Josh Thomson will face Ben Henderson at UFC on FOX 10 on January 25th, 2014 and while its not the title shot he was hoping for before Anthony Pettis was forced out of their UFC on FOX 9 bout due to injury, he feels like the challenge from Henderson will be bigger than that of the current UFC Lightweight Champion. He spoke to Bloody Elbow about it:
“In our gym, we kind of train the same, five days a week. The only thing I’d kind of change is I’ll focus more on the things I want to do when I spar. When I’m sparring, I’m focusing on the things I need to do to win that fight. Not much really changes from the Pettis to the Henderson fight. For me personally, stylistically, Benson is more of a threat than Pettis was. Not to mention that this is the opportunity to fight someone that has been the champ for the last couple years. For me, I think Benson has the bigger name. Not to take anything away from Pettis, but Henderson has been more active over the last two years, so there was no way I could pass on this opportunity. Benson is so well rounded. Honestly, it’s like I’m looking at myself in a mirror, fight-wise, just with a left handed person. He offers everything from the grappling to the wrestling, the clinch work, the takedowns; it’s gonna be a tough fight. At any moment, the pace of the fight can change and go anywhere. With Pettis, you know he’s going to pretty much try to keep it on the feet the whole time. He’s not going to try and mix it up. Gil is sort of the same way. They’re kind of set in their ways on how they train and the focus on the things that they do. That’s worked for a lot of guys in their careers. Look at Randy Couture; he made a living off that, just punching in the clinch, pressing them up against the fence and taking them down.”
