Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson earned “Fight of the Year” honors back in 2011, for their 5-round war that took place at UFC 139 in San Jose, California.
After 25-minutes of non-stop action, Hendo got the judges nod in what many people deem to be the greatest fight in mixed martial arts history.
Since losing to Henderson, “Shogun” has gone 2-2 inside the octagon, his latest effort being a first-round KO of James Te Huna at December’s UFC event in Australia.
Meanwhile, since defeating Rua at UFC 139, Dan Henderson has been in a bit of a slump. The former Strikeforce and Pride champion has dropped 3 fights in a row, however, it’s worth noting that 2 of those losses came to former champs Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida by split-decision.
In his latest effort, Hendo suffered the first KO-loss of his career to none other than Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort.
At this weekend’s ‘UFC Fight Night 38’ event in Natal, Brazil, Henderson will be aiming to get his career back on track by defeating “Shogun” for a second time.
When asked if he planned on changing anything from the first fight Hendo responded with the following:
“Not to punch myself out trying to finish him because he’s hard to finish,” Henderson told MMAFighting.com. “I’ll take my shots a little better.”
However, the losses are not going to make Henderson play it safe:
“I don’t know if it affects my strategy at all,” said Hendo. “Just make sure to control the fight a little bit better, making sure I don’t end up on the bottom.”
“In my mind, I’m not coming off three losses, but it’s still three losses. I don’t want a fourth on that, for sure. In the first, Rashad, I felt should have gone other way. It was a close fight, it’s not like I was beat up for three fights. It’s a little bit extra motivation, I guess, to make sure it doesn’t happen again, but it won’t change my strategy in the fight.”
“I’m excited to come down here and fight. I’m already used to hear the (Brazilian) fans say I’m going to die, so I want to come down here and prove them wrong (laughs).”
“I’m capable of finishing him, but it doesn’t always happens when you want, so I’m ready to go five rounds. I’m excited about it.”
Who do you think will emerge victorious in the Hendo vs. Shogun rematch this weekend? Sound off Penn Nation!