Dan Henderson: 5 Reasons He Will Defeat Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

Just a few hours ago, MMA Weekly broke the news that current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion is making his return to the Octagon at UFC 139, taking on Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. 

A former UFC light heavyweight champion, Rua, like Henderson, is one of the biggest Pride stars of all time.  

At 41 years old, remains one of the top 205 pounders in the game, as he has won six of his past seven, including four by stoppage. 

Meanwhile, Shogun looked impressive against Forrest Griffin last month in Rio, his first fight since losing the light heavyweight belt to Jon "Bones" Jones.

Despite some inconsistencies in the past few years, Rua has avenged three of his five career losses, and owns quality wins over the likes of Alistair Overeem (twice), Mark Coleman, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto Machida.

Still in his prime at 29 years old, there is no doubt that Rua is one of the most dangerous strikers in the game right now.

Nevertheless, here are five reasons why Dan Henderson will beat Mauricio Rua on November 19.  

The H-Bomb

How many fighters out there have a punch named after them? 

Not too many, but Dan Henderson is one of them.  His right hook is so powerful that fans and analysts alike typically refer to it as the "H-bomb."

Hendo has won 13 fights (out of 28) via knockout, but his ability to finish fights actually seems to have improved with age.

Now, to be fair, Rua has only been stopped due to strikes once in his career, but if Rua is put on the canvas at any point in the fight, he may have some serious trouble getting back up.

Greco-Roman Wrestling

While he often prepares to stand and trade with his opponents, Hendo represented the United States in both the 1992 and '96 Summer Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling.  

Two of Rua's losses have come against two other fighters with tremendous wrestling ability: Jon Jones and Mark Coleman.  

Now, certainly Rua did not look like himself the first time he fought Coleman, easily defeating him in their rematch, and many believe Shogun was pretty banged up when Jon Jones definitively beat him.

Still, the bottom line is that wrestling is Rua's weakest area, so if Henderson can get the fight down to the mat, Rua could have a difficult night ahead of him.   

Good Submission Defense

Dan Henderson is not an easy man to stop, and it seems a bit unrealistic to expect Rua to submit him from his back. 

Rua, although a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, only has one submission victory on his impressive professional fight resume. 

In 36 fights, Henderson has only been submitted three times: one time by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, once by the Brazilian's twin brother Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and the last time by by reigning middleweight king Anderson Silva.  

These are three greats in the sport, with Big Nog of course being recognized as one of the best BJJ practitioners in MMA (and that's not to mention that he had a decent amount of weight on Henderson in their two encounters). 

Also, despite being soundly controlled by another highly-touted grappler in Jake Shields in their April 2010 encounter, Henderson survived basically four rounds worth of submission attempts.  

Just as anyone could be knocked out, any fighter can be submitted, but Henderson's track record indicates that this will be no easy task for Rua.  

An Iron Chin

In a career that has spanned a little over 14 full years, Dan Henderson has never been knocked out.  

If that's not the definition of an iron chin...someone needs to update the current definition. 

Furthermore, it's not like Henderson has not encountered his fair share of fighters with serious knockout power. 

Gilbert Yvel, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva (in his prime), Rafael Calvalcante and Fedor Emelianenko are just a few examples of some serious strikers who had little to no success against Hendo. 

Rua has an excellent Muay Thai game with some serious ground-and-pound skills to go along with it, but Henderson has shown that he can eat just about any barrage of strikes. 

Shogun Has Questionable Cardio

Let's not rule out the possibility that this fight goes to a decision—both these guys are top competitors that are difficult to put away. 

However, the longer the fight goes, the more the odds tip into Henderson's favor. 

Outside of the aforementioned fight with Shields, Henderson has never really shown subpar cardio in his career. 

Shogun is a different story.

Dating back to September of 2007, Rua has lost three of his past four fights that have went beyond the second round.  

Granted, one of these fights was a heavily disputed decision loss to Lyoto Machida, but it is hard to deny that, recently, Shogun's gas tank has largely been viewed as one of his greatest weaknesses.  

Conversely, Hendo has won three of his past four that have gone past the second round.  

The cardio edge seems to clearly belong to Henderson in this one.  

Despite being an old-timer, Hendo has all of the intangibles to come out victorious over a very tough Shogun Rua at UFC 139.