UFC 139 Thoughts Part 1: A Legendary Fight

I wonder if Dana White regrets not promoting UFC 139 harder during the UFC on Fox. In the chaos around the network debut and Brock Lesnar’s return next month, this show seemed to get lost in the shuffle. It’s a shame really, as it was one of the best cards in terms of action in quite some time and it provided one of the greatest and most brutal fights of all-time in its main event.

Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua waged an absolute war against each other. It was the type of fight that has to rank highly in the pantheon of great fights in the sport’s history; the heart, damage taken, and brutality unleashed by each man would have been enough to stop another fighter in their tracks. Instead, this went a full twenty-five minutes and set the bar for five round non-title main events impossibly high for any others to follow.

The fact that Henderson won a unanimous decision or that I and many others scored it a draw is immaterial. When two fighters put on the type of performance displayed in their bout, no one really loses. Both men really gain in the eyes of the fans. They each took the best of what the other had to offer and were still standing at the end, albeit with the help of their respective cornermen.

My fiancee’s brother often watches the fights with us and while he doesn’t seem to mind them, this had to be the first fight that I ever heard him openly state he enjoyed. If I recall correctly, he said it was the best he had seen and it seemed to make him a fan of both men. That is the essence of a great fight. For me, I’ve watched hundreds of fights over the years and I would be hard pressed to name more than a few fights that are in the same class as this one. There are fights with big knockouts, submissions, or comebacks, but in terms of fights that go the distance or close to it, you can’t do much better than this one.

In the first round, Shogun looked like he was dead meat after reeling from one of Hendo’s massive right hands. Somehow he responded by dropping Henderson. In the second round, Shogun looked to be on weary legs as he fought his way through more of Hendo’s massive bombs. By the halfway point of the fight, Shogun was on the ground in the turtle position in an attempt to avoid having his skull plastered to the mat from Hendo’s hammerfists. It was at this moment I thought the fight was going to be stopped, but somehow Rua responded with a heel hook that nearly caught Hendo. In the fourth round Shogun caught Henderson with a right that put him on spaghetti legs, but somehow he couldn’t get the finish. In the fifth, it was a stunning display of dominance as Shogun had Henderson mounted and rained down blows for the entirety of the round. It was a tremendous display of strength by the obviously gassed Henderson to avoid a TKO or submission loss in the last two rounds after spending so much energy and power pounding on Shogun through the first three. For Shogun the fact he made it to the end, much less finished strongly after taking an absolute beating in the beginning of the fight was just unbelievable. I said it already, but the onslaught both men dished out would have finished any other fighter. This isn’t an exaggeration either. I don’t care if you’re Jon Jones or Anderson Silva. No human being could endure the punishment they went through. If you haven’t seen this fight you need to do so immediately.

I wrote last week that I was looking forward to this fight and expected it to be great. I certainly didn’t expect to witness the best fight I’ve ever seen live. It was reminiscent of the wars both men were capable of in PRIDE, the only difference being that PRIDE ended five years ago and Henderson is now 41, while Shogun has been fighting on bad knees for years. I didn’t think that Shogun was capable of having a fight on par with the one he had against Little Nogueira in 2005 and I didn’t think any human being could survive the barrage Rua lets fly when he goes for the kill like Hendo did.

People calling for an immediate rematch between the two are crazy. After this fight, they shouldn’t face off again unless it is for a title. Besides, there is no way that a second fight can possibly top this one. Fans should just appreciate this fight and what they went through rather than expect more. Of course, it appears that even Shogun wants to do it again, so shows what I know. With that being said, what should come next for Hendo and Rua?

Dan Henderson: Has Hendo’s value ever been higher? And has he ever enjoyed a better twelve month span in his career? He’s gone from being considered done as an elite fighter after losing to Jake Shields in his Strikeforce debut to having a legitimate claim as the number two light heavyweight in the world. It is clear that 205 lbs. is where Hendo should be. I’ve heard some people calling for him to take on Rashad Evans in a title eliminator, but I think that Henderson’s next fight should be for the title. Evans was unable to compete at UFC 140 due to an injury, but wants to fight again rather than wait for the title shot. He’ll be ready in the next few months to fight, but Hendo certainly won’t. No one knows what is going to happen with Jones/Machida either, so pitting Henderson and Evans against each other could create a situation where there are not enough viable contenders for a large portion of the year. Besides, Dan is getting to the age where he won’t have very many runs at the title left in him. A fight between the crafty veteran with the nuclear right hand coming off a legendary fight and either the dominant young champ or the enigmatic karate master seems like it would be an easy fight to sell people on. While he would have to be considered an underdog against both men, after the year he’s had I wouldn’t count him out against any opponent.

