Henderson handles Diaz to stay unbeaten in UFC

SEATTLE - If Benson Henderson's goal was to prove he can finish opponents at the highest levels of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's lightweight division, he came up short against Nate Diaz on Saturday night.

That was the only measuring stick by which Henderson was anything short of spectacular in the main event of the UFC on Fox 5 card at KeyArena.

Henderson retained the lightweight belt and improved to 6-0 with six decision victories since joining the organization. It was a dominant victory in which he won all five rounds over Diaz.

The card also featured two of the top young talents in the organization securing victories over former champions to become legitimate title contenders.

Rory MacDonald, 23, brutalized BJ Penn's face and body for three rounds to move up the welterweight ranks, and 25-year-old light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson likely earned a title shot with a unanimous decision over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Despite criticism of his lack of finishes, Henderson said before the fight he'd be satisfied to win even by his opponent slipping on a banana peel. But the only things making Diaz fall to the mat were punches, kicks and takedowns by Henderson.

"We all fight to end fights. We all fight aggressively," Henderson said. "We matched up pretty well, and it went my way and I'll take it."

He left no question who the best lightweight in the world was on this night. Henderson controlled Diaz in the clinch against the cage early and used leg kicks to never let the volume puncher get in any sort of offensive rhythm. He also crushed Diaz early with an overhand right that blew up the challenger's eye.

"I didn't perform how I wish I could have," Diaz said. "I caught a punch in the eye pretty early in the fight, and things were blurry and never came back. I was waiting for it to recover, and when it did I was going to come back strong and it never did. Ben was great. I did what I could."

It was the second successful title defense for Henderson.

MacDonald battered Penn in a similar manner, though most of his damage was done in the striking game. MacDonald obliterated Penn's midsection during a brutal stretch in the second round and took the fight out of the former two-division champion.

MacDonald got so comfortable in the cage that he began showboating, drawing harsh boos from the crowd, which seemed to view the actions as disrespectful to a longtime superstar. MacDonald said he meant no disrespect.

"When I look across the octagon at someone, it's just a body to me. Legend or not," MacDonald said.

He hoped the fight put a rest to the ugly rivalry that was sparked by an unusual amount of prefight trash talk.

"With all the things we said to each other hyping the fight, I just want to say that it has been a huge honor fighting BJ. I'm happy with my performance and the new techniques I used successfully out there," MacDonald said. "I'm disappointed that I couldn't get the finish, but not everything can go according to plan."

Gustafsson's win over Rua was not as one-sided, though he won all three rounds against his toughest opponent to yet.

"It was just my night tonight," Gustafsson said. "It was an awesome fight, and it was such an honor to fight a legend like Shogun. I want the belt. I want to fight whoever has it."

The great comeback story of Mike Swick suffered a setback when Matt Brown knocked him cold midway through the second round to kick off the main card on Fox. Brown, who won his fourth straight bout, blasted Swick with a right hand to end the fight. Swick's head bounced off the cage as he fell.

Yves Edwards, Daron Cruickshank and Abel Trujillo recorded knockouts on a thrilling preliminary card.

Bantamweight Scott Jorgensen had the only submission of the night, choking out John Albert with one second left in the first round. Ramsey Nijem, Raphael Assuncao and Dennis Siver all won by decision.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.