UFC 139 is only hours away, and in the main event we will see Mauricio “Shogun” Rua knock Dan Henderson out in the first round. This is going to be a lopsided fight, with Shogun dominating for the few minutes we get to see these two fight.
Shogun has a variety of ways to knock Henderson out. He has powerful punches, great knees and punishing leg kicks. Shogun knows how to finish a fight early, and he will get the chance to do so early in this fight.
Henderson has been knocked down in the first round of each of his last two fights. Feijao Cavalcante, and Fedor Emelianenko both found ways to get him down, but they couldn’t finish him. When Henderson goes down in this fight he won’t be getting back up, as Shogun knows how to finish him.
It is not a question of if Henderson will go down, the question is when. Henderson is a bulky fighter who used to wrestle. His style of fighting has become swing hard in case you hit him, and while he does have a very strong right hand, he will not be able to hit Shogun.
In his latest fight against Forest Griffin Shogun looked much quicker and more agile than he did in his loss to Jon Jones in February. Shogun came out slowly against Jones because he had had a long layoff period, but he is in better shape now.
Shogun will be quick enough to avoid Henderson’s hard punches, and when Henderson leaves himself open Shogun will be able to hit him hard enough to knock him down. That will spell the end for Henderson.
If Henderson can’t land a few hard punches early in the first round he will surely fall to Shogun in the main event. Not only will he lose, he will be embarrassed in a first round knockout.
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