After UFC 139’s main event between Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua that has already been hailed as an instant classic, one has to ask if maybe a rematch is the best thing for all parties involved.While everybody can agree that it was a great fight, the de…
After UFC 139‘s main event between Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua that has already been hailed as an instant classic, one has to ask if maybe a rematch is the best thing for all parties involved.
While everybody can agree that it was a great fight, the decision will probably be disputed for a long time. Dan Henderson got the nod on all the scorecards of all three official judges at ringside, but the outcome was far from clear in the minds of so many fans and observers.
Many fans felt that Rua deserved at least a 10-8 final round that would have resulted in a draw for his stirring comeback effort. UFC President Dana White echoed that sentiment saying that he had the fight as a 47-47 draw.
Whatever your opinion on the actual scoring of the fight, I’m sure we can all agree that another five rounds of that wouldn’t hurt. In fact, another five rounds of that would be pretty awesome.
But is there a better alternative for either fighter or the UFC?
Dan Henderson appears to be very close to a title shot against either Anderson Silva or Jon Jones, but both champions already have more interesting challengers lined up with Chael Sonnen at middleweight and both Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans at light-heavyweight.
If Henderson waits for a title shot he will presumably have to wait around at least seven or eight months, which is a long time for a 40-year-old.
Outside of a title fight, there isn’t really any other super-interesting angle for Henderson other than Rua. Fights against Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin might be intriguing, but with both coming off one-sided losses, now isn’t the best time.
Fights with up-and-comers like Mo Lawal, Gegard Mousasi and Phil Davis could be competitive, but none of them would provide a particularly marketable angle for the UFC.
The same scenarios apply for Rua. To me, there are only two fights that interest me for Rua, and they are rematches against Quinton Jackson and Dan Henderson.
Given that the Henderson fight was far more competitive than Shogun vs. Jackson, I’ll take the Henderson rematch.
The other thing that I’d say is that the UFC would be wise to strike when the iron is hot.
When Quinton Jackson first fought Forrest Griffin, people were extremely excited about a rematch, but it never came together. If they fought now, much of the intrigue surrounding that belt has disappeared, especially considering how Griffin seems a shell of his former self.
Furthermore, at 40 years old, if Dan Henderson doesn’t have this rematch now, he probably never will.
Yes, he’d be risking his title shot, but it’s a risk well worth taking. For everybody involved.
The path to UFC 139 began in 2007 with the acquisition of Pride, continued in 2010 with the absorption of World Extreme Cagefighting, and was finished in 2011 with the purchase of Strikeforce. The six fighters in the top three fights from Saturday night’s card all came to the UFC from those business moves.
Pride never died, the WEC never died, and Strikeforce never died. At least they all still seemed alive at UFC 139.
The main event was a classic, with former Pride and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson beating former Pride Middleweight Grand Prix champion Shogun Rua. This was exactly the type of bout that fight fans hoped we’d see inside the Octagon when the UFC purchased Pride: A brutal, bloody battle between two Pride stars that had all the best elements of the Pride glory days.
But it was more than just that. It was Wanderlei Silva, perhaps the greatest of all the Pride stars to sign with the UFC after the Pride purchase, having perhaps his greatest victory inside the Octagon. And doing it against former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le, who came to the UFC after it purchased Strikeforce.
And there was also another tremendous fight that’s probably going to be largely overlooked this morning, thanks to all that came after it: Former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber beating former WEC bantamweight champion Brian Bowles. Faber and Bowles both came to the UFC from the WEC, and they gave the kind of great show that the WEC was famous for.
In theory I like the idea of competition among MMA promotions, and I watch MMA regardless of the promotion: I was watching two TVs on Saturday night, one with the UFC and one with Bellator, which put on a tremendous fight of its own between Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez. So I don’t necessarily want the UFC to swallow up every MMA promotion on earth.
But I must say that I can’t think of many times I’ve ever enjoyed the top three fights on a card more than I enjoyed the top three fights at UFC 139, and we got to see all of them because the UFC has absorbed Pride, Strikeforce and the WEC. Saturday night was a night when it was hard not to enjoy the UFC’s dominance of the MMA landscape.
UFC 139 Notes — Miguel Torres won an easy unanimous decision over Nick Pace, 30-27 on all three judges’ cards, but he didn’t do anything spectacular, which is what he’s going to need to do if he wants to fight for the bantamweight belt. There’s a lot to be said for fighting smarter and fighting safer, which is what Torres has tried to do recently, but when it comes to earning a shot at the title, the fact is there are style points. Torres may need to regain some of his old reckless form if he wants the UFC to give him a chance to fight for the title.
