the weight classes where he held the belts in Pride. It, uh, did not go well. First, he lost a sluggish decision against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Then he took on Anderson Silva, where he took Silva down and dominated him in the first round. But by the second round, he decided game plans were for nerds and decided to just stand and trade with Silva where he got knocked silly and then choked out.

I guess now is as good of time as any to address something with Dan Henderson. He doesn't give a shit when he gets in a fight. His first goal is to knock someone's head off. Sure, he's an Olympic level wrestler where he could easily smother someone on top, but he almost exclusively used those skills to keep things standing so he could try to knock someone's head off. He could have been more successful had he stuck to a smart gameplan, but there is no way he could have been as awesome.

He got back on track after that with wins over basically the worst person in mixed martial arts, Rousimar Palhares, and one of the best people, Rich Franklin. After that, he coached on The Ultimate Fighter, opposite Michael Bisping, to set up their fight at UFC 100. It definitely wasn't his best win, but it probably was his most memorable, as Henderson destroyed Bisping with a right hand, and then gave him a leaping forearm for funsies. It was brutal and awesome all at once.

At this point, Henderson was probably only a fight away from a title shot, so he did what nobody else in the world would do, and left the UFC to go to Strikeforce, because Dan Henderson doesn't give a shit about titles when he can get more money somewhere else.

Henderson's Strikeforce career didn't start off the best. He gave Jake Shields one of the worst beatings I've seen in the first round of a fight and then totally ran out of gas and lost a decision. After that, he beat Babalu again and then took out Rafael Calvacante. Although he finished both guys, it's not going to make his career highlights. Then, since it's Dan Henderson, he took on the greatest heavyweight in the history of MMA, Fedor Emelianenko and proceeded to knock him out in the first round. This would be his last fight in Strikeforce, and he picked a hell of a way to go out.

In fact, let's look back on how Henderson left every organization he was in.
Brazil Open - Won Tournament
UFC - Won Tournament
Rings - Won Greatest Tournament Ever
Pride - Won Middleweight Title from scariest fighter ever, giving him two belts in different weight classes.
UFC - Most memorable knockout of his career, proved America's domination over England.
Strikeforce - Knocked out the greatest heavyweight of all time.

And even though he lost the final fight of his career, he did it in the perfect way, losing a close decision, because had he won, the UFC would have thrown a ton of money at him to fight again, and Dan Henderson does not turn down tons of money. There is no way he could have left these organizations on a higher note. This man knows how to increase his value at the right time.

When Dan Henderson went back to the UFC, he was already 41 years old, and age can catch up to anybody, even someone as great as Dan Henderson. Although he had two memorable wins over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, he went 1-6 in his other fights with three losses coming by knockout.

But as important as timing his right hand, he also knew how to time his wins, and he was able to knockout Hector Lombard right as Michael Bisping was busy winning the UFC title. Somehow, despite going 4-6 in his last run in the UFC, he was given a title shot, because he's Dan Henderson, and that was the most interesting fight available.

His final fight gave you everything you could have asked for in a Dan Henderson fight. He landed a couple of those right handed bombs that nearly took out Bisping and gave Dan the early advantage. And then, like so many other times, he ran out of steam and Bisping started winning the later rounds. He put on a good final round, but there was only one way for "Decision" Dan's career to end. Sometimes those decisions went his way, this time it didn't. It was probably his best fight since the first Shogun fight, which happened five years prior, but at 46 years old, Henderson was able to show why he is one of the greatest fighters in history.

With a 32-15 record, it's tough to make the argument that he was the best fighter ever, but there is nobody who had a more interesting career than Dan Henderson. The guy fought in three weight classes (technically four, since the Brazil Open was close to the Welterweight limit), and fought nearly every interesting person in all of those divisions. Wanderlei, Fedor, A. Silva, Shogun, Cormier, Big Nog, Little Nog, Bustamante, Vitor, Franklin, Arona, Machida, and Rampage all fought Henderson at least once. He fought for two decades, and the only legends he missed over that period were Couture, Liddell, Jon Jones, Cro Cop, and Sakuraba. That's only five guys across three different weight classes over 20 years that Henderson couldn't find time to fight.

Dan Henderson had more big matches than anyone in the history of mixed martial arts. He is the world's most interesting fighter, and unlike the Dos Equis guy, there will never be a replacement for Hendo.

Jon Jones Vs. Daniel Cormier Is the Biggest Fight of the Year

2015 is starting off with a bang, as I don't think anything is going to touch this weekend for the greatness of sports content. With the New Year's holiday, the weekend started on Thursday, and you could make a pretty strong case that it started on Wednesday evening for New Year's Eve. The longer the weekend, the higher potential for greatness. Still, despite all of the bowl games, the NFL Playoffs, and Iowa wrestling twice this weekend, there is one event that stands above all others, and that is UFC 182 with the main event of Jon Jones defending his Light Heavyweight Championship against Daniel Cormier.

I have been looking forward to this fight since Cormier said he was going to drop down to 205. Cormier is basically Fedor Emelianenko if Fedor had a wrestling background instead of Sambo. He's so incredibly gifted at fighting that I needed no drama to get excited for a fight where he would challenge Jon Jones.

That being said, the drama and shit-talking from each side has been incredible. These guys don't like each other, and that is wonderful. It adds that extra element that gets me way too excited to watch grown men fight. And even with all of the personal dislike, there is still respect. Jon Jones hasn't voiced it as much, but Cormier openly states that Jones will be by far his toughest opponent. And he's right.

Also, you can think Jon Jones is a dick all you want (I basically agree), but there is no fighter that does a better job of being beautifully violent in his fights. He's the most exciting fighter since Pride-era Wanderlei Silva (I am horribly biased for Silva, so nobody will ever top him in my eyes), so every time he steps in the cage to fight, it is absolutely a must-watch event.

