UFC Fight Night blog: Henderson topples Thatch, wins by submission

Former lightweight champion Benson Henderson stepped up on short notice to fight in a heavier division than he ever had before Saturday in Colorado, against surging welterweight Brandon Thatch. Though it wasn't easy, Henderson came from behind and overcame youth and size to take Thatch down and choke him out in the fourth round of their main event on FOX Sports 1.

In the co-main event, Max Holloway won a unanimous decision over Cole Miller in an exciting and bloody battle. Look back at all the action, play by play, and let us know your favorite fight!

The size difference is stark as the fight begins. Henderson doesn't seem scared by it at all, however, as he comes out strong with good feints and kicks.

Henderson and Thatch trade big body kicks. Thatch lands a big right punch to follow up. Thatch backs Henderson up against the cage and Henderson knocks him down with push kick!

Good inside leg kick from Henderson. Good right body shot to Thatch but the Colorado kid charges back at him with his own body shots.

Thatch lands a kick and then a knee to the head of Henderson. Henderson lands a nice right hand to the gut, and then another leg kick, to end the round.

Round 2

Henderson looking to duck under strikes from Thatch and look for takedowns but can't get a grip on the waist or legs. Henderson trips up Thatch with another leg kick and then lets another body shot rip.

Spinning back kick from Thatch lands to the body of Henderson. Nice one-two head punch combo from "Smooth." Henderson fakes a takedown, then lands a jab and uppercut.

Thatch lands a straight right hand and then a body kick. Both men going hard and often to the body.

Thatch gets ahold of Henderson and tosses him to the ground like a rag doll. Thatch lands a straight and then an uppercut to the head of Henderson. 

Thatch lands another takedown in the form of a trip. Henderson back to his feet and misses a couple punches at the end of the round.

Round 3

Henderson lands a lead, snapping kick to the head and then a right hook. Thatch still stalks forward, ducking out of the way of punches with his head movement. 

Henderson lands an inside leg kick. Henderson ducks under and gets a body lock but lets go.

The former champ now presses Thatch against the cage, looking for takedowns. 

Henderson drops down and gets the takedown and then the back of Thatch with just under three minutes left in the round! Thatch has both his hands on Henderson's right, to prevent it from coming up under his chin and working in a rear naked choke.

Thatch has a good mouse under his right eye. Henderson locks up a figure-four lock with his legs and turns to face the mat as Thatch turns and faces the mat.

Henderson on the back, on top with under a minute left. Thatch turns back around and Henderson maintains his control.

Henderson switches to an armbar attempt that looks good but Thatch escapes and stands!

Round 4

Thatch looks tired and has a bruise on each eye but begins the fourth round stalking Henderson. Benson lands a nice punch to the head.

Thatch lands a couple knees to the body and a left hook from the clinch. On seaparation, Henderson bends over for a single-leg takedown that is defended.

Thatch lands a right hand and then a knee to the head! Henderson lands another right uppercut to the body of Thatch. Henderson lands a leg kick. 

Stiff jab to the face and a double-leg takedown land from Henderson! Henderson passes Thatch's guard with ease and once more takes his back!

Thatch turns in to escape but Henderson stays on top, then stands and punches from behind on the turtled-up Thatch.

Thatch is bleeding badly from his nose and stands. Henderson takes Thatch's back again and drags him to the ground.

Henderson locks in the rear naked choke and gets the submission win!

Official Decision: The fight ends at 3:58 of the fourth round due to submission, for Henderson.

Holloway landing early with leg kicks. Both exchange range-finding missed strikes before Holloway lands a body kick.

Miller lands a leg kick of his own. Holloway lands a nice jab to the face, and Cole lands a knee to the body.

Holloway clinches up with Miller as he presses him against the cage, and lands knees. Miller attempts to jump guard but Holloway refuses to follow him to the ground.

Holloway lands a right hand and Miller returns fire by clinching up and landing knees to the body and an elbow. With 40 seconds left, Holloway gets a takedown but Miller goes for a kneebar.

Holloway stands up and Miller rolls for another attempt. Holloway keeps his right leg bent and out of danger while landing some light punches.

Round 2

Leg kick from Miller as a counter to a jab from Max. Both miss with spinning kicks.

Miller lands two more leg kicks. Holloway lands a jab to the jaw.