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua: I think that Shogun proved a lot in this fight, mainly that he was clearly nowhere near physically ready for the Jon Jones fight this past March. In that fight, his body betrayed his heart and he could barely move. In the Henderson fight, he kept coming forward and fighting. He even showed some of the grappling that I discussed before the Jones fight, utilizing great trip takedowns and working for a rear naked choke and nearly ending the fight with a heel hook. Rampage Jackson originally wanted to fight Rua at UFC 144 in Japan this February, but Shogun looks like he is going to be too busted up to fight that soon. It’s a shame, as I would really like to see that fight. The fight I would go with is against the winner of Tito Ortiz and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. I originally thought that the winner of that fight should go against Stephan Bonnar, but it appears there is another fight in the works for “The American Psycho.” Putting Shogun against Nogueira or Ortiz provides him a resilient name opponent that he should be able to defeat while the rest of the top level fighters in the division sort themselves out. Other than that, there aren’t really any other interesting fights available to him. It seems like everyone else around him in the rankings has an upcoming fight.

That’s it for Part 1 of the UFC 139 recap. I’ll discuss the rest of the card and its winners tomorrow.

UFC 139 Predictions

This Saturday ends another autumn streak of UFC shows with UFC 139, the fourth weekend in a row of fights. Late September/early October had a similar run and it is alternately awesome and tiring (and expensive). I said this about UFC 137 and it turned out to be incorrect, but this should be an exciting night of fights. It’s headlined by a battle between top 5 light heavyweights and PRIDE veterans Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson in what could establish the next number one contender for the title. The co-main event is an interesting fight between fading star Wanderlei Silva and karate expert Cung Le. The other fights on the main card all look to have the potential to be entertaining as well. Let’s delve into them.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Kyle Kingsbury: Bonnar is a journeyman fighter still hanging around due to his performance in the first season of the Ultimate Fighter. Kingsbury is a younger guy that lost in like the eighth season of that show. This fight doesn’t really have much relevance, but I assume the goal is to get Kingsbury a win over a ‘name’ opponent to establish him at light heavyweight or get Bonnar into a fight after nearly a year off. Kingsbury’s resume doesn’t seem too impressive and Bonnar is usually a pretty tough out who is usually in fairly entertaining scraps. I’m going to say that Bonnar wins by decision.

Martin Kampmann vs. Rick Story: This welterweight bout features two fighter who could conceivably be two to three fights away from title contention. Kampmann is coming off two consecutive controversial decision losses while Story is coming off a loss to Charlie Brenneman that ended a six fight winning streak. This is very much a “striker vs. grappler” match, with Kampmann being the kickboxer and Story being the wrestler. I like Kampmann, but I don’t recall him having particularly strong takedown defense and Story was able to take down Thiago Alves fairly easily. This one could be dull if it is just takedown, takedown, takedown. Story by decision.

Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles: This is likely a title eliminator, with the winner getting another shot at Dominick Cruz’s Bantamweight Title at some point next year. A Faber win would be better for business, but I don’t know that either man can beat Cruz. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bowles fight but I do know his only loss is to Cruz. I didn’t think Faber looked particularly impressive in his fight against Eddie Wineland and was too tentative against Cruz. I will probably cheer for Faber since he’s pretty likeable, but I think it is going to be Bowles by decision.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung Le: This fight was originally supposed to be Vitor Belfort taking on Cung Le, but he withdrew due to injury. The UFC fans buying the show may not be familiar with the 39 year old Le, but the live audience in San Jose will love him because of his affiliation with Strikeforce since its days as a regional promotion in the area. Le only has 9 (8-1 record) fights to his record and each one of them has ended by a knockout. This one should be no different. Popular opinion seems to be that Wand’s aggression will be too much for Le, who needs to set up and establish range and distance in order to employ his style of Shan Shou karate. I love Wanderlei and his willingness to throw down, but he doesn’t have a chin against guys with knockout abilities. While seeing Wanderlei revert to his PRIDE days and beast on someone would be incredible and he deserves an exciting win in what has been a poor showing for him in his UFC career, I don’t think it happens. I think Le stays away from Wand’s wild flurries throughout the first and settles in in the second. At that time, it will be Cung Le by 2nd Round KO.