— You can make a good case that it’s really not fair to the rest of the bantamweight division to give Faber another shot at champion Dominick Cruz, but realistically I think that’s the only option available to the UFC right now. From a business perspective, Cruz-Faber 3 is really the only bantamweight title fight that the UFC can sell, and the UFC is, ultimately, a business.
UFC 139 Quotes — “I felt really disrespected at the weigh-in. You’re supposed to be professional. Don’t come in two pounds overweight and then tell me you can’t lose any more weight.” — Danny Castillo after beating Shamar Bailey, who had come in at 158 pounds for their lightweight fight. Castillo is absolutely right: Professional fighters need to make weight, period.
— “He’s a super gnarly dude. I knew I had a fight on my hands.” — Seth Baczynski after submitting Matt Brown with a guillotine choke in the second round.
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Good Call Chris Weidman is to be commended for immediately alerting the referee that he had choked out Tom Lawlor. The fighters and the referee are all in a difficult position when a fighter passes out from a choke and the ref doesn’t realize it, but Weidman did the best thing he could, telling the ref that Lawlor was out. The ref then stepped in and separated the two of them, and Lawlor was back on his feet moments later.
Bad Call The judge who gave Rafael dos Anjos a 29-28 decision over Gleison Tibau should be forced to publicly explain it — that’s a tough score to understand. The other two judges scored it 30-27 and 29-28 for Tibau.
Stock Up Michael McDonald looks like a future UFC bantamweight champion. McDonald needed just 56 seconds to knock out Alex Soto — a man who entered the fight undefeated — and is now 14-1 in his MMA career, at only 20 years old. I’d love to see McDonald get a Top 10 opponent in his next fight.
Stock Down Jason Brilz is reeling right now, with back-to-back ugly knockout losses, first to Vladimir Matyushenko in April and now to Ryan Bader on Saturday. When Brilz lost a hard-fought split decision to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in May of 2010, a lot of people thought he deserved to win and would have some big fights ahead of him. Unfortunately, Brilz now looks like he’s on the verge of getting cut from the UFC.
Fight I Want to See Next
Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans. Henderson vs. Evans would be a great fight, and a great way to determine who’s the next contender for the light heavyweight belt. Evans has already been promised a title shot, of course, but the way the timing has worked out, I don’t think it’s realistic for Evans to wait around for the Jon Jones-Lyoto Machida winner. If Henderson and Evans are both healthy and ready to fight in early 2012, that’s the fight to make.
The path to UFC 139 began in 2007 with the acquisition of Pride, continued in 2010 with the absorption of World Extreme Cagefighting, and was finished in 2011 with the purchase of Strikeforce. The six fighters in the top three fights from Saturday night’s card all came to the UFC from those business moves.
Pride never died, the WEC never died, and Strikeforce never died. At least they all still seemed alive at UFC 139.
The main event was a classic, with former Pride and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson beating former Pride Middleweight Grand Prix champion Shogun Rua. This was exactly the type of bout that fight fans hoped we’d see inside the Octagon when the UFC purchased Pride: A brutal, bloody battle between two Pride stars that had all the best elements of the Pride glory days.
But it was more than just that. It was Wanderlei Silva, perhaps the greatest of all the Pride stars to sign with the UFC after the Pride purchase, having perhaps his greatest victory inside the Octagon. And doing it against former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le, who came to the UFC after it purchased Strikeforce.
And there was also another tremendous fight that’s probably going to be largely overlooked this morning, thanks to all that came after it: Former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber beating former WEC bantamweight champion Brian Bowles. Faber and Bowles both came to the UFC from the WEC, and they gave the kind of great show that the WEC was famous for.
In theory I like the idea of competition among MMA promotions, and I watch MMA regardless of the promotion: I was watching two TVs on Saturday night, one with the UFC and one with Bellator, which put on a tremendous fight of its own between Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez. So I don’t necessarily want the UFC to swallow up every MMA promotion on earth.
But I must say that I can’t think of many times I’ve ever enjoyed the top three fights on a card more than I enjoyed the top three fights at UFC 139, and we got to see all of them because the UFC has absorbed Pride, Strikeforce and the WEC. Saturday night was a night when it was hard not to enjoy the UFC’s dominance of the MMA landscape.
UFC 139 Notes — Miguel Torres won an easy unanimous decision over Nick Pace, 30-27 on all three judges’ cards, but he didn’t do anything spectacular, which is what he’s going to need to do if he wants to fight for the bantamweight belt. There’s a lot to be said for fighting smarter and fighting safer, which is what Torres has tried to do recently, but when it comes to earning a shot at the title, the fact is there are style points. Torres may need to regain some of his old reckless form if he wants the UFC to give him a chance to fight for the title.