Miller lands a left hook to the head at the end of a punch combo exchange. Miller shoots in for a takedown, then pulls guard to attempt an ankle lock.

Holloway stands up and retreats out of danger. Holloway lands a spinning back fist and then a left hook.

Holloway lands an accidental head butt that cuts Miller over his left eye. The cut is bad and blood is streaming into Cole's eye.

The action re-starts and both lean into each other with looping punches. Miller lands an inside leg kick and Holloway lands a right punch.

Cole lands a right body kick, and then another inside leg kick. The two clinch up against the cage with under a minute left. 

Miller lands another leg kick and Holloway lands a flying knee to the body. The cut is clearly bothering Miller.

Holloway finishes the round with a takedown. After the end of the round, Miller complains to the referee that Holloway head-butted him for a second time.

Round 3

Holloway begins punching to the body at the start of round three. Miller continues to drop his lead arm when Holloway throws his straight right.

Holloway rushing Miller with punches and then Cole falls backwards after a trip attempt from the Hawaiian.

Cole lands another inside leg kick and then Holloway punches his way into the clinch. Max lands a big uppercut to the chin and then a straight left that lands.

Holloway picking his shots now. Miller lands his own straight right to the face.

Holloway ducks under a straight from Miller and Max lands a flush straight punch to the jaw of Cole that rocks him. Miller presses Holloway against the cage and looks for a takedown.

Miller pulls guard with under a minute left. Holloway lands a couple body punches and then stands back up.

Cole bleeding badly as he stands back up. Holloway misses with a spinning back kick and falls on the ground.

Miller capitalizes and ends the fight with a big punch to the head of the downed Holloway.

Official Decision: Holloway gets the unanimous decision win with scores of 29-28 (twice) and 30-27. Jon Anik reveals that the UFC wants Holloway to fight Cub Swanson on April 18 and Max appears to be all for it.

Neil Magny (13-4) vs. Kiichi Kunimoto (18-5-2) Round 1

Magny lands a snapping kick-punch combo and then clinches up with Kunimoto against the cage. Magney hits Kunimoto low, maybe, but it's enough to make Herb Dean stop and give the Japanese welterweight time to recover.

Magny lands a big right knee after the action resumes. Kunimoto changes levels and works to take Magney down against the cage.

Magny defends well, though Kunimoto continues to work for the takedown. Now, Magny turns Kunimoto around and presses him against the cage while working a right underhook and several knees to the body.

Magny lands more knee and then lands a punch combo to the head on separation. They go back to the clinch, with Magny pressing the visitor against the cage.

Round 2

Magny comes out firing in round two with punches. Kunimoto recovers well and gets a takedown and scores shots from inside the guard of Magny!

Magny takes his lumps but stands up and lands huge punches that hurt Kunimoto! Magny gets a takedown, and Kunimoto works for a Kimura shoulder lock from his half guard.

Kunimoto turns his back and Magny gets his back with under 20 seconds left and Magny unloads punch after punch!

Kunimoto survives the round and the horn sounds.

Round 3

Round three starts with Magny all over Kunimoto once again! The Colorado resident backs Kunimoto up with punches, and then takes him down.

Once on the mat, Magny takes the Japanese rival's back, and locks in the rear naked choke to secure the submission win.

Official Decision: Neil Magny gets the win in his home town via rear naked choke submission at 1:22 of the third round.

Dan Kelly (8-0) vs. Pat Walsh (5-2) Round 1

The two middleweights start out winging looping punches at each other. Walsh fighting with his hands completely down, from the start.

Walsh seems to be landing more solid shots. Kelly lands a good left hook to the jaw of the Bostonian.

Walsh stuns Kelly with another punch. Kelly still throwing back but is back-peddling. Kelly's mouthpiece comes out and the ref stops the action to let him put it back in.

Kelly hits Walsh when the action resumes, and appears to hurt him with the punch. The total strike count appears to be virtually even.

Walsh attempts another takedown but Kelly defends it. 

Kelly lands a good leaping jab to the face of Walsh. The round ends with Kelly pressing Walsh against the fence.

Walsh continues his hands-down approach, and Kelly continues to mostly attempt to counter lead shots delivered by Walsh. When he does throw his jab, Kelly is finding success.

Walsh relying on bobbing, weaving and head movement for defense, with his hands down. Kelly starting to land more jabs. Commentator Brian Stann points out that Kelly got out to Colorado and its elevation earlier than Walsh, which could be why he appears to be the slightly fresher man at this point.