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson: I am ridiculously excited for this fight. Hendo always seems to bring it when he fights at light heavyweight (much more so than at middleweight) and Shogun never phones it in. This one is going to come down to whether or not Shogun can get him early and if his knees are repaired enough for him to potentially make it through a war of attrition. We know Henderson can go five rounds; Rua’s endurance is questionable due to the poor condition of his knees. If he is limping or dragging his legs, Hendo will just wear him down and win a decision. If he can strike early and pounce, it could be Shogun’s night. I don’t think Rua can win a decision unless he is lights out in the first three rounds. His cardio isn’t as solid as Hendo’s. I tend to think that Rua will put on a gutsy performance and have some moments early on, but Henderson will weather the storm like he does (he is damn nigh impossible to finish) and will use some of his clinch work and wrestling to wear down Rua and either win a decision or finish late. Either way, I expect it to be a pretty good fight. Henderson by 4th round TKO.
There you have it. Feel free to leave your picks here or on facebook.

Victory in Defeat and Victory in Victory: Two Nights in the Career of Dan Henderson

Dan Henderson is a legend in the sport of MMA. He’s faced off against nearly every legendary name that has mattered in the past decade, with the exception of his close friend and former trainer Randy Couture and his upcoming UFC 139 opponent Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. His most noteworthy accomplishment is being the only man to hold two titles in different weight classes concurrently, when he held both the PRIDE 185 lbs. and 205 lbs. titles. As great as that run was, which was highlighted by Hendo advancing the decline of Wanderlei Silva, the most intriguing part of Dan Henderson’s career has been his willingness to foray into the heavyweight waters despite being incredibly undersized for that division.

The first trip into the heavyweight division was at PRIDE 24: Cold Fury 3 on December 23, 2002. The opponent was PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira. The fight was originally booked as Nogueira against the rising heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, but Fedor pulled out on two weeks’ notice due to an injury. Stepping in as the surprise replacement was Henderson. For anyone to come in against Nogueira on such short notice was akin to having a death wish. At this time Nogueira was a world beater, coming in on a nearly three year winning streak over heavyweight titans like Mark Coleman, Heath Herring, the monstrous Bob Sapp, and Semmy Schilt. Henderson was coming into the fight off a split decision win over Murilo “Ninja” Rua and a split decision loss to Ricardo Arona. He would also be giving up around forty pounds, as he weighed in at 195 lbs. to Nogueira’s 235 lbs. The combination of Nogueira’s submission skills (having submitted nine of his last twelve opponents) and size were figured to overwhelm Henderson.

What happened instead was stunning. Not only did Henderson not go away easily, he held his own for the bulk of the fight. In the first round, Henderson managed to wobble Nogueira with his vaunted overhand right. While he couldn’t stop Nogueira’s takedowns, he shocked the fans in attendance by working and fighting his way out of Nogueira’s submission attempts. Eventually, Nogueira’s size advantage proved to be too much and Henderson succumbed to an armbar in the third and final round. Even though he lost the fight, Dan Henderson gained a great deal of respect. Aside from his decision win against Heath Herring two years before, no one had pushed Noguiera into the last round and certainly no one withstood the amount of submission attempts Minotauro threw out there. Coming in on such short notice and pushing the world’s best heavyweight while competing at a weight befitting the next down and lasting as long as he did showed everyone that Dan Henderson was no easy out, no matter the circumstances.

Fast forward eight and a half years to July 30, 2011. Dan Henderson has been on a renaissance of sorts in Strikeforce, winning the promotion’s light heavyweight crown. With a lack of contenders and a need for big fights, Strikeforce presented Henderson with a fight he had suggested when he signed with the company in 2009: the legendary Fedor Emelianenko. While some of the luster was lost on this fight due to Fedor coming off back to back losses after having not legitimately lost a fight in his entire ten year career, it was still an intriguing match-up. Fedor was viewed as the favorite partly due to his legendary career and also due to the fact that he would be weighing close to 230 lbs. compared to 206 lbs. for Henderson. This difference would effectively nullify the strongest part of Dan’s game, the clinch. Coming into the fight Fedor had only been stopped by submission and a doctor stoppage, which meant some doubts were cast as to whether Hendo’s nuclear missile of a right could put him down.

