Henderson checked in at 155 pounds, as he prepares to defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight crown against Anthony Pettis (154.5) in the UFC 164 main event on Saturday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Heavyweight co-headliners Frank Mir (248) and Josh Barnett (255) also cleared their final pre-fight hurdle at Friday’s official weigh-in.
Sherdog Fantasy MMA: UFC 164 Free Fan Pick’EmPettis, a replacement for the injured T.J. Grant, was the last man to defeat Henderson. He earned a unanimous decision over “Smooth” at WEC 53 in December 2010, the win bringing with it the World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight championship. A protégé of former world kickboxing champion Duke Roufus, Pettis has not competed since he wiped out Cerrone with a vicious body kick at UFC on Fox 6 in January. The 26-year-old Milwaukee native has emerged as one of the sport’s most dynamic offensive fighters, having secured 13 of his 16 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission.
UFC 164 “Henderson vs. Pettis 2” -- which airs live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT -- will also feature a heavyweight scrap pitting Ben Rothwell (262) against Alliance MMA’s Brandon Vera (241) and a pair of featherweight tilts, as Team Alpha Male’s Chad Mendes (145) locks horns with Clay Guida (146) and American Top Team’s Dustin Poirier (145.5) squares off with Erik Koch (145).
Two hours prior, Fox Sports 1 will carry four preliminary matchups: Jamie Varner (156) vs. Gleison Tibau (155), Louis Gaudinot (125) vs. Tim Elliott (125.5), Pascal Krauss (170) vs. Hyun Gyu Lim (171) and Chico Camus (135) vs. Kyung Ho Kang (136). The three remaining undercard bouts will stream to the UFC’s Facebook page at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, as Soa Palelei (265) meets Nikita Krylov (236), Ryan Couture (156) confronts Al Iaquinta (156) and Jared Hamman (185.5) faces Magnus Cedenblad (185).