Kelly lands another straight. This is Kelly's best round of the fight.

Kelly ends the round with a one-two punch combo to the head.

Official Decision: The judges score the fight for Kelly by scores of 29-28 (twice) and 30-27.

Prazeres closes the distance quickly and takes Lee's back right away. Lee defends and stands up. 

Eventually, he turns and escapes the choke hold. On the feet, Lee starts to use his reach advantage and land a stiff jab.

Prazeres lands a body kick but falls to the ground. Lee lets him up and lands another shot.

Prazeres closes the distance again and gets a takedown. Lee gets up and Michel gets another one.

Lee stands up and gets his own takedown off of a body lock! Prazeres eventually gets up but eats a right hand from Lee.

Lee times a punch from Michel and scores another takedown. Lee lands strikes from inside the full guard until the horn sounds and the round ends.

Michel once more presses Lee against the cage looking for a takedown. He eats a ton of elbows to the head and body for his effort, before Lee separates and gets free.

Michel shoots again but doesn't get it and Lee pot-shots with punches. Lee stays on top of a turtled-up Prazeres and hits him with shots with under a minute left.

Michel gets up but is dragged down to the mat with half a minute left in the fight. Lee takes the BJJ black belt's back and works for a rear naked choke with seconds left.

Prazeres survives and the fight ends and will go to the judges. "He was a lot tougher than I expected him to be," Lee said of Prazeres in his post-fight interview.

Official Decision: Kevin Lee wins by unanimous decision.

Borg presses Kelades against the cage and then scores a takedown. Kelades working a high guard but he's up against the fence so he can't get his hips engaged well to truly threaten with submission attempts.

Borg passes to half guard but then Kelades reverses position and ends up in side mount. Borg gets back to his feet, gets a double leg, passes to side mount and locks up an arm triangle.

The round ends and Kelades is saved by the bell!

Borg is right on Kelades at the start of round two, with a takedown. Kelades threatens with armbars off his back but Borg defends.

Borg gets the back of Kelades but Kelades turns out and gets his open guard. Borg gets an in-arm guillotine attempt but Kelades defends.

Borg pressing against the cage and locks on another guillotine choke and sweep at the horn.

Borg jumps all over Kelades again in the final round. The young flyweight gets top position.

From on top, in Kelades' half guard, Borg locks up a Kimura shoulder lock. Kelades resited, but Borg moved his left knee to the neck of Kelades, and continued to torque the lock and force the submission!

Official Decision: The beard-less Adam Martinez calls a stop to the fight in favor of Borg via submission at 2:56 of the third round.

Lots of feints and missed strikes from both men. Escudero lands a huge overhand right that hurts the Brazilian!

"Monstro" comes back hard with takedown attempts and gets Efrain to the ground. Escudero gets back up and gets free.

Big uppercut and left hook from Escudero hurt the Brazilian but de Lima gets back on Escudero, pressing him against the cage. De Lima gets another takedown and is on the American wrestler again, as the round ends.

Escudero lands a crisp punch combo to the head. De Lima reaches down for a single-leg takedown.

Efrain defends but de Lima is back on him, pressing him against the cage. De Lima can't get another takedown and falls backwards to the mat.

Escudero capitalizes on de Lima not staying connected and properly pulling guard, and the American unloads big punches to the head.

Escudero is piling it on now. The Brazilian isn't controlling the limbs or posture of Escudero at all, as he apparently tires.

Escudero continues to land strikes from inside the full guard as the round ends.

De Lima eats more shots to the head and then Escudero lands a takedown. From inside the full guard, Escudero lands more shots to the body and head.

Escudero continues his onslaught and de Lima can't get up, as he's pinned against the cage. Escudero lands short elbows as time runs out. 

Official Decision: Escudero wins a unanimous decision over the ungodly tough de Lima.

The two featherweights come out swinging. Alers catches a leg kick from Skelly and takes him down. 

Alers locks on an ankle lock, but Skelly scrambles out. Alers retains top position but Skelly locks on his own leg lock.

Alers escapes and stands up. They trade big punches, but Skelly lands two big right hands that hurt Alers.

The round ends with Alers pressing Skelly against the cage.

Skelly comes out aggressive, landing more huge punches on Alers. Alers is hurt.

