UFC 139: Dan Henderson wins via Unanimous Decision after a war with Shogun Rua
Posted on November 19, 2011, 11:16 PM by Anton GurevichDan Henderson vs. Mauricio Rua was the first non-title UFC bout to go into championship rounds, in what was without a doubt one of the greatest displays of heart, courage and skill ever seen inside the Octagon.
Dan Henderson opened well with perfectly-timed striking combinations. Hendo rocked Rua on several occasions, but the Brazilian displayed an amazing chinned that time after time absorbed Dan Henderson's famous H-Bombs. Both fighters exchanged striking combinations, but it was Hendo who bloodied up Shogun and was closer to get the finisher. Rua countered with surprisingly good wrestling and positioning on the ground that put Dan Henderson into uncomfortable situations throughout the fight.
Turning point in the fight came when Dan Henderson rocked Rua with another right hand (Round 3), and then followed the Brazilian to finish the fight via Ground and Pound. Shogun took everything Henderson had to offer, while the All-American visibly punched himself. From there, Shogun took full control of the fight, as Dan Henderson went into a fully operational survival mode. However, mount after mount, choke after choke, Shogun was unable to get the finish. The fight went to the judges' scorecards.
All three judges scored the fight 48-47, with a winner via Unanimous Decision - Dan Henderson. Apparently, first three rounds went in favor of Dan Henderson, while the other two went to Rua. Fans would argue that fifth round was a clear 10-8, therefore the fight should be a draw. Still, this decision is light years away from the UFC 104 call between Shogun Rua and Lyoto Machida, which was later labeled by many as a a robbery.
Dan Henderson is now 29-8, with a four-fight winning streak of impressive victories. Get ready, Rashad Evans (or maybe Jon Jones?).
Comments
I honestly dont understand why Josh Rosenthal didnt stop the fight and gave Hendo the W in the 3rd
Shogun was still 'attempting' to defend, plus; any stoppage in that fight would of been a complete buzz-kill.
Great fight - Majestic, Biblical... Can't say enough about that WAR.
In the end, though - I think the right man Won.
I will never see a greater fight in my lifetime.
that fight was amazing.....one of the best fights I have ever seen but I thought it was a draw gave Hendo first 3 10-9 and Shogun 4th 10-9 n 5th 10-8 so 47-47 but if I had to pick a winner I would say Hendo, he did more damage looking forward to seeing him fight again and always look forward to seeing Shogun fight, maybe we will get to see Shogun vs Rampage in Japan, prefer that then Rampage vs Griffin
i think you are right too, hendo didnt even want to hit rua anymore because he was bleeding so bad
I haven't seen the post fight presser or anything, but don't be surprised to see a rematch. I think the last round should have been a 10-8, giving a draw.
Dunno about a draw...
First 3 rds - Hendo - 10-9, 10-9, with a possible H- Bomb 10-8 for Dan.
Last 2 rds - Shogun - with a possible 10-8 for Shogun, along with a 10-9.
I think Dan deserved it.
The most surprising thing about the decision was that none of the judges awarded any 10-8 rounds. If they scored it as you suggest, it would be 47-46, not 48-47.
I agree it was a draw, amazing fight nonetheless
Best fight in the history of MMA
*most painful fight to watch in mma history
Draw
Rnd 1 - 10-9 Hendo
Rnd 2 - 10-9 Hendo
Rnd 3 - 10-9 Hendo
Rnd 4 - 10-9 Shogun
Rnd 5 - 10-8 Shogun
48-48:Shogun-Hendo
I can see your reasoning, but no 10-8 for Hendo? I'm surprised that H-Bomb didn't kill Shogun.
f you give Shogun 10-8.. Dan should at least have a 10-8 round too cause (i believe it was round too) Hendo gave Shogun an asswhooping 10x more than what he received in rnd. 5. Honestly i wouldnt even give Shogun 10-8 for round 5 for the simple fact that he really did not do much damage. Sure he dominated by laying on top of him and throwing little punches but did he really hurt him?? I don't think so... not at all actually. They were both just exhausted. Shogun too tired to do any real damage and Hendo too tired to get up.
Shogun got dropped but recovered within 30 seconds so it was a short dominance while Shogun has some sort of full mount for nearly the entire last round, complete dominance.
