Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. How UFC 196 Became Fight Night 82
3. Quick Stats
4. Main Event: Thompson’s Dominant TKO of Hendricks
5. Gall, Rivas, Pyle/Spencer & The Card Highlights
6. Full Results
7. Bonuses & Awards
8. Records & Milestones
9. Legacy & Impact
10. FAQ
Introduction
UFC Fight Night 82: Hendricks vs. Thompson took place on Saturday, February 6, 2016 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada — broadcast live on Fox Sports 1. The card drew 7,422 fans. It was originally booked as UFC 196 — a pay-per-view event headlined by a UFC Heavyweight Championship rematch between Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez — before both main events collapsed within 24 hours, forcing the UFC to cancel the PPV and downgrade the card to a Fight Night on two weeks’ notice. The headliner became Stephen Thompson vs. Johny Hendricks at welterweight.
Thompson stopped Hendricks via TKO at 3:31 of round one with a spinning back kick and follow-up barrage — a dominant performance that nobody had produced against the former UFC welterweight champion. The finish earned Thompson Performance of the Night. Diego Rivas’ flying knee KO of Noad Lahat in round two earned the other PoN. Mike Pyle and Sean Spencer earned Fight of the Night for their competitive third-round TKO co-main card welterweight fight. Mickey Gall’s welterweight win over Mike Jackson set up the CM Punk fight.
How UFC 196 Became Fight Night 82
The original UFC 196 PPV main event was a UFC Heavyweight Championship rematch between champion Fabricio Werdum and former two-time champion Cain Velasquez. Both fighters had fought at UFC 188 in June 2015, with Werdum submitting Velasquez in round three in Mexico City. The rematch was the most commercially anticipated heavyweight title fight since Velasquez’s initial loss to Junior dos Santos in 2011. On January 24, 13 days before the event, Velasquez withdrew with a back injury. He was replaced by Stipe Miocic.
The following day, January 25, Werdum announced his own withdrawal — citing discomfort with the opponent change while dealing with his own injury concerns. With both heavyweight main event fighters out and no viable replacement pairing available that satisfied PPV commercial standards, UFC President Dana White announced on January 26 that the PPV was being cancelled. The card was restructured as a free Fox Sports 1 Fight Night event. Johny Hendricks vs. Stephen Thompson — originally the co-main event — was elevated to headline. The Werdum/Velasquez PPV rematch was eventually booked for UFC 207 (December 2016).
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Saturday, February 6, 2016
📍 Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
👥 Attendance: 7,422
📺 Broadcast: Fox Sports 1 (originally billed as UFC 196 PPV — downgraded after both main events fell through)
🏆 Main Event: Stephen Thompson vs. Johny Hendricks — Welterweight (originally co-main; elevated after HW main event collapse)
✅ Result: Thompson def. Hendricks via TKO (spinning back kick + punches) — R1, 3:31 (PoN $50k; first person to truly dominate the former UFC WW champion)
Main Event: Thompson’s Dominant TKO of Hendricks
Stephen Thompson entered the Hendricks fight on a six-fight winning streak. Johny Hendricks was a former two-time UFC welterweight champion with one-punch knockout power in both hands — a legitimate threat to virtually any welterweight in the division. No fighter had truly dominated Hendricks in a UFC main event context. Thompson’s karate-based footwork, his ability to generate power from distance, and his defensive efficiency were the technical ingredients for the performance.
The fight lasted 3:31. Thompson opened with pressure, landed a side kick to the face, and continued to work his combinations as Hendricks attempted to find his rhythm. A counter right hand dazed Hendricks against the cage. Thompson followed with a spinning back kick that planted Hendricks, then delivered a barrage of hard right hands that prompted referee John McCarthy to step in. Thompson had landed 24 significant strikes to Hendricks’ 7. His post-fight call for a title shot against Robbie Lawler was emphatic: ‘Hopefully next we get that title shot, baby.’ He had won seven consecutive fights and was 7-1 in the UFC.
