Dan Henderson

There have been some minor rumblings that Dan Henderson may fight at UFC 79 in December...and at 185lbs. Who knows if it's true or not, there is nothing substantial to these rumors yet. Let's just wait and see if anything materializes. There is no rumored opponent either, but you'd almost have to assume that it would either be Okami or Franklin, although neither of those two would have much rest between their recent UFC 77 performances and a UFC 79 showing. I'm not sure who else would be worthy of Dan Henderson dropping the weight and taking a fight.

On September 8th, 2007 in London, England two of the best 205lb mixed martial artists in the world will meet and unify the Pride and UFC light heavyweight title belts. Dan "Hollywood" Henderson and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson are at the top of their respective games, but who has the better game?

Quinton Jackson was relatively unknown to UFC fans before he joined the organization. Jackson's first test was against the always tough Marvin Eastman. While Marvin put up a good fight, Quinton eventually out struck and out muscled Eastman KO'ing him in the second round. With that victory, the UFC gave Quinton Jackson a shot at Chuck Liddell, the then UFC light heavyweight champion and considered by many to be the best 205lb fighter in the world.

Jackson would end up easily winning the fight with Liddell landing a solid KO punch while Liddell was in a bad position and ending the fight with strikes on the ground, setting up the match with the Pride champion, Dan Henderson. Jackson's main strength is his strength; strength and aggressiveness. Quinton Jackson has a good chin, heavy hands and is a good wrestler with a strong high school and junior college wrestling background. Quinton is known for slamming opponents and overwhelming them with his strength.

Dan Henderson has been fighting for a very long time, he started his wrestling career at 5 years old and at 37 years old that means he's been fighting in some form for 32 years. Dan was a decorated wrestler in high school and went on to fight in Greco Roman wrestling for the US Olympic team in 1992 and 1996. It's safe to say that Dan Henderson is one of the best wrestlers in MMA. That said, it's not often that Dan Henderson wins a fight by out wrestling his opponent. Usually Dan ends fights with his big right hand (his left is pretty good too). Dan Henderson hits like a truck and has one of the best chins in MMA. His chin has been tested and has survived the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Murilo Rua and others. Not only has his chin survived, but he has defeated those opponents.

Both fighters have victories over opponents who have defeated the other. For example, Quinton Jackson defeated Ricardo Arona, but Dan Henderson lost to Arona. Dan Henderson defeated Wanderlei Silva, but Silva defeated Quinton Jackson. Trying to predict the outcome of this fight is enough to make your head spin. One thing worth noting is that Dan Henderson is 8 years older than Quinton Jackson. Time catches up with everyone, everyone except Randy Couture that is.

So, who's going to win? The younger wrestler or the better wrestler? The aggressive striker or the experienced striker? Fortunately for the fans of the sport, fights are not decided on paper, but are decided in the cage. On paper, Dan Henderson should take this fight. His wrestling balances or overcomes Quinton's strength and wrestling ability, their striking is on par with each other and Dan Henderson's experience out weighs that of Jackson. However, this is a fight and anything can happen in the ring (or cage). Also, it's worth noting that Quinton Jackson likes his new lifestyle and won't give it up easily to anyone.

Ever since Dana White first announced that Dan Henderson vs Quinton Rampage Jackson would fight I could swear that I heard him say that all 205 belts were on the line. However since then I've read everything from all belts to no belts to only the UFC belt would be on the line.

This weekend it was finally confirmed (by Dana White) that indeed all belts (Dan Hendersons Pride 205 lb belt) and Quinton Jackson's UFC 205 lb belt would be on the line for Septembers fight.

Whew! I'm glad that those rumor's were finally put to rest...aren't you relieved that I didn't get all caught up in posting each of the rumors as they materialized

Now we can finally just look forward to a great matchup between two outstanding light heavyweight fighters.

Bring on Rampage vs Hendo!

Dana White is already starting to talk about a Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva match. This would be perfect in my opinion. Dan Henderson recently defeated Wanderlei Silva in Pride. Similarly Quinton Jackson recently defeated Chuck Liddell in the UFC.

Now, how about this:

Quinton Jackson vs Dan Henderson
and
Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva

Then the winner of those two fight. These are arguably the four best at 205 lbs in the world, of course there are others, Shogun, Tito, Rashad, Arona, but this list is as good as any.

What a great time to be a UFC fan!