Hendo Defeats Fedor in First Round

Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson lived up to its name by, well, featuring a bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson. That aside, you got to witness either the thrill of one of the best fighters in MMA history put yet another feather in his cap or the depressing third straight loss of MMA’s best heavyweight of all-time, depending on where your allegiances lie.

I wouldn’t exactly call myself Nostradamus for predicting a rollicking, wild brawl to start the bout. What did surprise me is that both men were visibly hurt by punches within the first round. I don’t know if I underestimated the considerable punching power of both men or overestimated the ability of both to withstand powerful shots (or a bit of both), but this fight presented a dynamic finish where both men seemed to get rocked within instants of one another.

After a prolonged clinch in the middle minutes of the round, Hendo appeared to be hurt as Fedor came forward aggressively with punches. Hendo, though alert, fell to his back against the cage, but as Fedor swarmed with more shots, Henderson underhooked Fedor’s near leg and escaped out the back door, then quickly landed an uppercut in a beautifully-performed sequence. Fedor was hurt pretty badly and as Hendo capitalized, Herb Dean quickly stepped in to stop the bout.

In his post-fight interview, Fedor was mum on the subject of retirement, saying that it would be “God’s will” that would decide his fate. He was more opinionated on the stoppage, which he did feel was a bit hasty. In Fedor’s defense, he did appear to be actively working to defend himself as Hendo was pulled off of him. However, when Dean initially made the decision to step in, Fedor was definitely hurt and in trouble, so it’s hard to fault the veteran referee for ending the bout.

In the night’s only title bout, Miesha Tate deftly ended a back-and-forth battle with Marloes Coenen with a beautiful arm triangle from side control in the fourth round to become the new Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight Champion. Tate had gotten takedowns in each of the four rounds, though Coenen had won at least one stanza with her great jiu-jitsu along the way.

In the closing sequence, Tate had assumed side control with her back to the cage and worked to get her head underneath Coenen’s far arm. Once she did so, she assumed knee-on-belly, then crossed over to mount and quickly to side control all within seconds to sink the hold in. Coenen fought off the submission for several seconds, but was forced to tap when she could not escape and could no longer fight off the hold. The win for Tate likely sets up a rematch between her and former champion Sarah Kaufmann (who beat Tate the first time they fought) in the future.

Tim Kennedy may have punched his ticket to another title opportunity against Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza with a clear-cut decision win over the tough Robbie Lawler earlier in the night. Lawler showcased much-improved takedown defense throughout the fight, but Kennedy was still able to take him down and keep him there when it counted. When Lawler had a better opportunity to beat up on a tiring Kennedy late in the fight, he seemed gun-shy and a takedown in the last minute of the bout sealed the deal for Kennedy for once and for all.

In a very similar fight, Tyron Woodley beat Paul Daley by unanimous decision in the second televised bout of the event. Like Lawler, Daley showed much-improved takedown defense, but it still just wasn’t good enough as Woodley controlled Daley enough to win the unanimous decision. During the several minutes that the fight remained standing, Woodley held his own in the striking, as the threat of the takedown seemed to hurt Daley’s output early in the fight. Later on, Daley started to get the better of the striking, but started to favor knees that gave Woodley easy takedown attempts. Though Daley would stuff the takedowns, he would be stuck in the sprawl position with Woodley for moments at a time as precious seconds ticked off the clock. In the end, he ran out of time to put a hurting on Woodley, who remains undefeated.

In the first televised bout of the evening, Tarec Saffiedine did what most expected him to do, picking apart Scott Smith through three rounds en route to a unanimous decision win. Smith never really was able to dissuade Saffiedine from moving around and mixing up his strikes and never had the victorious fighter in danger. This one-sided bout showed that Smith’s regular strategy of just taking punishment while looking for a big shot is not only outdated, but is putting the career of a very fun fighter to watch in jeopardy.

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Tags: Dan Henderson, Fedor Emelianenko, Marloes Coenen, Miesha Tate, Paul Daley, Robbie Lawler, Scott Smith, Strikeforce, Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson, Tarec Saffiedine, Tim Kennedy, Tyron Woodley