— You can make a good case that it’s really not fair to the rest of the bantamweight division to give Faber another shot at champion Dominick Cruz, but realistically I think that’s the only option available to the UFC right now. From a business perspective, Cruz-Faber 3 is really the only bantamweight title fight that the UFC can sell, and the UFC is, ultimately, a business.
UFC 139 Quotes — “I felt really disrespected at the weigh-in. You’re supposed to be professional. Don’t come in two pounds overweight and then tell me you can’t lose any more weight.” — Danny Castillo after beating Shamar Bailey, who had come in at 158 pounds for their lightweight fight. Castillo is absolutely right: Professional fighters need to make weight, period.
— “He’s a super gnarly dude. I knew I had a fight on my hands.” — Seth Baczynski after submitting Matt Brown with a guillotine choke in the second round.
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Good Call Chris Weidman is to be commended for immediately alerting the referee that he had choked out Tom Lawlor. The fighters and the referee are all in a difficult position when a fighter passes out from a choke and the ref doesn’t realize it, but Weidman did the best thing he could, telling the ref that Lawlor was out. The ref then stepped in and separated the two of them, and Lawlor was back on his feet moments later.
Bad Call The judge who gave Rafael dos Anjos a 29-28 decision over Gleison Tibau should be forced to publicly explain it — that’s a tough score to understand. The other two judges scored it 30-27 and 29-28 for Tibau.
Stock Up Michael McDonald looks like a future UFC bantamweight champion. McDonald needed just 56 seconds to knock out Alex Soto — a man who entered the fight undefeated — and is now 14-1 in his MMA career, at only 20 years old. I’d love to see McDonald get a Top 10 opponent in his next fight.
Stock Down Jason Brilz is reeling right now, with back-to-back ugly knockout losses, first to Vladimir Matyushenko in April and now to Ryan Bader on Saturday. When Brilz lost a hard-fought split decision to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in May of 2010, a lot of people thought he deserved to win and would have some big fights ahead of him. Unfortunately, Brilz now looks like he’s on the verge of getting cut from the UFC.
Fight I Want to See Next
Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans. Henderson vs. Evans would be a great fight, and a great way to determine who’s the next contender for the light heavyweight belt. Evans has already been promised a title shot, of course, but the way the timing has worked out, I don’t think it’s realistic for Evans to wait around for the Jon Jones-Lyoto Machida winner. If Henderson and Evans are both healthy and ready to fight in early 2012, that’s the fight to make.
Filed under: UFCThe UFC’s Fight of the Year might not have even been MMA’s Fight of the Night. That’s how good last night was in the MMA world. Separated by a few hours and a few thousand miles, Bellator’s Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez and the UFC…
The UFC‘s Fight of the Year might not have even been MMA‘s Fight of the Night. That’s how good last night was in the MMA world. Separated by a few hours and a few thousand miles, Bellator‘s Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez and the UFC’s Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua staged two of the sport’s all-time epic fights.
In the former, Chandler upset Alvarez in a rollicking, explosive fourth-round submission win; in the latter Henderson outlasted Rua in an ferocious war of attrition.
“That’s the best fight I’ve ever seen,” Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said of his lightweight title clash.
“It was the greatest fight I’ve ever seen” UFC president Dana White said of his veteran battle.
Somehow, they were both right.
Let’s start with Henderson-Rua, since there’s no doubt it was watched by more viewers.
If last weekend’s UFC on FOX was about spreading the MMA gospel, UFC 139 was about the sport in its purest form of competition. The event itself was always in the shadows of its network cousin, with promotion minimized due to the UFC’s expiring contract with Spike. But when it came time to fight, Henderson and Rua conducted a symphony of violence that surpassed any fight to take place in the UFC’s octagon this year.
“Without a doubt, it was one of the top three fights ever in MMA,” White said afterward.
By the time it was over, both competitors were a mess. Rua was bleeding from near his puffy left eye, his bottom lip was swollen, his once-white shorts were stained pink with drying blood. Aside from a knot on the left side of his head, Henderson’s face was not quite as marked up, but in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, he draped his arm over Rogan’s shoulders, either unable or unwilling to stand on his own power. Henderson also needed help walking backstage. Both men skipped the post-fight press conference to visit a local hospital for observation.
It was the kind of fight that shortens careers, which granted, sounds a bit ridiculous in regards to Henderson since he’s 41 years old. The hammer-fisted Californian nearly knocked out Rua on at least two occasions.
