Sherdog’s Top 10: Brutal Beatdowns

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7. Daniel Cormier vs. Dan Henderson
May 24, 2014
When former Olympic freestyle competitor Cormier met former Olympic Greco-Roman competitor Henderson at UFC 173, their mixed martial arts careers were heading in entirely opposite directions. Cormier was on the rise after winning the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix and his first three fights in the UFC with ridiculous ease. Henderson had lost three of his last four bouts, with the only victory a knockout win over Mauricio Rua in a fight he was losing badly prior to a miracle right hand.

Few gave Henderson much of a chance against a younger, bigger, more athletic and faster fighter, and it was clear from the beginning just how enormous Cormier’s advantages really were. “Hendo” looked solid for the first 40 seconds or so, landing several low kicks and a hard body shot, but when they locked up in the clinch for the first time, Cormier rag-dolled him to the mat as if Henderson had never wrestled a day in his life.

Henderson spent almost the entire first round on his back eating punch after punch and even getting slammed from the cradle, and things somehow got worse in the second. The venerable legend ended up on his back less than a minute in and never managed to get back to his feet. He failed to land a single strike over the five-minute period.

If the first was bad and the second was worse, the third round was a complete disaster. Henderson landed one strike, a tepid inside low kick, and immediately afterward, Cormier got in on a single-leg, lifted the veteran above his head and slammed him to the mat. The freestyle Olympian then pounded Henderson on the canvas for another three minutes until Cormier finally choked him into submission.

Henderson had nothing to offer. The dominating performance won “Beatdown of the Year” honors from Sherdog.com and punched Cormier’s ticket to a title fight with champion Jon Jones.

Number 6 » Justino vs. Finney