UFC 93: Franklin v. Hendo, Shogun v. Coleman

Saturday, JAN. 17, 2009
Venue: O2 Arena in Dublin, Ireland

Main Card Bouts

-Rich Franklin  vs. Dan Henderson @ light heavyweight
-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Mark Coleman @ light heavyweight
-Denis Kang vs. Alan Belcher
-Rousimar Palhares vs. Jeremy Horn
-Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle

Preliminary Bouts

-Martin Kampmann vs. Alexander Barros
-Ivan Serati vs. Thomasz Drwal
-Tom Egan vs. John Hathaway
-Nate Mohr vs. Denis Siver
-Eric Schafer vs. Antonio Mendes

Dan "Hollywood" Henderson will step back into the Octagon to face former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich "Ace" Franklin in a light heavyweight bout as both fighters try to place themselves into contention in the 205lb. division. Franklin 24-3 is coming off a TKO(Body Kick) of Matt Hamill while Henderson recently defeated Rousimar Palhares by Decision. Franklin v. Henderson is interesting in several aspects including the fact that both fighters will be fighting @ 205 instead of 185. Will that affect either fighter? Henderson said that he feels more comfortable at light heavy and Franklin due to his losses to Anderson Silva needed to move up. This matchup will be a southpaw striker & Brown Belt in JiuJitsu in Franklin against a wrestler with a piston of a right hand in Henderson. Look for this bout to end with Henderson being the victor by TKO.

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Mark "The Hammer" Coleman(UFC Hall of Famer) will be Coleman's return to UFC action where he first started his career. This will be a grudge-match between the two after Shogun broke his arm attempting to stop a Coleman takedown. Moments after the injury a mele began between both competitors camps. In this bout, Coleman will make a drop in weight class to Light Heavyweight from Heavyweight and this should make him quicker and give him an advantage in size/strength. On paper, Shogun Rua should win this matchup as he's some 17 years younger then Coleman. Shogun will be making his return to action after some 2-3 knee surgeries in the last 15 months. Coleman an old school ground-n-pounder versus a young Muay Thai & JiuJitsu practitioner. This bout ends with a Shogun TKO of the UFC Hall of Famer 

Rousimar Palhares by Submission

Marcus Davis by KO