Our tale of the tape for this our main event of the evening.
Henderson five years the elder of Myles Jury,
who is two inches taller
and will have a three-inch reach advantage.
Once again, we get it over to Terry Kavanagh.
- Ladies and gentlemen, this is the main event of the evening!
Three rounds in a lightweight contest.
This contest is supervised by
the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation.
Chairman of the tribe James Gessner,
supervising cage side, Michael Mazzulli
and Brendan Cholula.
And now to those in attendance
and to those watching on Paramount Network,
ladies and gentlemen, it's about to go down!
Introducing first, fighting out of the blue corner,
he stands five feet 11 inches tall,
and officially weighed in at 156.2 pounds,
he brings a professional record of 17 wins and four losses,
fighting out of San Diego, California,
by way of Hazel Park, Michigan,
please welcome Myles "Fury" Jury!
(cheers and applause)
And introducing his opponent across the cage
in the red corner, he stands at five feet nine inches tall
and weighed in at 156 pounds even,
he brings a record of 27 wins and eight losses to the cage,
fighting out of Phoenix, Arizona,
former world champion,
"Smooth" Benson Henderson!
(cheers and applause)
Your third man inside the cage, Mr. Dan Miragliotta.
- Dan Miragliotta, the referee.
- All right, guys, we've been through the rules
in the locker room.
Want you to obey my commands at all times,
want you to protect yourselves at all times.
Did you already touch gloves?
Good luck to both of yous, back to your corners.
- Benson Henderson... Myles Jury.
17-4 record for Myles Jury.
27 career wins for Benson Henderson,
who said, and I quote, "Myles is breakable."
Jury said, "I can do some things to give Benson trouble."
Here we go!
Main event of the evening.
Benson comes out swinging.
Could we see a fast start from "Smooth" Benson Henderson?
- This is already faster than he normally starts.
- That's kind of what I was throwing to you, partner.
He switches to southpaw.
He came out traditional, and there he goes again.
He told us in the meetings the other day
that he may switch things up and come out
in a traditional stance.
He has done it quickly once or twice here
in the first 30-plus seconds.
- Yeah, I can relate.
I would switch a lot in my stance
or I'd switch in my stance,
I wanted to pull the trigger fast 'cause I didn't feel
comfortable there defensively.
- Interesting perspective.
Especially in a day and age, Josh, where so many people
are seamless going back and forth.
- Yeah, they're working on it, things are getting--
people are getting better at it.
But we just saw something really tricky out of Ben
that I've been doing for a while that I actually stole from him
when I used to fight, is that little front-thigh punch.
- Yeah.
- A little front-thigh punch, a little sideline kick.
And his leg kicks are nasty, and take it from experience.
- Yes, vicious.
He put a heavy one on Myles Jury already.
We should see some redness above the knee
on the left leg of Myles Jury.
Talented, talented kid.
Alliance MMA, then he went to Power MMA for a bit.
Very close friends with "Lil' Heathen" Jeremy Stephens.
Lived with Jeremy for a long time.
In fact, first went to San Diego to be a training partner
of Jeremy Stephens.
Eric Del Fierro...
and Myles saw each other at a wedding
and he said, "Come on back, kid,"
and he did and he's here now.
Myles part of that Fight Alliance Team.
- You hear it all the time, fighters...
...they met their longtime coach--
Myles with Del Fierro for a long time.
And then as more fighters started coming,
and he start feeling that he wasn't getting the attention
that he-- that he used to get.
And then they start thinking something's wrong
and then they leave
and they're just not the same fighter anymore.
Now that he's back, he said, "Everything's been good.
"We talked about it, we squashed it,
we just got things out in the open."
And you can tell by the way he walks around now.
He's a lot more confident.
Just-- he feels good about the relationship back in Alliance.
- And there was a ton of hype on Myles Jury
when he made it to the big time.
Benson Henderson is off to a fast start.
Throwing a lot of shots here
in the first part of round number one.
- I'd like see Ben go back to that leg kick.
You can see they're having a little bit of an effect
on Myles Jury.