“That guy can take an f’n punch,” Henderson said. It was certainly true, and it also applied to him. According to FightMetric, Rua landed an astonishing 161 head shots — and lost.
It was a level of violence that might not have been easily palatable to a network audience. While Velasquez-dos Santos ended with a knockout, it was clean, fast and simple. There wasn’t a lot of time to digest what was happening.
On the other hand, Henderson-Rua was a physical grind, a war of attrition that seemed on the verge of a fight-ending explosion at any moment, from either side. If you are the type to squirm or shriek at the moments when a fighter is on the verge of being finished, this wasn’t the fight for you. There was a lot of that, nearly every round, it seemed.
Newcomers to the sport may have been blown away or turn off. There probably would have been no in between. But for those of us who watch regularly, it was a perfect example of why we watch.
It wasn’t that it was a display of perfect technique or MMA fundamentals, but it was a primal battle of wills. Both fighters refused to be put away in situations where lesser fighters would have wilted. Momentum shifted often and unpredictably.
For Rua, it came exactly two fights after his light-heavyweight title loss to Jon Jones, in which he received some criticism for his performance. If there were any questions about his durability or heart, they were answered even in defeat. And for Henderson, he is constantly combating the question of age. It’s only fair to wonder how much longer he can keep doing it, and yet here he is in his early 40s with a four-fight win streak and knocking on the door for a title shot.
The Chandler-Alvarez fight was every bit as exciting. Alvarez was nearly knocked out in the first, only to roar back in a fight that quickly began to take on a see-saw affect with all the momentum changes. By the end of the third, both fighters’ faces were covered in blood.
Chandler appeared to be fading, and the champion seemed to be taking control in the fourth until Chandler landed a fight-changer, a straight right hand that floored Alvarez. Seemingly recharged, Chandler pounced on top of Alvarez, rained blows and sunk in a fight-ending rear naked choke with Alvarez gave his back.
Say what you will about Bellator being a rung below the UFC in talent pool — and many will point that out — but the fight was contested at a high level of technical proficiency and like Rua-Henderson, showcased the gutsy efforts that matter to most fans as much as winning and losing.
Maybe these fights were one week late in coming. Or maybe it’s best that they were left to us, the smaller, more loyal audience that helped the sport get this far, as a sort of “thank you.” There is a certain school of thought out there that once things go mainstream, they are never quite the same. It gets watered down, or played out.
That’s not always true of course. Most of the time, it’s not the same simply because it’s not “yours” anymore. It’s not the same when you don’t have an inside secret. But why would we want to keep this secret? Either fight would have served the sport well in front of a nation’s eyeballs. MMA may be easier served up in 64-second knockouts, but eventually the bandage will have to be ripped off and they’ll have to learn just how beautiful the right kind of violence can be.
At long last, Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua met in the Octagon at UFC 139 and certainly didn’t disappoint, with Hendo earning a hard-fought victory by unanimous decision over Shogun in one of the greatest bouts in the history of mixed martial arts.The…
At long last, Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua met in the Octagon at UFC 139 and certainly didn’t disappoint, with Hendo earning a hard-fought victory by unanimous decision over Shogun in one of the greatest bouts in the history of mixed martial arts.
The two former Light Heavyweight champions, Hendon in Strikeforce and Shogun in the UFC, bludgeoned and bloodied each other over five grueling rounds, after which both fighters congratulated each other and wondered which superstar would win on the judges’ scorecards.
So did everyone else at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Joe Rogan included.
The fight began with a spirited first round—and an even more spirited right hand from Hendo, who went in for a guillotine on Shogun but couldn’t quite pull it off, settling instead for a flurry of fists on his Brazilian challenger. Undeterred (this turned out to be a recurring theme), Shogun came back with a big blow of his own, turning the tables on Hendo by taking him to the mat and getting in a few punches for good measure.
Hendo appeared to be in troubled but managed to stave off an early defeat by hanging on to Rua’s leg. The two returned to their feet and traded a few blows until the horn sounded on a round that proved to be the entire fight in microcosm in the end.
From there, these two giants of the Light Heavyweight Division who had long hoped to meet in the Octagon, dished and absorbed punishment for four more edge-of-your-seat rounds. The second round came and went largely without incident as the combatants traded blows.
It wasn’t until the third round that the bout took a definitive turn, as Hendo clocked a weary Shogun with a pair of strong uppercuts before slugging him to the mat. Hendo wasted little time pouncing on Rua and unleashed his fists of fury, bloodying and bruising Shogun’s face without remorse.
Yet, after all that, Shogun persisted, fighting through a failed submission attempt by Hendo to get back on his feet, much to the amazement of the attendant crowd.
