Hendo snaps losing streak with third-round KO of Shogun
Published on Tuesday, 3/25/14, at 5:55 p.m. Eastern.
By Brian Edwards
In another back-and-forth slugfest that saw both legendary mixed martial artists hurt the other on multiple occasions, Dan Henderson prevailed again with a third-round knockout of Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in Sunday’s main event in Brazil. Henderson hooked up his backers as a +170 underdog, while the ‘under’ (3.5 rounds, +150) was also a winner.
Henderson broke Shogun’s nose with another vintage Hendo Bomb in the form of a right hook that perfectly found its home. The thunderous blow floored Rua and Henderson followed up with another brutal shot.
Referee Herb Dean’s view was blocked by Henderson, who tried to finish with ground-and-pound punishment. A few shot illegally caught Shogun in the back of the head, but Dean couldn’t see those. When Dean got back into position and saw how badly Rua was hurt, he called a stop to the fight. Then Shogun buckled over in agony.
Shogun Rua will have surgery later this week after getting his nose broken in a KO loss to Dan Henderson.
Rua is scheduled to have surgery on his nose later this week. The victory ended a three-fight losing streak for Henderson, who suffered his first career KO loss to Vitor Belfort in his previous match. Before that, he was on the wrong end of a pair of split-decision defeats to Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida.
Another thrilling win over Rua creates all sorts of possibilities for Henderson. Perhaps the 43-year-old former PRIDE champ will get matched up with Daniel Cormier, who for some reason has been recently linked to a possible bout with Ryan Bader. What?! Another possible foe for Henderson could be a rematch with former middleweight champ Anderson Silva when he returns to the cage early in 2014.
In other UFC news, word came out Monday that middleweight kingpin Chris Weidman has a knee injury that will require surgery. Therefore, his second title defense vs. Lyoto Machida at UFC 173 has been pushed back to July 5. The bout, originally scheduled to take place on May 24, will be the new main event for UFC 175.
UFC 173 should get a new main event in the coming days.
Also, Melvin Guillard was released by the promotion earlier this week after suffering a loss to Michael Johnson a few weeks ago. Guillard has expressed happiness about the decision because he feels he will make more money with another organization. Although his lackluster effort against Johnson was disappointing, Guillard remains one of the more exciting lightweight fighters in the world.
And finally, Octagon hottie Arianny Celeste attempted to put an end to her feud with UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey with these remarks.
Arianny Celeste has cancelled her engagement and is a single woman again. She also wants the Rousey Feud to go away.
“Nothing is going on,” Celeste said. “She just, I guess she doesn’t like me for whatever reason and I don’t know really know what that reason is because I’ve literally met her twice, and was so polite, and so welcoming, and so excited to have women in the UFC. I don’t know what her deal is with me, but I’d rather not even talk about it.
“I don’t even care, she’s a fighter and I’m an Octagon girl, it’s two completely different things. I’m never going to fight, so people can stir up as much shit as they want. I don’t ever want to fight her. I’m good, we’re good.”
