Bellator 160 results: Benson Henderson earns victory on Patricio Pitbull injury

The outcome in the main event of Bellator 160 on Friday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California was as bizarre as it was expected. That is, betting favorite Benson Henderson earned the win over former Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire, but how it happened left as many questions as answers.

With a noticeable size difference in favor of Henderson, the former UFC lightweight king started round one by backing up Freire early. After that, though, he did virtually nothing. Henderson spent almost the entire first round corralling Freire around the cage, but threw with such infrequency that the Brazilian, backing up and circling against the fence, clearly outstruck the American, albeit with his own lack of volume.

Round two appeared to be a continuation of the first until things took an abrupt turn. Freire caught a kick from Henderson, turned him into the fence and landed a few strikes before backing out. Once he did, however, he seemingly signaled to referee John McCarthy that something was wrong. McCarthy, seeing Freire walk toward the cage and away from the fight, immediately waved it off at 2:26 of the second frame.

According to the Spike TV broadcast of the event, Freire may have broken his shin in the first round on one of Henderson’s checks of the Brazilian’s leg kicks.

“I knew for sure when I checked two of his kicks, if you watch the replay, he backed away, right away, immediately,” Henderson said post fight to Bellator commentator Jimmy Smith. “We worked on checking kicks after the Anderson Silva whole thing, that was kind of popular. Everyone was working on checking kicks. So I was definitely working on checking kicks. I didn’t think I’d ever end a fight by checking a kick. I guess I’ll take a W where I can get it.”

The …

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