5 Brutal UFC squash matches

#3 Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks – UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar – 11/15/08

This is a classic squash match because of its brutal finish

From a pair of surprising squashes to one that was totally expected, at least by yours truly. Gonzaga was coming off another squash win over Tito Ortiz’s buddy Justin McCully, but before that, he’d been finished violently by both Randy Couture and Fabricio Werdum. Before that though was his now-legendary head kick knockout of Mirko Cro Cop.

Hendricks was a newcomer to the UFC on a ten-fight win streak. Impressive, sure, but none of his opponents came close to being on the level of Gonzaga and while I hadn’t seen any of Hendricks’s wins, I had seen his last loss – a knockout at the hands of TUF 2’s Tom Murphy, who hadn’t exactly set the world on fire during TUF.

Hendricks was talking a good game, mentioning how Gonzaga had seemed to fold against Couture and Werdum, but he was no Randy Couture.

After some early exchanges and feeler strikes, Gonzaga landed a crushing right hand that dropped Hendricks hard, and really, the fight should’ve been over from there. If the referee had stepped in, then the fight probably wouldn’t have been such a memorable squash, to be honest.

Instead, Steve Mazzagatti, who is notorious for stopping fights late and pulling off various gaffes in the cage, stood and watched as Gonzaga delivered another hard right hand to the downed Hendricks. This time ‘Napao’ even looked at the Mazz as if expecting him to step in.

Still, he didn’t, and so Gonzaga landed a third shot that stiffened Hendricks up like he’d been shot. Mercifully, it was over.

This one to me is a classic squash because of the brutality of the finish, the lateness of the refereeing job from the Mazz, and also because it showed that a ten-fight win streak on the regional scene – unless it’s in a Bellator or WSOF-level promotion – doesn’t mean much when you’re in with a UFC monster like Gabriel Gonzaga.