Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson: A Fictional Head-to-Toe Breakdown

This Saturday, Strikeforce is putting on a main event that will be talked about for years to come.

Two legends of the sport—the current light heavyweight champion, Dan Henderson and the greatest heavyweight in MMA history, Fedor Emelianenko—will fight in a heavyweight bout.

Recently, Henderson was asked in an interview about the possibility of unifying the Strikeforce and UFC light heavyweight belts and taking on Jon Jones.

Henderson brushed the question off at the time, but he later recanted and said he would be interested in fighting Jones in a unification bout.

Immediately people began wondering about what would happen if these two met. The youngest champion in the history of the sport against one of the oldest?

Who would come out on top?

Here's a fictional head-to-toe breakdown of UFC champion Jon Jones against Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson.

Side note: Is anybody else wondering how Emelianenko got the red corner for his fight against Henderson?

Standard Striking

For the standard striking, Dan Henderson's gotta have the edge.

He's got 12 (T)KOs, and some of his victims have been Murilo Bustamante, Rafael Cavalcante, Wanderlei Silva, Renato Sobral and—my personal favorite—Michael Bisping.

Hendo's boxing is clean, crisp and quick, and he's got the H-bomb working for him too. That never hurts.

Advantage: Henderson

Flashy Striking

Jon Jones obviously has flashier striking than Henderson. Don't think this one's really up for debate.

Spinning elbows, spinning kicks, flying kicks, superman elbows and much, much more.

Advantage: Jones

KO Power

Need I say more?

Advantage: Henderson

Wrestling

Some may want to argue the call on this one, but I think their wrestling would be even and counteract each other.

Henderson was an Olympic wrestler back in 1992 and 1996, and Jones was the JUCO champion in 2006.

It would appear that Henderson would be the better wrestler on paper, but there's a 10-year difference between their wrestling peaks.

Jones has some of the best takedowns in MMA, but I believe that Henderson would be able to handle him—at least for a little bit.

This one would have either been for Jones or the push, and I'll give Henderson the benefit of the doubt.

Advantage: Push

Submissions

Henderson has two submissions in his career, and only one of those is a legitimate submission hold.

Back in 1997, in Henderson's second pro fight, he put Eric Smith to sleep with a guillotine choke and hasn't had one submission since.

Jones has had three submission victories in his career, and all were by guillotine choke.

He submitted Ryan Bader, Jake O'Brien and a fighter in the local circuit.

Advantage: Jones

Fun fact: Henderson's guillotine choke submission came when Jones was 10 years old.

Cardio

Henderson has gone five rounds twice in his career. Unfortunately, both of those came in losing efforts.

However, Jones has gone five rounds zero times in his career.

Based on experience, and having gone five rounds in the past, this one's gotta go to Hendo.

Experience: Henderson

Heart and Soul (aka the "How Bad Do You Want It?" Factor)

Henderson is an absolute legend of mixed martial arts. He was the Pride welterweight (185) and middleweight (205) champion at the same time. He is the only person to hold belts in two different weight classes in a major MMA organization ever.

He also won the Pride Welterweight Grand Prix in 2005, the UFC 17 middleweight tournament and—oh yeah—he's the current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion.

He's got nothing left to prove.

On the other hand, Jones is the current UFC light heavyweight champion, is the youngest champion in UFC history and still has many doubters.

Jones has much more to prove, and if he wants to be the greatest of all time, a win against Henderson would be a necessity.

Advantage: Jones

Winner

I see Jones taking home the W if these two were ever to meet for real.

Henderson's got the better straightforward striking, but I think Jones could fluster him a bit with a spinning back something or other.

In addition, although it was a push when it came to wrestling, Jones could very easily hold the edge.

Of course, there's always the chance that Hendo comes out and lands the H-Bomb, but nine times out of 10, Jones takes the cake.

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