Skelly then works for a takedown, against the cage. A short overhand right on separation lands for Skelly.

Skelly looking fatigued, despite fighting well, and bends over for a single-leg attempt. Alers gets free.

The round ends with  Skelly dropping Alers with punches, and then landing an illegal knee to the head that the ref misses. The ref does call a halt to the fight, though, just before the horn. 

Alers was definitely out of it and the fight needed to be stopped, but the referee also missed a blatantly illegal knee to a downed opponent, right in front of him.

Skelly implores the UFC to supplement his likely meager income with a performance bonus after his impressive stoppage win. "I need a bonus," he yelled after his post-fight interview.

"I'm broke!"

Official Decision: Skelly wins by TKO at 4:59 of the second round.

Oh, you thought the "Moonwalker" top was bad ass? Sorry, it's got nothing on the referee's fairytale longbeard/mutton chops combo.

We are live. Pfister wastes no time charging in and looking for the takedown against the cage, but Moontasri lands a knee to the body and defends the attempt.

Moontasri hurts Pfister with a knee to the head but the Boulder fighter recovers and resumes looking for a takedown against the cage. Moontasri lands another knee to the body of Pfister while defending the takedown.

Moontasri lands a spinning attack to the chest, then a flying knee to the head! Pfister is hurt and down on all fours. He stands but is wobbly and taking punishment in this, his UFC debut.

Pfister scores a takedown but "Moonwalker" is right back up to his feet. A chant of "Cody! Cody!" start up with a minute left. Pfister is on all fours, looking for a takedown and eating punches to the head.

Pfister mixing up strikes this round, instead of shooting for takedowns. Moontasri gets Cody on the ground after landing another knee, however, and then takes his back.

Moontasri looks for the rear naked choke, Pfister defends but the German-born Tae Kwon Do fighter works in another attempt, and this time gets the tap-out!

"I'm just glad I was able to put on a good performance for everyone," Moontasri tells Jon Anik.

Turns out the UFC newcomer worked out with Anderson Silva during his training camp. Pretty cool.

Official Decision: Moontasri wins by rear naked choke at 1:49 of the second round.

Does every referee tonight have a Lord of the Rings-worthy beard? Bravo, Tom Johnson.

Elliott lands a big punch but Zach scores a takedown, and begins to work from inside his full guard. Elliott works for a reverse straight arm lock off the bat, and Zach defends. 

Elliott uses an overhook and butterfly guard to stand up and Zach briefly grabs a hold of a front head lock, before letting go. Zach soon scores another takedown.

Zach looking for an "I" choke, now from the North-South position, but Elliott gets back to his feet. 

Big straight left lands to the chin, for Zach, then he lands another takedown. Another arm bar attempt from on bottom from Elliott but Zach defends and passes to side mount and then crucifix.

Tons of punches and elbows landed for Zach from the crucifix! Elliott can't escape but time runs out.

Zach looks for the takedown again, from the start. Elliott defends gamely but ultimately gets put back down to the mat.

Elliott gets to his knees and then to his feet, while using an overhook. Elliott lands an uppercut to the face of Zach.

Elliott sprawls to defend a takedown, then pulls guard to go for a guillotine. He loses that then takes top position looking for another arm-in choke. 

Zach reverses Elliott and gets top position again. Elliott and Zach trade punches on the ground and then the bottom man gets back up to his feet.

From there, he stalks Zach and wildly throws and lands punches. Zach ducks under a punch and lands another takedown.

Referee stands the two up for no reason with seconds left in the round. Zach shoots again and Elliott sprawls at the horn.

Zach scores right away with another takedown. Elliott is pressed against the cage.

Zach works to side mount, then leg weave, then mount, before taking the back! Elliott stands and slams himself backwards to try to dislodge Zach, but it doesn't work.

Elliott then tries to roll forward to spike Zach on his own head, but the wrestler stays glued to the wild man's back. Zach looking for the rear naked choke but Elliott fights his wrists well to defend, with two minutes left.

Zach using a figure-four lock from behind, and then transitions up to on top before Elliott tries to stand up. Zach keeps him down and takes the side mount. 

Elliott stands up from a turtled up position, lifts Zach up over his head and then slams him backwards. Zach looks stunned, and Elliott gets on top!

He looks for a guillotine choke from on top, does not get it but ends the fight on top.

Official Decision: All three judges score the fight for Zach with scores of 29-28.