Wow. I’m still in awe from the UFC 139 main event between Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua. That was an epic war which saw Dan Henderson come away with the hard earned decision win. It was a solid event leading into the final two fights, but Wanderlei Silva turned back the clock to put away a gassed Cung Le which set the stage for Rua/Hendo. Let’s get to the fights and we’ll start with the epic main event. Quite honestly it was one of the best fights I’ve seen. It had it all from drama, heart, will to win, and great moments of technique. Oh yea, and Hendo winning put me at 4-1 on my predictions for this card :).

  • Truthfully, there was no loser in the Shogun/Henderson fight. That’s what MMA is all about my friends. Two fighters displaying the will to win, in a back and forth fight that saw great moments standing and on the ground. Just an amazing performance from both fighters. Just to think that Dan Henderson had a performance like that at 41 years of age! Henderson probably doesn’t have many more fights left in him. However, I wonder if a fight like this will change both fighters? The damage absorbed in fights like this are the type of fights that change careers. I don’t mean that in a good way. Rua has taken massive beatings in 2 of his last 3 fights and he’s not even 30 years old year. However, it’ll be interesting to see how he performs in his next couple of fights. It looks like Henderson will get a title shot at either middleweight or light heavyweight. I’d prefer him to stay at light heavyweight since that’s where all of success has been lately, and that’s where he performs the best in my opinion.

 

  • Wanderlei Silva held off the retirement talk for one more fight. Everyone was talking about how good he looked, but let’s be honest. It was more of Le gassing that did him in than what Wanderlei did. Almost all of the damage Silva inflicted came after it was apparent that Le didn’t have anything left in the tank. This was be a perfect way for Silva to retire, but he won’t do it because he’s such a prideful fighter. Let’s not forget the fact that Le had Silva rocked a couple of times in the first round and that Le hadn’t fought in well over a year.

 

  • Urijah Faber went about how I thought it would go except I didn’t expect Faber to be able to finish Brian Bowles. It was the first finish Faber has had in a while but he looked pretty impressive in there tonight. It looks like he’ll get another shot at Dominick Cruz. I don’t have a problem with that as it’s a pretty shallow division and they might as well use Faber for the little star power that he has before he gets too old and can’t perform at this level anymore.

 

  • Martin Kampmann and Rick Story went at it and the fight went about how I expected it to go. I thought Kampmann would start finding his range and winning the exchanges as Story likes to block punches with his face. Story started out like gangbusters and threw some hellish body punches. He might go to the body better than anyone in MMA. However, Kampmann won rounds two and three to take the decision in my book. Finally he got a decision to go in his favor after losing two razor thin decisions prior to this fight. This gives Story back to back losses, so it’ll be interesting to see where he goes from here.

 

  • Stephan Bonnar fought a safe fight against Kyle Kingsbury, but that’s about what I expected as Kingsbury usually fades later in his fights. Bonnar has put together a few wins in a row now.

 

  • Ryan Bader put Jason Brilz to sleep which is what I expected. Huge win for Bader as he had lost back to back fights. Brilz is probably cut with this loss.

Give us your thoughts on the fights!

8 thoughts on “UFC 139 reaction: Immediate thoughts and commentary”
  1. I wonder if more people will start to give credence to the idea that TRT is helping Dan Henderson a lot more than it should. The facts are he is a 41 year old fighter that has done nothing but get bigger, stronger, and faster throughout the last 5-6 years of his career. Doesn’t that remind anybody else of Bonds, Clemens, etc..? I know everyone has a love affair with Hendo, and I’m guilty of that too. But the evidence that he’s recieving an unfair advantage from the treatment is pretty apparent IMO.

  2. Yea, I’ve thought about it ever since the Chael drama last year because I figured out that Dan had been on it for a fews years already then. It kind of baffles me that nobocy wants to have that conversation. I know he is a beloved fighter, but c’mon something odd is going on when it’s quite apparent that the 41 year old Hendo would destroy the 36 year old version.

  3. Randy was on it too. Seems like all those Team Quest guys were in favor of it. I personally don’t have a big issue with it as long as it’s done legally under a doctor’s supervision and it’s not breaking any of the commission rules.

  4. Ehh..might be something too it…dunno how much though…I think the biggest thing for Hendo is that he’s fighting at 205 and not jumping between weight classes…he’s always fought better at LHW…I mean…he was on point like hard nipples when he fought Rampage at UFC 75…five round war..and that was over 4 years ago..

    Randy on the other hand…I think he was doing a lot more than TRT…that’s just my personal opinion…I mean…he looked younger as he got older if that makes any sense…and I’m talking in physical appearance not fighting.

  5. how dare you suggest the great randy couture would even…. i wish randy would come back to fight hendo. that’s one fight i wish we could have seen.

  6. lol….come on son..they joker didn’t find the fountain of youth or anything…lol…Hendo/Couture at 205=Couture going to sleep like he did against Liddell IMO.

  7. Hendo’s TRT use is thought to have started in 2006-07 so it would have been before or right after the Wanderlei fight.

    As for Couture, just look at that dude against Gonzaga. That ain’t natural. 228 straight ripped.

    I’d like Hendo vs. Franklin 2, lets see what good ole toothless can do without a late eyepoke in the rematch.

    Hate, hate, hate, hate

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