Anderson Silva put on one of the most impressive performances of the year in MMA on Saturday night with his destruction of Forrest Griffin at UFC 101, but Dan Henderson watched from cageside and came away from the fight convinced he's the man to beat Silva.
"Style-wise, it just wasn't a good fight for Forrest," Henderson told Mike Straka of Fox Fight Game.
Henderson, a former Olympic wrestler who fought Silva once before and had a very good first round against him before being submitted in the second, thinks he's the man to take the middleweight belt from the Spider.
"They've already announced I'm fighting him next," Henderson said. "I'm going to beat him up."
The UFC has made no official announcement that Henderson will get the next middleweight title shot against Silva, but the confidence with which Henderson says he's fighting Silva next would seem to indicate that the UFC brass has assured him he'll get a rematch with Silva. It's a fight that makes a lot of sense, given Henderson's status as the generally recognized No. 2 middleweight in the world, and given his knockoutof Michael Bisping at UFC 100. As for his claim that he'll beat Silva up? Well, I like Henderson's confidence, but I'm not so sure that I like his prediction. If Henderson gets into the Octagon with the same Silva who showed up against Griffin, he's going to have a long night if he gets the rematch he's seeking.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-09-2009 @ 2:02PM
itsmejwb said...
God Dan, I hope you do.
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8-09-2009 @ 2:20PM
mitch said...
gotta love Hendo.But spider looked really good lastnight.should be interesting though.
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8-09-2009 @ 2:34PM
imshortyk said...
Hendo's a controller, he's the Randy Couture of the middleweight division. His gameplan against Silva will be to put him on his back and, well, beat him up. Of course you have to watch out for the slick and slippery Jiu-jitsu game Anderson possesses, and Hendo did a pretty good job at that in the first round of their first fight.
He's a smart fighter, he'll learn, but so is Silva. It will be a great match up.
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8-09-2009 @ 3:54PM
ppostrategic said...
Dan knocks out a bar fighter (Bisping) and thinks his going to beat Silva.
Silva let Dan survive last time but not this next fight.
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8-09-2009 @ 4:16PM
richardbikle said...
i like Hendo's chances. i think silva having to drop so much weight to fight at middle weight is going to catch up with him. i see Hendo grinding out a ground and pound victory, unless that big right lands first but i dont really see that happening. Hendo is going to beat him this time.
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8-09-2009 @ 10:24PM
johnnynumber5 said...
Damn dude you are always piggy backing the wrestlers. Let's see how that works out for you ... LOL
I think hendo has a better chance than 5x king of pancreas Nate Marquardt and really has as good a chance of anyone in the MW division ... but, I just don't see Hendo being fast enough to land that big right hand.
If Hendo were to win this fight the only way I see that happening short of that laded up right hand is if he does ground and pound the spider. Like I said Hendo has as good a shot as anyone but I don't see it happening. BTW Silva always walks around at that 205-210 lbs in between MW fights. Thats his natural weight so the cut won't be an issue IMO.
8-09-2009 @ 10:52PM
richardbikle said...
although i've trained the whole spectrum, i've wrestled my whole life, i am biased.
last time hendo had a lot of distractions, opening a new gym and such, and didnt train as focused. i predict that wolnt be a problem this time, one thing wrestlers bring back to the mat after a loss is how to win. i think if hendo had the proper camp the first time he would have won that fight, but like you said, i'm biased.
8-11-2009 @ 1:32AM
johnnynumber5 said...
MMA has ebbs and flows ... we go through periods where it's all about submission fighters, then a guy like Lidell comes along who has a strong wrestling base and can keep it on the feet to use his striking, then we get a time with exceptional strikers, and it evolves to wrestlers smothering their opponents and pounding them out etc etc. There isn't any one style thats better or worse than the other it's how you use it in the ring. We have seen a guy like GSP who started out as a striker and developed himself into one of the best wrestlers in all of MMA and seemingly only uses his strikes to set up the takedown. GSP didn't start out with a strong wrestling base but evolved into the best wrestler in the welterweight division.
The ironic thing is that "MMA" has turned into it's own style where a lot of guys don't have any traditional background to speak of. My sensei and I were talking about the best base to start from for MMA ... we pretty much agreed some form of technical striking would be the best place to start from. It's so hard to watch some of these fights with "world class fighters" that all throw the same basic punches (with little combinations) and kicks. It's also true that you rarely see submissions that aren't your basic rear naked choke, arm bar, kimora, guillotine and sometimes a body triangle. You never really see many knee bars, ankle locks, darce choke, arm triangle, anaconda, gogoplata, peruvian necktie and even something as simple as a key lock.
It's the same thing with striking - you always see lazy jabs and telegraphed kicks. Thats why you see the fighters that have a strong traditional background as the most effective in MMA. FIghters like Anderson Silva, Georges St.Pierre, Lyoto Machida, BJ Penn, Fedor Emelianenko ... I think if you can start with a strong striking base and be proficient in grappling, wrestling and jujitsu then you will have a good chance of success. But, that doesn't mean if you have a traditional greco wrestling, collegiate wrestling, judo, jujitsu that you can't become a proficient striker.
I just don't think you can be a jack of all trades. You have to have a strong background in something and I think that a technical striking discipline (kenpo, kyokushin, boxing, muay thai, shotokan) for practical MMA purposes.
Like you are biased towards wrestling I'm kind of biased towards kick boxing. I have respect for all of it ... we also had a discussion about wrestling being a traditional martial art ... we both agreed that technically it is but we just don't think of it that way ... not that we don't respect it or anything like that.
Anyway ... I'm done rambling.