The tide turned in Shogun’s favor from that point on, as the big Brazilian seemed to regain his strength and composure with each passing second. Hendo spent the final two rounds in retreat, looking tired and injured, while a winded Rua strung together a series of full mounts with weary blows and ill-fated submission attempts sprinkled between the blood and sweat that dripped from his beaten brow.
In the end, it was Hendo whose performance curried greater favor from the judges at cage side, his big rounds coming off more convincingly than Shogun’s.
Now, with his return to the UFC after a 28-month hiatus a rousing success, Hendo will look forward to a shot at the Light Heavyweight Championship that eluded him in his previous stint, awaiting the winner of the Jon Jones-Lyoto Machida title fight at UFC 140 and hoping that Rashad Evans finds a way to knock himself out of the running once again.
As for Shogun, he has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. He battled back from the brink of defeat to come within striking distance of another win over a big-ticket contender. If anything, the resilience that Rua demonstrated will only strengthen his profile among the ever-growing legions of MMA fans around the world.
Though he certainly wouldn’t have minded having more to show for his efforts on Saturday night than a severely swollen mug.
The real winners in all of this, though, were the fans, who were treated to arguably the greatest fight the UFC has ever seen. Somewhere, UFC president Dana White is smiling…and shouting into a microphone next to Joe Rogan.
Wanderlei Silva may be just a shell of his former self, but even that was more than enough for “The Axe Murderer” to crush Cung Le at UFC 139.”The Human Highlight Reel” came out as the aggressor early on, though his big swings resulted in misses that l…
Wanderlei Silva may be just a shell of his former self, but even that was more than enough for “The Axe Murderer” to crush Cung Le at UFC 139.
“The Human Highlight Reel” came out as the aggressor early on, though his big swings resulted in misses that left him dangerously vulnerable to Wanderlei’s vicious fists. That didn’t seem to bother Le, at least early on, as he showered Silva with spinning backfists and twirling kicks, each of which seemed to do more to rile the crowd than actually damage his experienced competitor.
Silva managed to cause some damage above one of Le’s eyes, seizing on the advantage in vision to fit in some big fists before the round came to a close.
The second round began peculiarly, as Silva slipped and fell back, though not for long enough for Le to gain any sort of advantage. After a bit of dancing, Silva slugged Le with a huge right hand, after which Le continued to come at Silva with kicks but ultimately left himself open for a Brazilian-style head bashing.
Which is precisely what happened.
Silva landed a huge right hand and a series of knees to Le’s face–enough to knock Le down and let Silva in with a flurry of fists to force referee Dan Stell to call the fight.
Silva still has a ways to climb up the Middleweight Division before he can even think about challenging fellow countryman Anderson Silva for the title belt. Even so, this is clearly a step in the right direction for Silva, who had dropped six of his previous eight fights and seven of 10, coming into Saturday’s action.
Le, on the other hand, can’t be at all pleased with how he performed in his UFC debut, though he figures to get at least another opportunity or two to prove that his multifaceted skill set and entertaining fighting style can actually work at the highest level of MMA.
After enduring one of the most memorable bouts in mixed martial arts history, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua came up short to Dan Henderson in a tight decision at UFC 139. Both competitors went back and forth throughout the bout, both gaining their fair sh…
After enduring one of the most memorable bouts in mixed martial arts history, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua came up short to Dan Henderson in a tight decision at UFC 139.
Both competitors went back and forth throughout the bout, both gaining their fair share of momentum, but ultimately Henderson was awarded the victory.
Rua’s performance was nothing short of inspiring, and although he still showed that he remains a competitive force in the light heavyweight division, his consistency is still questionable.
Perhaps it would not be a bad idea for the Brazilian to move down to the middleweight division, where he can immediately emerge as a contender.
It’s evident that Rua is undersized for a light heavyweight, and he has had a history of poor cardio, partially due to the recurring knee injuries.
Should he consider a potential move down to 185 pounds, Rua would have less of an issue suffering with his cardio and would be able to compete on a more consistent basis.
Nothing against his performance at UFC 139, while he survived a five-round bout with no visible signs of gassing, but his days as a title contender at 205 pounds may be over, considering other options might serve more importance at this point in his career.
It isn’t unlikely he remains competing as a light heavyweight in the near future, but if “Shogun” is still realistic about reclaiming a UFC championship, he should contemplate on making a transition to the middleweight division.
After UFC 139‘s main event between Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua that has already been hailed as an instant classic, one has to ask if maybe a rematch is the best thing for all parties involved.
The path to 
The 