Some fighters in mixed martial arts have bigger followings than others. There are fans of the underrated fighters, the overrated fighters, and the extremely popular fighters. And then there are the Fedor-fans. The passionate, worshiping, and sometimes senseless fanatical army of Fedor Emelianenko's was put in a quiet trance just a number of weeks ago, after he was blasted by a "Hendo-bomb". Dan Henderson vacated his belt in the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight division to challenge "The Last Emperor". Going into this match, Henderson immediately had significantly more to gain than Emelianenko. Fedor was coming off two straight losses, and a third, as we now know, would be all bad news for the Russian's career. Even if the undersized heavyweight would have defeated "Hendo", there was not much to be acquired from such a victory as he would have only silenced critics, and ended a losing streak. Spotting worthwhile potential in this scenario, Henderson jumped at the chance for this fight.
After being defeated in a five round war with current UFC welterweight contender Jake Shields, Henderson would go on to knock out Renato "Babalou" Sobral in their December rematch, and later stop Rafael Cavalcante in March's title bout, earning the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight belt. Following this victory, the Californian had no further interest in any other fights at the Strikeforce 205 pound division. Fedor was who he wanted.
Once Strikeforce began to formulate this “clash of the titans” breed of a matchup, Emelianenko and his team offered to have the fight at catch-weight, but Henderson promptly declined. His response via twitter was assertive.
"If I’m going to fight him at his weight, then I’m going to fight him at his weight."
In one of the most exciting battles to ever take place in Showtime's hexagon, a sudden conclusion left millions of viewers utterly short of words.
Henderson appeared to be hurt in the beginning of the fast-paced brawl as he was initially knocked down, but when an unbalanced, and impatient Fedor lost control and gave up his back in attempts to finish the fight, the tables were rapidly turning. “Hendo” pounced on top of the Russian and threw a sneaking right uppercut that planted Fedor to the canvas, and before everyone's eyes, for the first time in his career, Fedor Emelianenko had been knocked out cold. That is at least for the one and-a-half seconds that he was actually unconscious, before a flurry of following strikes awoke him.
After suddenly defeating this mythical creature, Dan Henderson had done wonders for his legacy. He’d leaped higher on the pound for pound list than he had ever before, and was now being considered by some as one of the best ever, yet none of this would be of any immediate significance in his future as a fighter. Sure this feat cemented Henderson as a legend of the sport, and gained him the respect of many, but what he had secretly accomplished all with one punch was finding a second wind of opportunity. Henderson, who now has no remaining fights on his Strikeforce contract, has become the ultimate free agent. He had placed himself in a position of consummate power and the professional mixed martial arts world was now at his disposal. There isn’t commonly an abundance of solid match ups awaiting such an experienced, and older fighter, which is an accurate description of Henderson who has 36 professional fights on his resume (most of which took place in Pride, UFC, and Strikeforce). Knocking out "The Last Emperor" changed this entirely.
All at once, some of the most coveted fights in the world were now including Dan Henderson's name, as the media began to analyze Henderson's future. The young, dynamic, and virtually unbeaten Jon Jones would now have a new, and highly riveting opponent. Anderson Silva, who has remained untouched over the last five years, is now a prime candidate for Henderson, who had previously competed against the Brazilian in his UFC days. Even a heavyweight title shot in the UFC now makes sense for "Hendo", given that he is currently in that weight class. Henderson’s adaptability to such versatile opportunity should be attributed to his ability to largely manipulate his weight with relative ease. The potential fights now in talks for "Hendo" are undeniably top of the line, and all owed to beating "The Last Emperor". The latest win on the record of Dan Henderson’s had catapulted him to the peak of Mt. Mixed Martial Arts.
It is very rare to hear a 40-year-old fighter in pound for pound or even championship talks, yet the MMA realm is now hearing talks of UFC title shots in three weight classes for Dan Henderson, who is not currently employed by the UFC. You may think the Fedor knockout was a fluke, or that Herb Dean stopped the fight unfairly, or that people are too hard on Fedor, but that isn’t where the importance lies here. The bottom line is that Dan Henderson seriously bettered his career by recognizing the opportunity of a lifetime and seizing it.
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