The words “what a fight” were not enough to describe what went down at UFC 139. A fight that many people did not expect to last three rounds, let alone five, left us witnessing what may very well have been the fight of the year. Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua fought for 25 minutes, pushing forward on willpower and a desire to win.
Henderson dropped the first salvos when he rocked Rua early in the first round. A right hand quickly stumbled Rua, and Henderson followed up with a standing guillotine that seemed to be enough to end the fight. However, Rua pushed forward and survived the round, although visibly damaged. The story stayed the same through the third round, as “Hendo” was able to control the positioning and land more damaging blows through the first 15 minutes. Rua was not to be denied, however, as he constantly fired back and landed shots of his own, many of which were pinpoint and hurt Henderson as well.
In the third round Henderson landed a powerful shot that sent Rua crumbling to the canvas. Henderson jumped in to try to finish, but Rua held on, even finding a way to sweep his opponent and go for a threatening heel hook. When the end of the third round sounded, both fighters were breathing heavily with blood streaming down their faces.
In the fourth round Rua tried to take over, and pushed Henderson around the cage. An uppercut caught the former Olympian right in the jaw and staggered him, causing him to stumble across the cage. Rua pressed forward, and even managed to gain the mount to rain down punches, although it seemed none of them were close enough to stop Henderson.
He continued the pressure into the fifth round, when he was able to score a quick takedown. Constant scrambling on the mat allowed Rua to mount Henderson five times in the round. “Hendo” fought off his back, not allowing himself to appear finished, although he was clearly running on fumes. When the final bell sounded, Rua was on top, but unable to do enough damage to bring the referee in for the stoppage.
The final scorecards saw all three judges award the bout to Henderson on the scores of 48-47. Fans were left standing in the aisles cheering on both fighters, who were both past the point of exhaustion and covered in blood.
With this win, Henderson has won his fourth fight in a row, which sets up a number of matchups. The former Strikeforce champion has successfully walked back into the UFC, and finds himself in a position to demand nearly any fight that he wants. With a performance such as this, the popular 41-year old fighter may find himself standing across from the winner of Jon Jones versus Lyoto Machida in 2012.
