With two rounds gone and a UFC legend on the brink of four losses in a row, Dan Henderson flipped the script, and knocked out Shogun Rua in front of a stunned Brazilian crowd on Sunday night.
Henderson was dropped and hurt throughout the first two rounds of the rematch of their 2011 Fight of the Year before rallying.
“I tried to reverse the roles a little bit and let him beat me up in the first two rounds. I started a little slow, but he woke me up the second round, and I was ready to go in the third,” Henderson told Fox Sports Live after the fight. “We bring the best out of each other, as far as excitement goes.”
Rua, fighting in his native Brazil, looked sharp out of the gate, battering the 43-year-old Henderson with uppercuts and overhands.
But Father Time couldn’t stand in the way of Henderson’s legendary H-bomb, which he used to blast Shogun after a scramble while they clinched up. Henderson pounced on his injured opponent, forcing Herb Dean to call off the onslaught.
The story here isn’t just that Henderson has an incredibly durable chin and unbridled punching power. Rather, this is the story of a man on the brink of retirement, on the precipice of a new chapter in his life.
Coming into the fight a slight underdog, off a brutal first-round knockout at the hands of Vitor Belfort, things didn’t look good for Henderson entering the cage with Shogun again.
Rua had just destroyed James Te Huna in a little over a minute in December. Shogun seemed to have all the momentum going into this fight.
But Henderson’s right hand didn’t listen to the naysayers.
“I feel like a big weight is off me, I got rid of that bad year I had last year. I’m looking forward to this year being a positive one,” Henderson said of the victory, which moved his record up to 30-11. “After every win, it feels really good to relieve that pressure. I’m gonna stay here in Brazil for a few days and celebrate.”