Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua…think about this fight for a moment, but take the time to think about this one.
Transport yourself back to December 23th, 2002, picture yourself conducting a pre-fight interview with Henderson as he was heading up to the ring in Fukuoka, Japan, preparing for one Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and ask that past version of Henderson about if he could imagine facing Rua one day for the UFC.
If you’d asked Hendo about a fight with Shogun on that date, you might be lucky just for Henderson to know that Shogun debuted in the sport one month prior, but what if you’d asked him on October 21, 2006 when he fought Vitor Belfort on the same night that Rua would defeat Mark Coleman?
The truth is that the headliner between Hendo and Shogun, topping off a stacked night of fights in the UFC’s debut in San Jose, is one of those bouts that we all wished for at one time, but never thought would surface in the era where both men were arguably at their best.
Rest assured, though, that that time has finally come, and both men will do battle in what should be a modern MMA classic.
In addition to this main event, it’s a battle of two Middleweights—the newly-signed former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le, and the legendary former PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva—in what might be best described as a “do or die” fight for the PRIDE legend.
Also, Urijah Faber feels he got shafted at UFC 132 in the decision that cost him a UFC Bantamweight title, but before he can focus on Cruz, he has to get past the man Cruz beat for the belt in Brian Bowles.
Finally, Martin Kampmann and Rick Story have been on notable tears in the past, but recently, Story suffered his second Octagon defeat by unanimous decision to late-replacement Charlie Brenneman, while Kampmann lost another ridiculously terrible decision—this time to Diego Sanchez, who many felt lost the fight against Kampmann.
All this, plus Stephan Bonnar’s battle of the abs with Kyle Kingsbury, the very first televised fight of Michael McDonald’s UFC career against Alex Soto, and a whole lot more, as this is UFC 139: Shogun vs. Henderson live (blog coverage) and direct from your home for the pound-for-pound best Mixed Martial Arts news coverage anywhere online, Bleacher Report MMA!
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