Tag: Renato Babalu Sobral

Filed under: Strikeforce

Put away the rocking chair, Dan Henderson is not ready for the retirement home just yet. Writing Henderson off was the instinct of some fans and media after Henderson’s last fight, saying he’d gotten old fast and that his days as an elite fighter were gone for good.

Even in this sport where we’re usually forced to come to conclusions based on 15 minutes of observation — and often less — it was a severe overreaction.

As long as Henderson brings his thunderous right hand, his granite chin and wrestling pedigree, he’ll have the opportunity to be in any fight. Just ask Renato “Babalu” Sobral, who tried and failed on a takedown try, and paid for it by eating a series of hellacious right hands that turned his lights out in less than two minutes in the main event of last night’s Strikeforce show.

Filed under: Strikeforce

The legacies of Dan Henderson and Renato “Babalu” Sobral are practically written. The former won championships in two divisions in PRIDE, while the latter captured Strikeforce’s light-heavyweight championship. At 40 and 35 years old, respectively, it’s safe to assume most of their careers are behind them.

With time no longer an ally to either man, it seems more critical to capture the opportunities that come. And Saturday’s Strikeforce matchup may be a golden one; company CEO Scott Coker has said it’s likely the winner would earn an opportunity against reigning 205-pound champ Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante.

Henderson (25-8) is coming off a five-round decision loss to then-middleweight champ Jake Shields, just before Shields defected to the UFC. Instead of sticking around at 185, Henderson opted to move up a class, where weight-cutting is no issue, and chase their belt. Because of his name value and history of success, apparently it’s only going to take one win to leapfrog everyone else in the division.