Fighters to Watch in the Second Half of 2011

Lightweight: Ben Henderson

On August 14, Henderson will help determine what becomes of the cluster of UFC lightweight contenders. His bout with Jim Miller holds the key to either clearing up the congestion or adding another car to the crumpled heap of challengers piling on one another after each event.

The reason I chose Henderson and not Miller is simple: if Miller wins, he fights for the title and we start sorting out the rest of the wreckage. It’s an entirely different matter if Henderson wins.

A win for the former WEC champ catapults him into a small group of fighters patiently waiting to see what happens next. Along with Melvin Guillard, Clay Guida, and Dennis Siver, Henderson would have to play wait and see while the UFC makes some decisions about the division.

He’s got the talent to pull off the upset. His wrestling is solid, his cardio is top notch, and his striking has steadily improved over the last few years. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s a decedent of Gumby, a lineage that makes him impervious to submissions.

Anthony Pettis got the lion’s share of the attention when the WEC lightweight joined the UFC roster, but it’s Henderson who already has a win in the Octagon under his belt and a chance to earn his way into contention with second serving of victory next month.

Featherweight: Hatsu Hioki

One of these days, a fighter is going to come over from Japan and live up to the hype. Everyone coming to the UFC from the Japan circuit has long since passed their prime. Or maybe they were never that good to begin with. The pressure is on Hioki to be that fighter.

A perennial top 5 featherweight, the former Shooto and Sengoku champion holds wins over Bellator tournament semifinalists Ronnie Mann and Marlon Sandro, and a pair of victories over UFC 129 title challenger Mark Hominick. At age 27 and boasting a 12-1-1 record over his last 14 fights, Hioki is firmly entrenched in his prime and the best hope for reversing the trend of underachieving Japanese imports.

If that weren’t pressure enough, there is the added onus of being the lone man many feel could possibly beat reigning featherweight champion Jose Aldo. As a new addition to the UFC, the 145 pound ranks aren’t exactly overflowing with proven commodities, which explains Kenny Florian’s one-fight climb to the top of the list of contenders.

Hioki, however, has proven his mettle, albeit outside of the organization. He shouldn’t be more than a win or two away from championship contention, which makes his fall debut all the more important.

Joseph Benavidez

Bantamweight: Joseph Benavidez

I want to start a milk carton campaign with a picture of Benavidez on the side since it seems like just about everyone has forgotten about the second best bantamweight in the world.

Yeah, I said it. And you’re not going to argue, because you know I’m right.

Benavidez has lost twice in his career, but only to one man. The trouble is that said man sits atop the bantamweight division. With a pair of losses to Dominick Cruz already on his resume, Benavidez currently resides in “Rich Franklin Territory,” forced to beat up everyone else with only slim hopes of getting a title shot.

A win over Eddie Wineland on the next UFC on Versus event in August would be his third straight, and would put him in line for a title shot under normal circumstances. But he’s not operating under normal circumstances.

The twist in all this is that the second the UFC rolls out the flyweight division, Benavidez becomes the best flyweight on the roster. Knowing that fact, you’d think he would get featured a little more; help build his name so that when he moves to 125 pounds and vies for the title there, fans will know the division’s elite in advance.

For now, he’ll keep on racking up wins while being mired in anonymity and a state of permanent contender purgatory. Hopefully that changes some time soon; Benavidez is too talented to be relegated to undercards and Facebook fights.