Belfort vs. Henderson 3: Winner, Recap and Reaction

In a clash of aging veterans, Vitor Belfort happened to have a little bit more spring in his step than Dan Henderson at UFC Fight Night 77. He won his grudge match against Hendo via first-round knockout in Saturday night's main event.

MMAJunkie tweeted out the official result:

Both fighters started the bout tentatively, gauging distance with nary a strike thrown in the first two minutes of the opening frame. However, it didn't take long for Belfort to spring into action. A beautiful head kick that turned the clock back to 2013 sent Henderson to the canvas. 

A few follow-up strikes then brought the fight to a close.

Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com noted it looked like the 2013 rematch between the two middleweights:

The stoppage victory added to Belfort's career as a finisher. According to the UFC, he's now the all-time leader in knockouts:

The victory also put Belfort back in the win column after his loss to middleweight champion Chris Weidman in May. Perhaps more importantly to Belfort, it improved his career record against Henderson to 2-1. Even though neither fighter is near his prime, this might have been the most important of the three bouts between Belfort and Henderson.

The last time the two fought—in 2013—Belfort earned a first-round knockout victory. But that was when both fighters were undergoing testosterone-replacement therapy. The Phenom tested positive for steroids after losing his first bout against Henderson in the Pride organization in 2006.

This time, Belfort was able to pick up the win without the TRT, which the UFC has banned.

Where this puts Belfort in the middleweight pecking order is a mystery. This was only his second fight since the TRT ban. The other was his loss to Weidman, and a win over Henderson doesn't mean what it used to. He's 2-6 in his last eight fights.

As Adam Martin of the Toronto Star noted, this was a matchup of old-school UFC veterans:

The loss for Henderson could signal the end of his illustrious career. At the age of 45, it's difficult to see his rebounding from another loss, though he appears to be determined to keep fighting.

"I have two more, so this one plus one more," Henderson said of his UFC contract, per Damon Martin of Fox Sports. "You never know with me but I can guarantee I'll be there for this one and one more and finish out my contract and see how I feel at that point and go from there."

With one more fight left on the contract, it seems likely that he will see it out. However, the possibility that the former Pride and UFC tournament champion will pick up another win in the Octagon seems decidedly less likely.

Then again, the same might be said for Belfort. The Phenom's win Saturday may have been some form of personal vindication, but it's hardly a harbinger of things to come. He'll have to pick up a win that's good for something other than nostalgia to keep his momentum going.