THE CANADIAN PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio — One look at Dan Henderson and you know he fights for a living. His nose has clearly been on a journey or two and his ears look like someone has taken pliers to them.
But Anderson Silva, Henderson’s opponent Saturday night at UFC 82: Pride of a Champion, looks more like a boyish student than a mixed martial artist — especially when wearing his glasses outside of the cage and talking in his lilting, high-pitched voice. It’s a testament to Silva’s fighting skills that 24 bouts have left him virtually unmarked.
The UFC middleweight champion is a lanky whirling dervish, a feared kickboxer who can put people away with almost any limb. In his last outing against Rich Franklin at UFC 77, when the former title-holder was reeling against the fence, the six-foot-two Silva hurt him seemingly at will with a barrage of punches, elbows, kicks and knees delivered with laser-like accuracy.
It’s almost a given that when Silva hits people, eventually they go down.
As Travis Lutter, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, learned at UFC 67, Silva is also good on the ground. A black belt himself, Silva locked Lutter in a triangle choke and then fired elbows at his head until Lutter — his shaved head reddening with each blow — tapped.
Silva (20-4 overall) is 5-0 in the UFC and needed just under 22 minutes to get there. The Brazilian is seen by many as the best pound-for-pound fighter in mixed martial arts.
"Silva’s a lot of man to handle," said veteran trainer Juanito Ibarra.
Henderson (22-6), however, is a tough customer in his own right. Before he took up MMA, he was a two-time member of the U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team (1992 and ’96). The former Pride title-holder has a granite chin, a hammer-like right hand and he was the only man to rule two weight classes in Pride (the equivalent of middleweight and light-heavyweight) at the same time.
In short, his MMA toolbox is almost as deep as Silva’s.
"This guy’s fought everybody," said UFC president Dana White. "A lot of people know he’s a wrestler but this guy’s a wrestler who’s adapted. His standup is great. He’ll go toe to toe and bang with anybody. He can go to the ground. He’s never been knocked out. One of the toughest guys ever in the sport."
Saturday’s main event seem to pit a rock (Henderson) against a very sharp pair of scissors (Silva). In rock, paper, scissors, that favours the six-foot-one Henderson and some see Henderson’s combination of power and wrestling ability as the perfect style to blunt Silva.
"I think that Anderson Silva looks fantastic right now but Dan Henderson’s a real bad matchup for him," said Canadian middleweight Jason (The Athlete) MacDonald. "Dan Henderson is just going to bury his head and take Silva down and … I think he’s going to be able to finish him on the ground."
Nate Marquardt, who lost to Silva at UFC 73, also sees danger signs for the UFC 185-pound champion.
"I really think Henderson has all the tools to beat Silva. He’s a better wrestler. One thing I’m concerned about Henderson is his conditioning. And with Silva (the champion’s conditioning), I don’t think that’s going to be a factor. Henderson, if he goes out there, and dominates the first three rounds and then he gets tired, he could be in a lot of trouble. But I think it could go either way, to be honest."
Light-heavyweight champion Quinton (Rampage) Jackson won a decision over Henderson at 205 pounds at UFC 75, surprising many by controlling Henderson when he got him on the ground. Ibarra, who trains Jackson, believes Henderson has focused on his wrestling in getting ready for Silva, who is smaller than Jackson.
"If there’s a guy to beat Silva, it is Henderson I think," said Ibarra. "He has a tremendous wrestling style. I think he brought into his camp some phenomenal wrestlers (to train for Silva), so it goes to show that is plan is probably such. He needs to come in with some strategic ways to beat Silva because Silva’s definitely on top of the game."
Henderson, at 37 some five years older than Silva, is 2-2 in his last four fights, losing to Jackson and Kazuo Misaki and beating Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort. Anderson Silva has won six straight and his last loss was a disqualification for an illegal kick in a January 2006 bout with Yushin Okami.
.Even in defeat, Silva is frightening. He was on his back with Okami in his guard and when the Japanese fighter leaned back, he caught him with a vicious up-kick to the chin that laid Okami out.
That was January 2006. Three months later, Silva was in the win column, using a stunning standing elbow to send Tony Fryklund to la-la land.
"He’s definitely the more refined striker and has a little bit of a reach advantage on me," Henderson said of Silva. "Also his strength is to getting into the clinch and beating guys up in there. That happens to be my strength. I feel that my style matches up great against him."
He promises to be more aggressive on the ground against Silva than he was against Jackson.
"I don’t think it’s his strong point," Henderson said of Silva’s wrestling. "But I’m not expecting to go in there and be able to take him down at will."
Whatever Henderson does, he will have to get past Silva’s combine harvester-like offence to get there. And that may prove difficult.
With Pride now defunct, Henderson’s Pride belt is essentially little more than a memento. But the Silva-Henderson victor should still be able to lay claim to the title of undisputed 185-pound champion.
Should Silva win, he may look to move up to 205 pounds, since the middleweight division offers few other challenges. When not in serious training, the Brazilian normally walks around at 215-216 pounds. Silva has offered different answers recently on a move up in weight, ranging from "not right now" to it’s something his camp would have to "seriously start thinking about" depending on the outcome Saturday.
The bookmakers have Silva as a slight favourite. Gamblerspalace.com had Silva at minus-140, meaning that a wager of $140 would net a profit of $100. Henderson was plus-110, meaning a $100 bet would earn a profit of $110.
NOTE: The UFC has won a preliminary injunction against Randy Couture, preventing the Hall of Famer from promoting competing MMA events. The UFC sued Couture after he resigned in mid-contract.