Fans who tuned into this fight were treated to one of the wildest first rounds in MMA this year. Both men threw caution to the wind and went at it in a wild slugfest. Fedor struck first, dazing Henderson with one of his trademark looping hooks. Henderson recovered however and dropped the advancing Fedor with a left uppercut and landed several unanswered blows, prompting referee Herb Dean to stop the fight with less than 50 seconds in the round.

With the finish, Dan Henderson earned the biggest win of his entire career and continued his improbable run at 205 lbs. If he manages to beat Mauricio Rua at UFC 139 a shot at either Anderson Silva’s middleweight belt or Jon Jones’ light heavyweight title could be on the horizon. Whether its a rematch with the greatest fighter of all time or a battle with the new, physically dominant future of the sport, Dan Henderson will again have to play the giant killer.

2005: The Year Shogun Rua Was The Baddest Man In The Land

Current UFC fans know Mauricio “Shogun” Rua as the foil for Lyoto Machida and as one of the fighters to push Chuck Liddell into retirement. He has often been described as a deadly striker and one of the best in the world, but his record in the UFC has been a pedestrian 4-3 (but one bad decision away from 5-2). While the killer instinct is still there, his knees are not and fans are instead treated to a solid light heavyweight instead of the beast that was advertised upon his arrival to the UFC in 2007. For people who want to see that they need to go back to the 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix, when Shogun Rua was the most lethal fighter on the planet.

One of the greatest things about PRIDE FC was their annual tournaments. It started in 2000 with the Heavyweight Grand Prix won by Mark Coleman and became even more popular with the 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix won by Wanderlei Silva. With the 2003 tournament being such a success, in 2005 PRIDE went back to the middleweight (205 lbs.) division for that year’s Grand Prix. This year’s incarnation featured top name fighters such as PRIDE Middleweight Champion and reigning Grand Prix winner Wanderlei Silva, his blood rival Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Dan Henderson, Ricardo Arona, Alistair Overeem, the UFC’s Vitor Belfort, and the upstart Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. While Silva was the top dog in the division at the time, his 24 year old Chute Boxe teammate Rua was ripping through the ranks and a lot of the pre-tournament hype centered on a potential fight between these two. For that to happen, both men would have to make it through some fierce competition and advance to the finals of the Grand Prix.

Shogun’s first opponent was Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who was coming off a controversial split decision loss to Shogun’s brother Murilo “Ninja” Rua and a vicious second round knock out loss to Silva in his second attempt to claim the Middleweight Title. It would not take two rounds for Rampage to meet the same fate against Shogun. From the onset, Rua unloaded with punches and vicious Muay Thai kicks that broke Jackson’s ribs early in the fight. After about four minutes of fighting Rampage was curled up in the corner of the ring, where he ate multiple soccer kicks to the face and chest before the referee put a stop to the fight. Never before had Rampage been beaten so violently and so easily. At the time, it was the biggest win of Shogun’s young career and it established him as a force to be reckoned with.

If the Jackson fight showed that Shogun’s striking was effective against even top level wrestlers, his next fight showed his stamina, ability to withstand punishment, and mix up his offense in a fight. Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira was also undefeated in PRIDE heading into this second round match with Shogun. His opening opponent was the dangerous Dan Henderson, who he submitted by an armbar in the first round. The battle between Rua and Nogueira would be not only the best fight of the entire Grand Prix, but one of the greatest brawls of all time.

The first round of this fight is arguably the greatest first round in the history of MMA. It marked the first time Shogun had ever been knocked down, coming after a hard right from Minotoro. Shogun unveiled an ability to utilize clinch takedowns, which he did throughout the fight. Once he got Minotoro on the ground, he attempted his vaunted foot stomps and soccer kicks, which Nogueira was able to somehow withstand. After three rounds of back and forth action that saw both men rocked by massive blows, takedowns, and submission attempts and escapes, Shogun Rua advanced with a unanimous decision victory.

After the hard fought victory over Nogueira, Rua faced a new test in the 6’5” monster Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem. Overeem had decisively won his fights against Vitor Belfort and Igor Vovchanchyn by utilizing the guillotine choke in the first round in both. With his submission skills and highly regarded kickboxing, Overeem came into this fight looking like a worldbeater. Unfortunately for Overeem, his dominating run came to an end. Shogun withstood the early offense from the Demolition Man with little damage before he unleashed a barrage of strikes. It culminated with Rua sitting on top of Overeem’s chest unloading hammerfists to the face. It prompted a TKO stoppage at 6:42 of the first round. Rua advanced to the finals of the Grand Prix that took place that same night.