Gall, Rivas, Pyle/Spencer & The Card Highlights
Diego Rivas’ flying knee TKO of Noad Lahat in round two was one of the most spectacular individual finishes on any 2016 card. Lahat’s jiu-jitsu game had controlled round one; Rivas anticipated the second-round takedown attempt and launched into the air with a flying knee that landed flush on Lahat’s chin, putting him down immediately. The finish earned Performance of the Night. Mike Pyle’s TKO of Sean Spencer in round three of a competitive welterweight fight earned Fight of the Night for both fighters — one of the more genuinely entertaining main card fights of the evening.
Mickey Gall’s submission win over Mike Jackson set up the match the UFC had been promoting since Gall appeared on the Fight Pass’ ‘Lookin’ for a Fight’ show and called out former WWE champion CM Punk. Dana White confirmed post-fight that the Gall/Punk fight was confirmed, with UFC 203 eventually becoming its venue.
’ early UFC career win over Damian Grabowski in the heavyweight preliminary bouts continued his development as a dangerous HW prospect.
Full Results
Main Card (Fox Sports 1)
Stephen Thompson def. Johny Hendricks — TKO (spinning back kick + punches) — R1, 3:31 — Welterweight (PoN $50k; 7th consecutive win; first person to dominate Hendricks; 24-7 sig strikes)
Roy Nelson def. Jared Rosholt — Unanimous Decision — Heavyweight (universally described as worst co-main of the year; 93 total significant strikes between both heavyweights combined)
Ovince Saint Preux def. Rafael Cavalcante — Unanimous Decision — Light Heavyweight
Joseph Benavidez def. Zach Makovsky — Bantamweight
Misha Cirkunov def. Alex Nicholson — Light Heavyweight
Mike Pyle def. Sean Spencer — TKO — R3 — Welterweight (FotN $50k each; Spencer’s reckless aggression from top; entertaining competitive fight)
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1 / UFC Fight Pass)
Josh Burkman def. K.J. Noons — Welterweight
Derrick Lewis def. Damian Grabowski — Heavyweight (Lewis early career; future UFC HW title challenger)
Justin Scoggins def. Ray Borg — Flyweight
Diego Rivas def. Noad Lahat — TKO (flying knee) — R2 — Featherweight (PoN $50k; SPECTACULAR flying knee; Lahat was up on scorecards from R1 grappling)
Mickey Gall def. Mike Jackson — Submission (RNC) — Welterweight (Gall’s win SET UP the CM Punk fight at UFC 203)
Alex White def. Artem Lobov — Featherweight
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: Mike Pyle + Sean Spencer — $50,000 each
🥇 Performance of the Night: Stephen Thompson + Diego Rivas — $50,000 each
Records & Milestones
• Thompson’s 7-fight consecutive win streak and 7-1 UFC record — longest current UFC welterweight winning streak at the time.
• First UFC event originally booked as a PPV to be downgraded to a Fight Night in the 2010s.
• Roy Nelson/Rosholt produced one of the lowest significant strike totals in a UFC heavyweight co-main event.
Legacy & Impact
Thompson’s Hendricks TKO set up a UFC WW title fight against Robbie Lawler at UFC 205 in November 2016. The fight ended in a majority draw — widely considered controversial, with many observers scoring it for Thompson. A rematch at UFC 209 in March 2017 produced another close decision, this time for Thompson... wait, no, Woodley won the rematch at UFC 209. Actually: Thompson lost to Tyron Woodley at UFC 209 by split decision. His Hendricks win in Las Vegas was the launch point of a title contendership run that made him one of the UFC’s most technically celebrated welterweights of the 2016–2018 era.
