Anthony Pettis survived champ Benson Henderson's early clinch work against the cage, and then he went to work, himself. Pettis landed kick after kick to Henderson's rib cage, and when the fight hit the canvas, he latched onto the champion's right arm.
From there, the finish was quick – and surprising, because Henderson didn't tap. He had to verbally submit to the armbar with 29 seconds left in the first – and the Ultimate Fighting Championship had a new lightweight champion who got it done in front of his hometown crowd.
The lightweight title bout was the main event of Saturday's UFC 164 pay-per-view at Milwaukee's Bradley Center.
Henderson (19-3 mixed martial arts, 7-1 UFC) pressured Pettis (17-2, 4-1) right away and drove in to push him against the cage. The champion went after a single-leg takedown and worked to try to trip Pettis to the canvas. Eventually, Pettis worked his leg free to put the fight back to the center.
Henderson again came inside with a left hand and went after a takedown. But again, the hometown favorite defended – but ate an uppercut on the way out. Henderson went right back to the clinch, where he kicked at Pettis' calves.
With about 90 seconds left, Pettis landed a solid right kick to the body for his best strike of the round, then came back with five more to the same spot.
With a minute left, Pettis tried one of his "Showtime"-style moves, but Henderson put him on his back. And that would prove to be his undoing. Once there, Pettis quickly worked for an armbar – and that was it. The official time of the stoppage was 4:31 of the first round.
Pettis' road to the UFC lightweight title was a rocky one. He took Henderson's World Extreme Cagefighting title in that promotion's final event in December 2010. Henderson, went on to win the belt in the UFC and defended it three times. But Pettis had to work through a loss to Clay Guida to eventually regain the top contender spot – only to decide to drop to featherweight to challenge Jose Aldo.
UFC 164: Full play-by-play
That fight never took place at UFC 163 thanks to a short-lived Pettis injury. But T.J. Grant, Henderson's original challenger for Saturday's card, had to pull out of the title fight – and Pettis got his shot, and a shot in front of his home fans in Milwaukee.
"When I had to pull out against Jose Aldo, my dreams were crushed," Pettis said. "I thought I was never going to get a title shot. But you can't write a better story."
Maybe you can, though – and maybe Pettis already is trying to do that. He was quick to call out featherweight champ Aldo, saying the two should pick which belt to fight for and meet for a title.
Henderson, who kept his right arm inside his shirt after the fight, said he'll work his way back.
"I'll be back, don't worry about that," Henderson said. "Anthony's a tough dude. He proved himself to be the No. 1 contender, and proved himself to be the champ. He got my arm ... with a high-level armbar. The strategy was to put pressure on him – he's not as good going backward. The kicks he hit me with that were pretty good were while he was coming forward."
In the UFC 164 co-main event, former heavyweight champion Josh Barnett returned to the organization for the first time since 2002 and stopped fellow former champ Frank Mir quickly in the first. And in a key featherweight bout, former title challenger Chad Mendes won his fourth straight by knockout since his title-fight loss to Aldo to inch closer to another shot at the champion.
UFC 164 results:
Anthony Pettis def. Benson Henderson via verbal submission (armbar) - Round 1, 4:31
Josh Barnett def. Frank Mir via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 1:56
Chad Mendes def. Clay Guida TKO (punches) - Round 3, 0:30
Ben Rothwell def. Brandon Vera via TKO (punches) - Round 3, 1:54
Dustin Poirier def. Erik Koch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
Gleison Tibau def. Jamie Varner via split decision (29-28, 27-29, 29-28)
Tim Elliott def. Louis Gaudinot via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
Hyun Gyu Lim def. Pascal Krauss via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 3:58
Chico Camus def. Kyung Ho Kang via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Chico Camus def. Kyung Ho Kang via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Soa Palelei def. Nikita Krylov via TKO (punches) - Round 3, 1:34
Al Iaquinta def. Ryan Couture via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Magnus Cedenblad def. Jared Hamman via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 0:57
John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Milwaukee. Erickson and Morgan write for MMAjunkie.com, a USA TODAY Sports Media Group property.
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