- Myles...
in the interview earlier this week, Josh,
talked to you about the fact that he finally had to realize
that Eric Del Fierro was only one man
and there's so many great fighters at Alliance
and so many guys, over time, fighting for titles
that there was only so much time in the day.
So there was never a disrespect or an ignoring thing,
it was just the fact the man
could only spread himself so thin.
- Yeah, but what happens is--
and I can speak from experience--
I used to train at AKA,
I still go by there every once in a while obviously,
but Javier was-- Javier Mendez was one man.
- Absolutely.
- And if you think about all the guys who went through
that gym, right, and I used to get all the attention
because I was the only UFC fighter at that time
back in 2000 and then slowly a couple other guys came
and they got some attention
and then slowly more came and we started building a big team.
And that's exactly what Alliance did.
You know, they-- Dom Cruz and, you know,
all the other guys and-- nice combination by Myles.
Interrupt my talk.
But a good combination there.
But that's-- that's exactly what he went through.
When you're young, you don't see that.
He's matured as a person,
he's developed as an athlete and a fighter now.
He understands what-- where he stands now with that gym.
- He can certainly be a huge factor at 155
here inside the Bellator cage.
Final minute of our round number one of our main event
scheduled for three five-minute rounds.
This would not be considered a slow start
for Benson Henderson.
- This is an extremely fast start for Benson.
Of course we'd like to see him pick it up a little bit more,
but Myles needs to also start a little bit faster.
- Yup.
He's starting to open up.
- Nice straight left, though, right there by Benson.
(alarm clacking)
Highly decorated in his MMA career.
And Aiden even used a hockey reference.
He wants the hat trick of titles in major organizations.
Round two of our main event of the evening,
3Arena, Dublin, Ireland.
Mike Goldberg, Josh Thomson. (bell rings)
Paul "Semtex" Daley.
Red gloves for Benson Henderson,
blue gloves for Myles Jury,
the native of Royal Oak, Michigan.
- You heard Benson's coaches say, okay,
we had a good first round, let's turn it up now.
I mean, I gave the first round to Ben also,
Myles has gotta pick it up himself.
This has to do with the cobwebs, this is the first--
It's your first fight in Bellator,
new stage, you're the main event,
you're fighting Benson Henderson.
That's a lot to t-- to take in.
- Huge opportunity.
Myles talked about on frequent occasion
nothing to lose.
You know, you could say that, but there's so much to gain that
there is a lot to lose,
because Myles Jury can put himself
right into a title picture
if he can pull off a victory over Benson Henderson,
one of the best at 155 in the world.
It's been a stand up battle thus thus.
Myles Jury, the first fighter to knock out Takanori Gomi
in Japan, that was back in September of 2014.
He was on the verge of his own title shot
when he fell to Donald Cerrone years ago.
So he has been near the top of the mountain before.
And, man, there is some redness
on the left leg of Myles Fury Jury,
as he switches to southpaw.
- Yeah, those leg kicks are having an effect.
You can see he's switching his stance back and forth,
but he's also hesitant to pull the trigger with his hands.
Which sometimes means that he can't set his weight
because the legs feel a little injured.
(trainers shouting)
- Benson with a nice one-two.
Stepped into that jab, and he throws the kick again.
Henderson able to get those kicks off so quickly.
No wasted motion.
Economy of movement.
Midway point of this three-round fight is upon us.
Benson Henderson looking for
his fourth straight Bellator victory.
The thigh punch.
- Myles has got some of the best jiu-jitsu I've seen,
especially when he was younger. - Oh yeah.
- I'm surprised I haven't seen him at least threaten a takedown
or press to the fence.
- Both men black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Benson, a black belt under John Crouch,
also a black belt in taekwondo.
Myles, a black belt in Brazil jiu-jitsu
since December of 2013.
Following the kick up with the left hand.
- Everybody talks about Benson's transition into Bellator
and the rough road early.
That said, he fought at 170,
which is not his natural weight class,
against Andrey Koreshkov.
Had the win over Patrizio with the leg injury.
And you know what? That has happened before.
People have checked kicks and had their leg broken,
like Anderson Silva.
Michael Channeler, split decision.
Split decision with Patricky.
I mean, some really good fights.
And then wins over Huerta, Saad Awad,
Piccolotti, and Henderson hopes tonight Jury.