I agree with the above scoring. Hendo dropped Shogun in rounds 1 and 2, which taken by itself, would equate to 10-8 rounds. However, Shogun also dropped Shogun in those rounds and finished each of them strong... On the other hand, round 5 was complete domination by Shogun and the only thing preventing him from finishing Hendo was fatigue (and Hendo being a tough SOB) The only thing I disagree with is your math (47-47 the way you scored it)
That's true that Shogun came back in each of those rounds. The man is like the Terminator :-D .. I know Hendo had to be getting frustrated. Hitting a man that many times and he comes back jumping around in his Muay Thai stance ready to attack...and attacking :-D .. That should have been a draw and deserves a sequel!
@Jamie Man I no everytime Shogun got hit by that right hand i cringed....I knew Shogun had a really good chin but damn didnt think it was that good might possibly be top 5 best chins ever, especially that one right hand Hendo landed on Shogun on the ground after he dropped him, that was brutal
If you are going to give Shogun a 10-8 for round 5 you need to give Hendo a 10-8 for round 3.
I got a lot of flack and weaks comments by stating that I thought Rua would leg kick the crap out of Hendo like he did Machida in thier first fight. I thought Rua would stop him in the third and was very wrong. Once a fighter gets rocked the gameplan goes ot of the window.
There is no shame in Ruas game however, I thought he wouldn't get out of the 2nd and managed to hold on to a relatively close decision. Hendo loooked gassed at the end and Rua MIGHT have gotten him with three more minutes.
It was a fight for the ages, and one I would have liked to see 10 years prior. I believe Hendo did enough to win early, but it could have been a split decision or possibly a draw. I needed to post this for some shoutouts I made earkier in the week to a few other regulars. You were right and I was wrong
i think a draw was really the best shogun could hope for while i can see the argument for a 10-8 in the 5th i DONT THINK THEY SHOULD GIVE 10-8 OUT FOR JUST POSITING ALONE SHOGUN DEFIANTLY WON THAT ROUND BUT WAS NEVER REALLY CLOSE TO STOPPING IT
Lol, don't know why you're yelling, but I agree. I was wondering if anyone else thought the same thing. Shogun clearly won the round, but should you really get a 10-8 for smothering someone? I'm not taking anything away from a fighters ability to do that to another competitor, especially one of Hendo's caliber, but still... He wasn't able to capitalize on the positional dominance. I think the judges ultimately made the right call.
agree joey, becaus eeven though he got full mount 2 or 3 times, at no point was he really close to finishing, initiating the trademark joe rogan 'HES IN TROUBLE' yelling....and if you give that round 10-8 to shogun then you have to give dan a 10-8 round for that unholy beating he put on him early.....unreal fight, and good decision
That round should have been 10-8. Shogun had him mounted for the entire round and everything he did was UNANSWERED. The rounds where Hendo did his damage Shogun came back. He wasn't just sitting around. Hendo just doesn't seem to bruise as easily. That fight was brutal and should have been A DRAW.
What a war! I say they both had 10-8 rounds that cancel each other out, so Dan did deserve it.
Shogun was in dominant position for that last round, but didn't dish out nearly as much damage as Dan did in the 2nd and 3rd.
Kudos to Josh the Ref for seeing Shogun, though barely conscious, was still defending himself. Good call.
That fight was a ****ing war for the first 4 rounds. Personally I felt like the last round was really anti-climactic because it was so one-sided; however, props to Shogun and Dan Henderson for sticking in there and giving us fans such a great show. I Hope Shogun doesn't get too hung up on losing to Hendo.
It was clear to me that Shogun's "secret plan" was to put Henderson on his back. His team probably helped him to formulate this based on Hendo's disappointing loss to Shields.. The problem was, for that fight Henderson looked soggy, as though it was a lack of cardio and perhaps overtaxing to cut the weight. At 205, however he seems much more comfortable, and if Shogun had started the fight off with pure technical standup and then attempted to wrestly Hendo down in the later rounds I think he could have walked away from that a decisive winner. Just a personal opinion, but nonetheless a potential fight of the year for sure.
The is what you call a real fight. I am impressed by both guys, they are both winners tonight.
That fight turned out to be just as impressive as it promised to be. I can't wait to see Hendo challenge the winner of the bones/Machita fight.
man each got dropped once each got rocked 3 times hendo drew blood shogun rained down from the mount sick ****ing fight i wish it was a draw but there really is no losers in a fight like this