Dan Henderson makes his return this weekend against Mauricio Rua in a potentially explosive main event encounter at UFC 139.
Shogun favourite to defeat Henderson in main event
Dan Henderson makes his return this weekend against Mauricio Rua in a potentially explosive main event encounter at UFC 139.
The former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion last competed in Dana White's organisation as a middleweight in 2009 and will be looking for a victory to cement his position as a title contender.
The 41-year-old is facing a former UFC Light Heavyweight champion in 'Shogun' Rua, who made an impressive comeback from losing his belt to Jon Jones by knocking out Forrest Griffin at UFC 134.
Rua is 12 years younger than Henderson, but the veteran's recent win record is impressive, having only lost one of his last seven fights.
By contrast, the Brazilian has had a patchy recent spell and has not won successive bouts for over two years.
However, 'Shogun' is the
favourite to win at 4/6 with Sky Bet, with Hendo 11/10 to get the victory.
The UFC have given this card the tagline 'Lights out' and this battle of knock-out artists could easily end in a
TKO/KO victory (4/11) for one man.
Henderson finished Fedor Emelianenko in his last bout and has stopped four of his last five fights by stoppage.
His only defeat in this weight class came in 2007 to Quinton Jackson and Henderson will fancy his chances of stopping Rua
(2/1) at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.
Debut
Elsewhere, Cung Lee makes his UFC debut against veteran Wanderlei Silva in the middleweight division.
The kickboxing expert
(8/11 with Sky Bet) has been competing in the K-1 organisation and Strikeforce, and has just one defeat in his MMA career.
After securing an unbeaten 16-fight record as a professional kickboxer, Lee has only tasted defeat to Scott Smith in Strikeforce - a loss which he avenged in spectacular fashion via a spinning kick in June 2010.
Lee has not competed since 2010 due to his desire to pursue an acting career, but dedicated battler Silva has not won since then either.
The veteran has won just two of his last fights in all competitions, but has faced some of the top names in the sport.
Defeats to Rich Franklin, Quinton Jackson, Dan Henderson and Chuck Liddell are nothing to be ashamed of, but the nature of his 27-seciond KO defeat to Chris Leben is worrying.
Lee may need time to adapt to the Octagon, but he is evens to seal a win inside three rounds and put another dent in Silva's stuttering career.