- He's fighting a better fight this fight
than he has in his last couple of fights.
In the Patricio fight, a lot of people thought
he was losing also. - Yep.
- You know, Patricio was landing the cleaner shots,
landing the better leg kicks.
They had him winning, obviously having won the first round.
Then he threw a kick and Benson checked it,
ended up breaking his leg.
So that gave Ben the win, but people look and say, man,
Patricio was actually winning at 155.
But then later on, we find out Patricio's got the power
to stop somebody like Michael Chandler
with a knockout.
Final ten seconds of round number two.
- Body shot.
(bell rings)
set for the third and final round
of our main event of the evening.
(bell rings)
Five minutes remaining.
Oh, a double kick from Henderson
early here in round three.
He has done a ton of damage to the lead leg of Myles Jury.
And again, same spot.
And the thing about Benson is he throws that kick, Josh,
from orthodox or southpaw
and lands it in the same place, and no switch.
- Yeah, he throws the same spot from that position
and then also too what he'll do is he'll fake that,
and then he'll come across with his back leg
across your back leg,
which is something most people don't do.
Getting kicked in that back leg i--
it's an unconditioned leg, so those kicks hurt
probably twice as much because
you're not used to getting kicked in that back leg.
- One thing he does very well is mix up his kicks.
- If that kick hurts twice as much as
a normal Benson Henderson kick, that's nasty.
A spin and a miss by Smooth Benson.
- There it is, that little-- - Yep, to the thigh again.
- Little jab to the thigh.
Just one more thing for you to think about, that's all it is.
- And we talked earlier in numerous fights, Josh,
about when you are able to mix things up.
And in here, Benson's mixing up his striking techniques.
But if it's the entire arsenal of your MMA capabilities,
when you mix things up,
you oftentimes have great success.
And he's kept Myles kind of guessing
by mixing up his strikes here thus far tonight.
- Yeah, I'm surprised Myles' corner hasn't told him
to change up the game plan.
Let's make adjustments, let's change this up,
because this isn't working.
- Ooh, heavy body kick.
Two minutes into the third and final round.
Henderson...
Much like Cris Cyborg, now a member
of the Bellator family would like to do,
wants a world title in three major organizations.
- It's a race, it's a race to see
who can get there first between those two.
- And, of course, the lightweight champion
puts his 145-pound belt on the line tomorrow
exclusively on DAZN
in his first fight of the Featherweight World Grand Prix
against the Spaniard Juan Archuleta.
Head kick and a slip, right back up.
There's been nothing slow about Henderson tonight.
- Straight left right down the pipe.
That rocked Myles a little bit.
Best shot of the fight right there.
- Henderson has been ultra aggressive
throughout this fight against Myles Jury.
And he knows Myles is dangerous.
Ton of respect for his opponent coming into tonight.
He told us earlier in the week, Josh,
put on boxing gloves, I beat him,
we put out a gi, I beat him, we wrestle, I beat him.
Whatever I do, I beat him.
So far he's beaten him,
but there's still 1:25 remaining.
- You hear the crowd getting a little restless.
Well, we got the fast start from Benson Henderson,
now he's gotta get what Paul Daley was talking about,
we got to start getting some finishes
because I feel like he can.
I think a lot of the fights he ends up going the distance,
he's content with what-- doing what works
instead of picking up the tempo
and trying to get that person out of there.
With the success that he's having,
with whatever he's using at that moment,
he should try doing that more to get these guys out of there.
- Benson has 12 career wins by decision.
Which just validates the point that you just made, Josh.
Spins again.
Final 20 seconds now.
And Jury able to connect.
Define the fight.
Stare at your past, and the future goes flying by.
Certainly, Benson Henderson... (bell rings)
...has defined this fight tonight,
as they go the full 15
Here is Terry Kavanagh with the official decision.
- Ladies and gentlemen, after three rounds,
we go to the judges scorecards.
All three judges scored the bout 30-27 in favor
of your winner by unanimous decision,
Benson Smooth Henderson!
(cheers and applause)
- Great performance tonight by Benson Henderson
as he earns a unanimous decision victory
over Myles Jury,