My Thoughts On Fedor vs. Henderson

Fedor vs. Henderson takes place tomorrow. It features two of the biggest names in MMA.

If you watched the old PRIDE tapes, you’d know that Fedor Emelianenko is one of those old-school fighters. Of all the event posters he’s been on, not once has he been listed as “Emelianenko.” It’s always just “Fedor.”

Fedor is basically badass. Look him up on Google Images and you’ll see Photoshopped pictures of him arm-barring wild bears. There’s one where he’s the Terminator and another where’s he’s holding Randy Couture in a manly embrace.

Despite the immense respect I have for this Russian assassin, you and I both know he’s not invincible at all.

He’s fighting Dan Henderson, hardly the type of guy you’d want to face after losing two in a row.

Look at his face. It’s completely flat. Who looks like that?! Killers do. He probably got hit by a semi at full-speed. This means he can take a few hits.

Anyway, let’s break this stuff down.

STRIKING

Fedor’s boxing is quite impressive. He has a really sneaky front hook and an overhand right that turned Andrei Arlovski into a pile. Watch Fedor’s fight against Tim Sylvia. I know he submitted the guy but Fedor’s punches were fast, accurate and powerful enough to stun the tall, jiggly-looking dude. Fedor even out-struck Cro Cop back in PRIDE. Admittedly, this was all a long time ago.

Dan Henderson hasn’t changed much though. Whereas Fedor seems to be on a slippery slope downward, Hendo is still the same fighter from way back when. His boxing is probably not as fast/crisp/accurate as Fedor’s, but without a doubt he hits astronomically harder. They call his punch an “H-bomb.”

That said, even though Fedor might be able to outpoint his man, I don’t see him knocking Henderson out. Hendo on the other hand, can.

WRESTLING

Ordinarily, I’d give this to Dan Henderson. He’s an Olympian with a solid background in Greco-Roman wrestling. Only thing is, he’s moving up to heavyweight, and that means he’s giving up quite a bit of size.

Fedor is bigger, albeit skinnier now. His top game is very adequate and he easily stifled Nogueira by keeping his hips heavy.

Henderson however got out-wrestled by a smaller Jake Shields. Something to think about.

SUBMISSIONS

Fedor. Without a doubt.

Henderson hasn’t won anything memorable via submission. He’s lousy off his back as well.

Fedor has submitted Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Tim Sylvia, just to name a few. Watch his fight with Nogueira and you’ll see that he has good reversals and sweeps; perfect for combating wrestlers like Dan Henderson.

So Who Wins?

If this was 10 years ago and PRIDE was still king, I’d say Fedor. No hesitation. The man was practically invincible. But there’s doubt now. He’s lost twice in a row. I’d never count Fedor out. I’m just saying Dan Henderson has a pretty good chance.

Fedor by unanimous decision OR Dan Henderson by TKO.

You wanna know what makes this fight extra interesting? I heard a rumor that since it’s so expensive to keep both Fedor and Henderson on the payroll, the loser of this fight would be released from Strikeforce. They’d effectively be retired because there’s no other promotion available in North America.

Two men enter, one man leaves.

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