Arman Tsarukyan demolished Benson Henderson.
On Friday, Tsarukyan and Henderson faced off in a grappling match at Absolute Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 18 in Moscow, pitting the former UFC lightweight champion against the current No. 1 lightweight contender. And in this battle of eras, the new school completely dominated.
Check out Tsarukyan putting Henderson to sleep below.
At 28 years
old, Tsarukyan is 13 years younger than Henderson, and that age gap was extremely apparent from the outset as Tsarukyan appeared to be moving at twice the speed of “Smooth.” He established dominant position almost immediately and proceeded to overwhelm Henderson with submission attacks, chaining front headlocks into D’Arce attempts with ease, and occasionally mixing in a kimura attack. A well-regarded BJJ black belt, Henderson was able to defend Tsarukyan’s attacks but generated no offense of his own, merely surviving.
Ultimately that didn’t last as, with time winding down, Tsarukyan set up an arm-triangle choke, jumping across Henderson’s body to lock it in. Henderson battled but finally went to sleep, causing the referee to end the match with just over a minute remaining.
Following the bout, former UFC fighter Mairbek Taisumov walked onto the mat and faced off with Tsarukyan, setting up a future grappling match between the two.