His opponent was Ricardo Arona, who earlier that night defeated Wanderlei Silva by decision. It was Silva’s first loss at 205 lbs. in nearly six years and it only served to highlight the Brazilian rivalry between Silva and Rua’s Chute Boxe camp and Arona’s Brazilian Top Team. Despite Silva’s stunning defeat, the night would still belong to Chute Boxe. Arona, like most of Brazilian Top Team, was known for his strong jiu jitsu and grappling. Striking was by far the worst part of his game. Unfortunately for Arona, his fight with Shogun ended up being a stand-up affair. Rua dispatched him in brutal fashion, knocking him out in less than three minutes.

His run through this tournament and continued success in PRIDE over the next two years is the main reason that Rua was considered the top light heavyweight in the world when he came to the UFC. Despite the injuries that have robbed him of the explosiveness he contained during his PRIDE run, Shogun remains a tough out and owner of the best finishing skills of any fighter not named Anderson Silva. At UFC 139 we’ll see if he can put those talents to use one more time when he takes on the always difficult Dan Henderson.

PRIDE Comes Alive At UFC 139

Evidently, someone at Zuffa reads my constant hypothetical matchmaking. After the UFC on Fox card was announced with the main and co-main events I (and many others, to be fair) suggested and paired Overeem and Lesnar together for UFC 140 (or 141), the new main event for UFC 139 was revealed. Originally the main event was announced as Vitor Belfort vs. Cung Le (now Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung Le), an interesting bout but one that is completely irrelevant and unworthy of headlining a pay per view card. Now, in a battle of former PRIDE stars and current top ten light heavyweights, Dan Henderson will be facing off against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

This is a huge fight that should be exciting for several reasons. For starters, they never faced each other in PRIDE, where both men plied their craft for years. It’s weird, as it seems like almost every possible combination of 205 pounders faced off at one point or another there. The chance to see two legends of that organization face off is, for lack of a better word, amazing.

Tying into this is the fact that not only are they both legends of the sport, but Hendo and Shogun are both still relevant in the sport. Henderson is the current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and most recently moved up in weight to defeat the legendary Fedor Emelianenko, while Shogun just beat Forrest Griffin in the first round and is two fights removed from being the UFC Light Heavyweight Title. This isn’t Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva, where both men had seen better days in their careers and the main purpose of their bout was nostalgic. This fight between Shogun and Rua could set one of these men up for a title shot next year against the winner of Jon Jones/Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans.

Last but not least, this should be a good fight, definitely one that is worthy of main eventing a pay per view card. While I always thought Hendo was boring in his most recent UFC stint (excepting his crushing of Michael Bisping at UFC 100), I think most of that can be attributed to fighting at middleweight, where he has always looked a bit sluggish. His PRIDE and Strikeforce stints at light heavyweight have been much more exciting. At 205 lbs., he is no longer “Decision” Dan and is instead “Hollywood” Henderson. He is a little small for that weight, but he makes up for it by fighting at a faster pace and utilizing a nuclear right hand to devastating effect. One only needs to see that he has won his last three fights by KO or TKO for proof of that. On the other side, Shogun is one of the most devastating and electric strikers in MMA history. He has possibly the best finishing instincts the sport has ever seen. Regardless of whether or not he is healthy, he shows up to fight. Really, that’s true of both men. Neither of them ever phone it in and that’s why this should be a great fight.

Early betting odds show Shogun as a slight favorite, which surprises me. Neither man has ever been KOed in their careers and Shogun’s knees still don’t look quite right to me. His technical advantage in striking is nearly nullified by the fact that Hendo’s right hand could kill a rhino and he will be at a clear disadvantage in grappling and cardio. I personally think that its more of a toss up, as if Shogun catches him early he will finish him. Fedor and Calcavante, two recent Hendo opponents, rocked Dan but didn’t pounce fast enough. Rest assured, that will not be the case if Rua connects. If I had to pick a winner right now, I would go with Henderson. He’s been on a roll over the past year and a half and even though he is considerably older than Shogun, he is in much better physical condition. I would lean towards him winning a decision or wearing Shogun down and finishing him in the third or fourth round. Either way, this should be a great fight that I know I can’t wait to see.