Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest UFC Fights

5. Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Rua 1 | UFC 139

The first clash between living legends “Hendo” and “Shogun” finishes in the top half of the list. In one sense, the stakes were lower than other fights on this list. There was no title on the line and both men were seen as being past their primes, which turned out be correct in hindsight. Still, this was a battle that every long-time fan of MMA wanted to watch, given the history and storylines between the two warriors. Both were Pride Fighting Championships standouts, with Henderson finishing as Sherdog's fifth best fighter from the legendary Japanese promotion and “Shogun” third. Rua was a Grand Prix champion and Henderson the long-time welterweight (183 pound) champion. In his very last fight in the promotion, however, Henderson had added the Pride middleweight (205 pound) title to his collection with a shocking third-round knockout of Wanderlei Silva in 2007, avenging a decision loss to the Brazilian back in 2000. Of course, Silva was a close mentor, friend, and training partner of “Shogun” for many years at Chute Boxe. Additionally, both men were coming into the contest in great form. Henderson had just scored arguably the greatest victory of his career, an incredible first round knockout of the greatest heavyweight ever, Fedor Emelianenko, in Strikeforce. “Shogun,” meanwhile, needed just under two minutes to dispatch former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin with punches, making up for an embarrassing submission defeat to him back in 2007. The fight was a true throwback masterpiece. Throwing caution to the wind, Rua came forward but the 41-year-old Henderson was ready, showing amazing speed and reactions for a man his age, hurting the Brazilian with his famous right hand early, whether in the form of a cross, overhand, or uppercut, while defending takedowns and even landing excellent knees in the clinch. However, in the very first round, Rua came back late with a knockdown of his own courtesy of an overhand right, setting the stage for 25 minutes of an all-out war.

Broadly, it was the tale of two fights. Henderson clearly won the first three stanzas, landing many brain-rattling combinations, including one in Round 3 that dropped the Brazilian and led to a torrent of ground-and-pound, very nearly ending the contest. Luckily, Josh Rosenthal, in my view the greatest referee in MMA history, allowed it to continue. Improbably, Rua survived and came on very strong in the final two rounds, as Henderson was utterly exhausted. This culminated in a final frame where Rua spent most of it in full mount, bashing the American with dozens upon dozens of hard punches. The ensuing unanimous decision, all by scores of 48-47, was controversial, but not because most felt that the Brazilian had won. Rather, the consensus was that it should have been a draw, as Rua's domination of the last round was a clear 10-8, making it 47-47. That would indeed have been the appropriate conclusion to the stirring war.

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