The three stars of 'UFC Fight Night 42: Henderson vs. Khabilov' in Albuquerque

A solid UFC Fight Night 42 main card raised expectations for a strong event in the organization’s first visit to Albuquerque, N.M.

At the end of the night, some of those expectations were met while others were not. Three fighters on the card did stand out above the rest, though, and delivered memorable performances inside Tingley Coliseum.

With that in mind, here are the three stars from UFC Fight Night 42.

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Third Star: Rafael dos Anjos

Rafael dos Anjos (21-7 MMA, 10-5 UFC) has come a long way from the man who was notorious for being a Jeremy Stephens highlight clip. In fact, he’s now one of the best 155-pound fighters in the world and proved why again on Saturday with a strong effort against a very respectable Jason High.

Dos Anjos’ ground game speaks for itself, but against High it was his striking that got the job done as he used a diverse muay Thai attack to pick his shots until the opportunity for a stoppage present itself in the second round.

The Brazilian has just one loss in his most recent seven-fight stretch. That came to Khabib Nurmagomedov in a result that is forgivable because of the talents possessed by “The Eagle.” Dos Anjos has shown improvements since that fight and if he can continue to shut down fighters like High, he’ll be back in the octagon with a top-five fighter in no time.

Second Star: John Dodson

John Dodson (16-6 MMA, 5-1 UFC) may have solidified his place as the next UFC flyweight title contender with a convincing stoppage of John Moraga in main-card action.

A dangerous combination of speed, power and outright athleticism makes Dodson a difficult puzzle to solve for anyone. Moraga made little inroads in solving that puzzle before he was hit with a crushing knee that instantly had his nose gushing blood and forced the doctor to stop the contest between the second and third rounds.

Dodson gave current 125-pound champion Demetrious Johnson a run for his money in their bout in January of this past year before “The Magacian” lost a very close decision. Since then, he has improved dramatically. Johnson has been essentially untouchable since capturing UFC gold; however, Dodson has shown the potential to possibly be his Kryptonite.

First Star: Benson Henderson

It was hard to fully appreciate Benson Henderson‘s (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) winning performance against Rustam Khabilov in the UFC Fight Night 42 main event due to the shocking decision in the Diego Sanchez vs. Ross Pearson fight just minutes before.

Now that a little time has passed and the dust has settled, it’s not hard to recognize Henderson’s showing as the best of the night. Not only did “Smooth” mostly upstage his Dagestani foe, but he did it with style points en route to a fourth-round submission victory.

The heavy criticism of Henderson since he joined the UFC in 2011 has been his inability to win fights in a decisive manner, be it by decision or stoppage. He put a stamp on Khabilov and began to shake that stigma with his first finish in more than four years.

Henderson still has the unfortunate problem of being stuck in no-man’s land at 155-pounds because of two losses to current titleholder Anthony Pettis. A third fight soon is highly unlikely, but if Henderson keeps winning, he’ll be in a great position to get the first crack if “Showtime” is dethroned.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 42, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

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Check out the recap of UFC Fight Night 42:

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