Tag: UFC 151

Dan Henderson, a successful collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestler, began his professional mixed martial arts career in 1997. Since that time he has garnered many accolades and claimed multiple titles, save one—a UFC championship belt.

On September 1, Henderson will look to change that when he faces current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in the main event at UFC 151.

Henderson has been sitting in the wings, waiting for his shot at UFC gold since he defeated Mauricio Rua by unanimous decision at UFC 139 in November. Knowing that he would face the victor of the UFC 145 contest between Jones and former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, Henderson undoubtedly watched that fight with a great deal of interest.

For Henderson, the key takeaway from the Jones versus Evans fight seems to have been the same thing that many people have been saying lately—that Evans lost the fight more than Jones won it. In other words, Evans fought Jones’ fight and not his own, as Henderson told MMAInterviews.tv:

The most surprising thing was what Rashad Evans didn’t do, not what Jon Jones did do. It was more about what Rashad didn’t attempt. In the first round he kind of mixed it up a little but, but he still didn’t get offensive with his wrestling at all, didn’t try to set it up, didn’t try and control the fight with his wrestling. He’s got a really good wrestling base that he didn’t try and utilize.  With Jones trying to hit you in the face so much, there were definitely some opening where he could have capitalized, but Rashad didn’t really try to. That’s what surprised me the most, that Rashad just fought Jon Jones’ fight.

From those words it seems as if Henderson will do everything he can to fight his fight and avoid, in the words of Quinton Jackson after his loss to Jones, becoming “mesmerized” by the young champion.

The question is, with his ever evolving game and the time he has to train for Henderson, will the openings that Henderson saw in the Evans fight be there or will they be eradicated and replaced by another new tactic that will overwhelm the veteran fighter?

The book on Jones is written in pencil, erased and rewritten after each title defense. At 24, with only four years of professional fighting under his belt, Jones is still a work in progress, which is a very scary prospect for any fighter, even one as accomplished and experienced as Henderson.

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UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was not far removed from his UFC 145 victory over Rashad Evans when he was notified that the next former champion he would defend his title against would be Dan Henderson. Today, UFC president Dana White tweeted that Jones versus Henderson will take place on September 1, headlining UFC 151 in Las Vegas.

Jones has cut a path of destruction through the UFC’s light heavyweight division since joining the organization in August 2008. In less than four years, he has compiled a UFC record of 10-1.

Since wresting the title from the hands of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in March of last year, he has fought and defeated three former UFC champions: Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida and, most recently, Evans. As far as the only loss on his record, that came via disqualification for delivering 12-to-6 elbows to Matt Hamill. 

The run that Jones has gone on has many predicting that by the time the 24-year-old fighter retires, he will go down as one of the greatest combatants in UFC history.  In a sport that has seen its share of hyperbolic statements in the past, some would say that those proclamations should be taken with a grain of salt, but with what Jones has accomplished in such a short time, it’s easy to believe that he will indeed carve his name in the UFC history books.

His opponent in September, despite his advancing age, is no slouch. The 41-year-old Henderson is currently riding a four-fight winning streak and has gone 7-1 in his last eight bouts. His last fight, a five-round slugfest with Maurcio Rua, was undoubtedly the best fight of 2011 and quite possibly one of the best fights in UFC history.  Since that November 19 bout, Henderson has sat on the sidelines, bidding his time, waiting for his turn at a title shot in the 205-pound division.

Henderson has held titles in PRIDE and Strikeforce but never in the UFC. He’ll have his work cut out for him in the pursuit of UFC gold when he faces the juggernaut that is Jon Jones at UFC 151.

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