Dan Henderson and the 10 Best Knockout Wins in Strikeforce

At Strikeforce: Feijao vs Henderson, Dan Henderson continued to defy the odds, and father time, by capturing the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship with a terrific knockout victory over Rafael Feijao.

It's the first championship for the legend that is "Hendo" in Strikeforce, and his first since holding the Pride welterweight and middleweight championships simultaneously in 2007.

The knockout victory got us thinking about some of the best knockouts in Strikeforce history. The company, at least in its current incarnation, is still in the embryonic stages, but they have had some terrific knockout victories in their brief five year history.

Some criteria, just so you know the direction that this list is going, we are looking at the best wins either via knockout or technical knockout. These don't necessarily have to be one punch knockouts, just the ones where you can tell someone took a beating.

With that in mind, here are the 10 best knockouts in the history of Strikeforce.

10. Fedor vs Brett Rogers

Somehow, Brett Rogers was given a Strikeforce championship fight against Alistair Overeem six months after Fedor Emelianenko just destroyed him.

Just two minutes into the second round, and Fedor got bored with things and landed a vicious right that dropped Rogers to the canvas. Fedor followed with a couple punches while Rogers was down, but the right was more than enough to stop this one.

9. Dan Henderson vs Renato Sobral

Before Dan Henderson could get to Rafael Feijao, he had to go through Babalu last December.

The fight was billed as "A rematch 11 years in the making," since the two men fought once before at the Rings King of Kings tournament in 1999.

11 years of build for a fight that lasted less than two minutes. The two men basically circled each other for the first 80 seconds, and then Henderson went in for the kill.

Babalu tried to take Henderson down, but instead Henderson got to his feet, and with Babalu still on the ground trying to protect himself so he could stand up Henderson crushed him with a right hand.

8. K.J. Noons vs Jorge Gurgel

You could make an argument that the knockout in this fight between K.J. Noons and Jorge Gurgel came after the bell rang in round one.

It wasn't blatant, Noons landed a shot on Gurgel the instant the bell rang to end the round. Gurgel was loopy, but still able to go.

Noons made sure that Gurgel wouldn't be able to go much longer when he landed a shot right to the jaw about 10 seconds into the second round.

7. Gilbert Melendez vs Rodrigo Damm

Gilbert Melendez, much like Dan Henderson, is going to win a fight via knockout or he is going to win the fight via decision. Either way, he is fine with it.

It's much more fun for us when he is knocking someone out. Like Rodrigo Damm, for instance.

Melendez and Damm were battling for the interim Strikeforce lightweight championship in April, 2009. In the second round, Melendez landed a left-right combo that knocked Damm silly.

6. Dan Henderson vs Rafael Feijao

Dan Henderson's victory over Rafael Feijao was a great moment and a great story in the career of one of mixed martial arts greatest fighters.

Early in the fight, Hendo was dropped with a shot, but c'mon this is Dan Henderson and he doesn't get knocked out. EVER.

Henderson could be 80 years old, step into the cage with the best power fighter in the world and take shot after shot to the face and he still would not get knocked out.

I digress.

Henderson is known for his wrestling more than anything, but his power is second to none.

Just ask Rafael Feijao.

5. Cung Le vs Scott Smith

The second fight between Cung Le and Scott Smith was almost as good and dramatic as the first one, which we will get to in a bit.

Le just lost to Smith six months earlier, the only loss of his professional career so far and was looking for revenge. He would get his revenge with a vicious kick to the gut and some punches just for good measure.

4. Sergei Kharitonov vs Andrei Arlovski

There comes a point in every athlete's career where you start to feel bad for them because they have the will to compete, but the body just doesn't let them anymore.

Example—Andrei Arlovski.

In the opening round of the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament, Arlovski took on Sergei Kharitonov. Arlovski looked to be in great shape and looked good for about two minutes.

Sadly, Kharitonov knew how to throw a punch. He threw a right that dropped Arlovski, then finished him with three vicious punches on the ground that left Arlovski lying motionless.

3. Scott Smith vs Cung Le

The second Scott Smith-Cung Le fight on the list, but the first one between the two men, took place at Strikeforce: Evolution in December, 2009.

These two engaged in a war, and in the third round Smith connected with a left that dropped Le and he just continued the assault until the ref jumped in and stopped it.

2. Frank Shamrock vs Cesar Gracie

The first event in Strikeforce history was certainly a memorable one. It featured a record crowd, at least at the time, of 18,265 people piling into the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California to see the return of Frank Shamrock as he fought Cesar Gracie.

Shamrock didn't disappoint, scoring a knockout in only 21 seconds.

1. Antonio Silva vs Fedor Emelianenko

This one should just be known as "The Eye."

Fedor and Antonio Silva met in February, in the first round of the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament. All the talk going into the tournament was about a possible Fedor vs Alistair Overeem fight in the second round.

Silva didn't seem to care about that fight too much because he layed a vicious ground-and-pound on Fedor in the second round, the likes of which hasn't been seen in a long time.

Fedor talked retirement after the fight, but his management team (which needs him for the money he draws) talked him out of it.