On Sunday, Dan Henderson and Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua face off in a rematch of what is broadly hailed as one of the greatest matches of all time.
The original was an instant classic, not because of technique but because of the drastic sweeps in fortune, with Henderson dominating the early rounds only for ‘Shogun’ to survive and then as Henderson tired, to take over and dominate the later rounds en route to a much debated decision.
At least, that’s how I remember it. With this match being by far the biggest draw on this weekend’s UFC Fight Night event in Natal, Brazil, it seemed a good time to look back at the original match.
Also, this helps justify my Fight Pass subscription…
Henderson went into the fight on a 3-0 streak of knockout victories over Renato Sobral, Rafael Cavalcante and Fedor Emelianenko, with the mythos of the Right Hand Of Doom never stronger and a title shot the prize dangled for victory.
Rua had a mixed 4-3 UFC record, but was coming off a very impressive KO victory over Forrest Griffin and given the state of the division at the time, could also conceivably earn a title shot with a win.
Anyways, I’ve got Fight Pass fired up, so let’s rewatch the fight, score as we go and see how I feel about it once we’re done.
Round One
Shogun takes Dan down, but Henderson hooks a guillotine and once Shogun escapes, Henderson unloads a flurry against the cage that bloodies Shogun. They reset across the cage and Hendo drops Shogun again, but the Brazilian is right back in it and pushes Henderson to the cage. Hendo gets double underhooks and almost contemptuously tosses Shogun to the ground.
The two trade tentatively again, with a Shogun takedown stuffed resulting in the pair being against the cage and Shogun lands a nice right hand.
Shogun drops Henderson with an overhand right, but Hendo grabs a single and uses it to get back to his feet, landing a nice right of his own in reply.
More tenantive exchanges lead to Shogun pressing Hendo against the cage and landing relatively innocuous blows as the round ends.
On balance, it’s a much closer round than I remember it, but I think Hendo had the better of the striking exchanges so sneaks it.
10-9 Henderson
Round 2
They start with further tentative exchanges before Shogun presses Hendo to the cage, the pair trading knee’s to the thigh for a bit. Shogun breaks with a punch to the head, but Hendo comes out stronger and lands an uppercut that leads to a string flurry that has Shogun backing up against the cage, but Hendo backs off, sticking to the middle.
Shogun presses forward again, but Henderson’s flurries in reply seem to be the more effective.
They clinch against the cage, with Henderson in control and the crowd start to boo the inaction (bet you didn’t remember that!) until the ref breaks then up with 40 seconds to go, which results in a striking exchange that Henderson clearly wins as Shogun backs off.
Again, a much closer round than I remember with Henderson edging it again on account of his strikes being the more effective.
20-18 Henderson
Round 3
Both guys are looking for that one bug punch but not quite getting there, although Hendo seems to press Shogun back more. Hendo knocks Shogun down with the big right and tries to land ground & pound from mount, then turtle, then mount but Shogun survives and sweeps Dan into a leglock. They get up and Shogun presses Hendo against the cage.
Joe Rogan starts talking about damage, despite the fact that it’s not in the scoring criteria. Some things never change. Sigh.
Shogun attempts a takedown and Dan tries to stop it with brutal elbows to the head, but it completes and Shogun lands in a flurry of ground and pound before Dan cage walks back to his feet.
Shogun breaks and lands a nice flurry just as the round ends.
This round was really close, both men getting knockdowns an some solid shots in. Henderson probably edges it 10-9 as he came closer to the finish, but a 10-10 wouldn’t be out of place.
Probably 30-27 Henderson
Round Four
Shogun almost lands a single, scores some nice punches against the cage, completes the takedown but Henderson takes his back and works into mount before Shogun scrambles to his feet.
Henderson lands a takedown into side control, almost getting a guillotine as Shogun tries to sweep. Henderson in full guard but not doing anything with it until he stands then dives in from above and lands a few blows before Shogun scramble up.
They reset and Shogun lands a nice counter uppercut then has a nice flurry pressing Henderson against the cage. Hendo attempts a takedown but Shogun stuffs it and punishes him on the feet. Hendo looks shattered, throwing some really weak & wild haymakers while Shogun picks him apart on the outside before taking him down, laying in some punches from full mount, goes for a rear naked choke and loses it with Henderson ending the round on top.
Twice in that round, Goldberg called it the greatest fight in history. Nice to see the commentators being objective and not resorting to hyperbole.
Another really close round, although the ascendent Shogun surely earns the nod.
39-37 Henderson
Fifth Round
Hendo tries to bum rush Shogun but gets hip tossed and Shogun ends up in side control laying in nasty knees to the body.
Shogun transfers to mount and lays in a bundle of ground & pound until Hendo pulls it back to half guard and grabs a hold of Shogun’s head.
Back to full mount for shogun with some big hammer-fists, Shogun takes Dan’s back but Hendo escapes and Shogun is again in full mount and landing at will. This pattern continues with Henderson pulling it back to half guard a few times, then Shogun taking full control and landing blows again so the bout ends with Shogun in full mount and throwing punches.
Just like I had it at the time, I see that as a 10-8 for Shogun due to being in top control the entire round and scoring vastly more strikes.
Final score for me is a 47-47 draw which is a bit different to the 48-47 unanimous decision to Henderson the judges came up with.
In my eyes, this comes down to the fact that UFC judges are actively discouraged from scoring 10-10 or 10-8 rounds, due to the possibility of such scores causing a draw. Americans can’t handle draws. They have self worth issues, I guess.
Anyways, the match has actually aged better than I thought it would, as none of the rounds bar the fifth were vastly clean cut and despite long periods against the cage (in a pro wrestling match they would have worked a rest hold about 12 times…) there was a genuine feel of back and forth action and the result was always in question.
The pertinent question now is ‘can they do it again?’ and I have to say that I doubt it.
Henderson has gone 0-3 since, with the most exciting thing to happen in any of those matches being him getting knocked out by Vitor Belfort.
Shogun has fared better, scoring entertaining knockouts over Brandon Vera and James Te Huna either side of a brace of losses via decision to Alex Gustafsson and via submission to Chael Sonnen.
It should still be a fun match, as Shogun will be motivated to get the knockout and Henderson surely realises he has his back to the wall in terms of his career at this point.
You have to see Rua as the heavy favourite at this point but as we know, anything can happen in MMA.
It should be fun, but is unlikely to be as glorious OR lengthy as their first war.
KUMITE 