In less than 24 hours, UFC 139 will be live from San Jose, CA.
Headlining the event will be former UFC light heavyweight champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua taking on former Pride and Strikeforce champ Dan Henderson.
Henderson and Rua are perhaps the last two Pride greats who have something left in the gas tank.
Despite being 41, Henderson has looked great since leaving Pride. He’s gone 6-3 with his only losses coming to Anderson Silva, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Jake Shields in title bouts.
Rua, on the other hand, has been hot or cold since leaving Pride.
With a UFC record of 4-3, all of Rua’s wins have come by knockout.
His losses, on the other hand, usually come after he’s been injured or on a long layoff.
The exception, of course, is his first title bout with Lyoto Machida.
On the other hand, Rua barely got past Mark Colman at UFC 93.
Rua faced the former UFC champion after being out for over a year to deal with a knee injury.
Despite picking up a TKO victory, Rua once again did not look like the Shogun from Pride.
Rua was visibly exhausted by the third round and could have easily lost to a man who was 17 years older than him, and two years removed from the sport.
Rua was in a similar situation when he faced Jon Jones earlier in the year.
Of course, that fight did not go so well for Rua.
His next bout against Forrest Giffin did though, as Rua came into the bout healthy and motivated as he was fighting in his home country of Brazil.
This is exactly how Rua will have to be if he is going to get past Dan Henderson.
Rua is one of the most dangerous fighters in MMA history.
But thus far in his UFC career he has shown that once he’s coming off of injury or a long layoff, he is a shell of his former self.
Thankfully for Rua and his fans, he is not dealing with either one. Rua should be healthy and ready to go.
And if history has taught us anything, a healthy Rua could mean a KO victory in his favor.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com