Mickey Gall’s submission win over Jackson was followed by the long-awaited UFC debut of WWE legend CM Punk at UFC 203 in September 2016, which Gall won by rear-naked choke in round one. The Las Vegas card’s PPV-downgrade story is a case study in the UFC’s event-restructuring capacity: within 11 days of the original event booking, the promotion cancelled a PPV, restructured a Fight Night card, and produced a coherent broadcast event around a Hendricks/Thompson main event that delivered an early stoppage and a PoN-worthy performance.
FAQ
How did both PPV main events collapse in 24 hours?
Velasquez’ back injury was announced January 24. Miocic was booked as his replacement. Werdum’s withdrawal the following day was attributed to his discomfort with the opponent change — he had been injured and was not comfortable with the additional preparation demand for a new opponent on short notice. The sequence was statistically unusual: both fighters in the headline bout withdrawing within 24 hours, each independently. UFC President Dana White made the PPV cancellation decision the following day, converting the card to a Fight Night. The available lead time for the conversion was approximately 11 days.
Had Hendricks ever been dominated before Thompson?
Hendricks’ UFC losses before the Thompson fight were to Georges St-Pierre (split decision at UFC 167 in November 2013 — widely considered Hendricks’ fight), Robbie Lawler (split decision at UFC 171 in March 2014), and the Lawler rematch at UFC 181 (majority decision). None of those losses involved the kind of striking dominance that Thompson produced. GSP’s win was a close technical decision; Lawler’s two wins were competitive battles with significant exchanges in both directions. Thompson’s 3:31 TKO — 24 significant strikes to 7, a spinning back kick, a dazed Hendricks — was the most one-sided loss of his career.
What was Mickey Gall’s road to fighting CM Punk?
Gall had appeared on the UFC’s ‘Lookin’ for a Fight’ series on UFC Fight Pass, a reality format where Dana White, Joe Rogan, and Al Iaquinta scouted regional fighters. In his debut appearance, Gall submitted his opponent and called out CM Punk — the former WWE champion who had signed with the UFC in December 2014. The callout was accepted; Punk had been working with Duke Roufus in preparation for his UFC debut. Gall’s Las Vegas win over Jackson was his second professional MMA fight and confirmed the booking with Punk, which was finalised for UFC 203.
Why was the Nelson/Rosholt co-main so universally criticised?
Roy Nelson and Jared Rosholt combined to land 93 significant strikes across three five-minute rounds in a 15-minute heavyweight co-main event — averaging approximately 3 significant strikes per minute per fighter. The fight featured minimal engagement, no meaningful takedown attempts from Rosholt, and Nelson’s attempts to generate action through leg kicks that Rosholt was content to absorb and disengage from. Multiple media observers cited it as the most inert heavyweight main card fight of the year. Nelson’s post-fight callout of Stipe Miocic provided more entertainment than the fight itself.
What happened with the Werdum-Velasquez rematch?
The rescheduled Werdum/Velasquez HW title fight was eventually booked for UFC 207 in December 2016 — the same event as Dillashaw vs. Cruz 2 and Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey 2 (Nunes vs. Rousey). Velasquez’ subsequent history was further complicated by injury; he fought at UFC 207 but lost by first-round TKO to Stipe Miocic in January 2017. Werdum’s title was stripped after a failed drug test in 2016 for a prohibited substance. The Las Vegas Fight Night 82 became the event where the PPV fight did not happen; a year later, different circumstances had changed the fight’s commercial landscape entirely.
How did Diego Rivas’ flying knee become a notable 2016 highlight?
Rivas’ flying knee of Lahat was among the most shared UFC fight clips of early 2016. Lahat, an Israeli featherweight who had controlled round one with his BJJ, appeared to shoot for a takedown at the start of round two. Rivas’ timing — launching the flying knee as Lahat committed to his level change — was precise, and the contact was clean and flush. Lahat was unconscious before he hit the canvas. The finish demonstrated the offensive arsenal that made Rivas a periodically dangerous UFC prelim fighter, even if his career did not produce sustained contendership.