This comes down to a battle of good vs. evil. Daniel Cormier is an incredibly likable guy. He's honest, friendly, and most importantly, vulnerable. He will say Jon Jones is great. He will say that he's scared entering the cage. He will even say that the possibility of Jones beating him has crossed his mind. He's a person, and we can see his humanity; he's relatable. Jon Jones is none of those things. He lies, talks shit when the cameras are off (or at least when he thinks they're off), and never shows even a hint of vulnerability. Unless you are also a sociopath, there is no way to relate to him. It is good vs. evil. If Cormier wins on Saturday night, I will celebrate and be happy. If Jones wins, I will sulk and be totally bummed. These emotions from two people that I do not know are completely irrational, but that's what makes this so much fun.

Saying all that, you could take away that entire storyline, and it would still be the most exciting fight of the year.

Why You Should Watch Machida vs. Mousasi Tonight

It's the weekend, which means there is another UFC fight card tonight. Even for people who don't watch The Ultimate Fighter, there is a whole lot of MMA on these days, especially UFC. Some people complain of oversaturation, but that's still a good thing as you can now pick and choose which cards are worth your time. Top to bottom, this card isn't great on paper, but the main event is something that has had me excited for months.

Everybody knows Lyoto Machida. His only definitive losses have come to Shogun and Jon Jones. He's had some other close decisions, some where the judges favored him, and others where I feel the judges made a mistake. He's incredible at hitting his opponent without getting hit. People originally thought he was just a points fighter, but he has gotten so good at hitting with accuracy and picking spots to go in for the kill that this is no longer an issue for him. Watching him in a standup fight will always be fascinating as his style is so different than his opponents.

Most UFC fans don't know as much about Gegard Mousasi, but this dude is the truth. In the last 7 1/2 years, he's lost once. And this fight marks his move back to middleweight which is a much better weight class for him as his biggest walking around weight was only about 210-215 pounds. It is either hilarious or maddening how much this guy seems to not give a shit when it comes to fighting. I once saw him in an exhibition against Fedor at an M-1 Global event, and he looked like he just woke up from a nap. He was sparring with the best fighter in the world at the time and was just going through the motions until Fedor through a left high kick that nearly took his head off. He seemed more upset that he was fully awake than anything else.

Also on that card was Muhammed Lawal (beating the shit out of Mark Kerr; it was originally scheduled to be Don Frye) who gave Mousasi his only recent loss. Lawal was able to do this, because Mousasi doesn't give a shit about wrestling defense. He still did more damage from his back than Lawal did from the top, but judges love position more than damage, so Lawal got the decision victory.

He had a draw with late-career Keith Jardine for the same reason. If somebody wanted to take him down, he'd let them. Luckily, he fought a lot of his career in Japan where Shinya Aoki was considered to have good takedowns (then he came to the United States where he was completely outclassed by real wrestlers), so it didn't matter. He could just stay on his feet and blast fools. He even did a little kickboxing where he showed that he's

Now it has been three years since Mousasi fought Jardine and four since he fought Lawal. There is a good possibility that his takedown defense has gotten better. But that's the beauty of this fight. It doesn't matter. These two are going to strike with each other, and Mousasi is silky smooth on his feet. He has that style that looks effortless but can still absolutely turn his opponent's lights out.

So I know that the names and hype aren't necessarily there tonight, but Machida vs. Mousasi is a fight that is going to deliver. I've loved Mousasi for a long time, but Machida is a guy who has made me look stupid many times in the past. Still, this is definitely a case of listening to my heart and taking Mousasi by TKO.

Johny Hendricks Did Not Get Robbed

So the overwhelming majority of people who watched the GSP-Johny Hendricks fight felt that Hendricks was robbed when the decision went GSP's way. I hate to break it to you, but Johny Hendricks was not robbed in that fight. It was close, and the decision did not go his way. This isn't an issue with the judging; this is simply a case where the judges watched a very close fight and two of them favored GSP over Hendricks. It's a defensible position and not a robbery.

The issue that people have is that there were a few things working heavily in Hendricks's favor. The first is that the crowd was behind him, because he is the first guy to give GSP a competitive fight in six years. That means that the crowd was reacting more to his shots than they were to GSP's which made them feel more powerful.

The second thing that was working for Johny was Joe Rogan. I'm not saying that Rogan is biased towards Hendricks; I really think he just got caught up in the moment, but either way, his commentary was definitely biased towards Hendricks. When GSP hit a strike, he would note that it was a nice shot by Georges. When Hendricks landed a shot, he would say, "That was a HARD shot from Hendricks." It made Hendricks's shots seem like they were a lot more powerful than GSP's. Now I think that judging the power behind shots from television is incredibly difficult, so it may have been than Johny was landing harder shots, but I do not believe that the difference was as pronounced as Rogan made it sound.

Finally, the third thing working for Johny is that he doesn't bruise easy and GSP does. GSP has always bruised easy (Fedor Emelianenko had this same issue), so even if he was landing better shots, he was the one who looked worse at the end of fights. This gave the impression that Hendricks did far better in his strikes but basic skin damage is not a way to judge who won a fight.

Because of all of these factors, people thought that there was going to be a new welterweight champion in the UFC. There wasn't, and I have no issue with this. According to FightMetric, Hendricks outlanded GSP in strikes by 17 through the fight, but GSP outlanded Hendricks in significant strikes by 16. Just because the majority of people leaned towards Hendricks in a close fight does not make this a robbery.

It was a close fight and GSP got the win. The judges don't need to be fired for that. There are a lot of really awful decisions in MMA, but this isn't one of them.

With all that being said, I would have given the edge to Hendricks.