One can see why Fedor Emelianenko would take a fight against Dan Henderson.
After being finished by both submission and TKO in his past two fights respectively, he needs a better matchup than the ones he has been given. In the new era of heavyweight MMA fighters, Emelianenko is a relic based on size alone. His remarkable athletic ability and skill have usually been enough, but his three fights in Strikeforce have exposed him somewhat.
His last victory, against Brett Rogers, was significantly closer than it looked to be on paper. Rogers almost came away with the upset before he was caught (like many others) with a KO shot. Emelianenko was overwhelmed by size against Antonio Silva and by technique against Fabricio Werdum.
All three men are around the maximum limit for the division, with Silva having to cut weight to the heavyweight limit of 265. With his skills depreciating, Emelianenko looks to be the valiant, yet undersized hero who finally gets overwhelmed by the larger opponent.
Many, including UFC announcer Joe Rogan, have wondered aloud if Emelianenko’s time as a small heavyweight is over.
“I think at the highest levels of the game, you can’t be rolling around fat at 230 and fighting those guys,” Rogan said recently, at about the same time rumors of a Henderson-Fedor fight came about.
With Henderson on a bit of a tear since his loss to UFC welterweight contender Jake Shields a year ago for the Strikeforce middleweight title, it makes tremendous sense from a matchmaking perspective.
Both are veterans of the MMA circuit and known to both casual and hardcore fans alike. Old Pride videos are strewn with highlights of both of them. With the Strikeforce acquisition by Zuffa, the promotional materials will be available to take advantage of both fighters’ history. The highlight package could be sensational to introduce the masses who were not around for the heyday of Pride.
It doesn’t take much to sell Henderson-Fedor, either. Henderson has had a handful of highlight-reel knockouts recently, including his light heavyweight championship victory, and Fedor is a big enough name to immediately challenge for the title without a prior victory in the division.
And that’s where it should be: the light heavyweight division. Anything else devalues both as fighters.
When a champion fights outside his weight class, he should have no reasonable opponent on the horizon or have effectively cleaned out the division. Usually that’s one and the same. It’s quite rare, though, and it’s why Georges St. Pierre moving up to the middleweight division in the UFC makes sense. He has defeated nearly everyone of note already in his division. Henderson hasn’t faced anyone in the division yet.
Henderson has yet to make a title defense of any kind. His Strikeforce title win was his first championship victory after he lost to both Anderson Silva and Quinton Jackson for the UFC middleweight and light heavyweight titles respectively. In fact, no one in the Strikeforce light heavyweight division has defended it successfully since Bobby Southworth defeated Anthony Ruiz in 2008.
The title has played hot potato ever since — from Southworth to Renato Sobral, Gegard Mousasi, Muhammed Lawal and Rafael Cavalcante before finding itself around Henderson’s waist.
Henderson fighting Emelianenko, with the title on the line, makes sense. There's no other reason for them to face off.
Emelianenko has no good reason to have Henderson fight on his heavyweight terms as opposed to dropping down. Coming off a two-fight losing streak, after being the No. 1-ranked heavyweight in the world, an immediate title shot for the Russian would be considered more earned by legacy than by current results. And one can make a case for a light heavyweight Emelianenko jumping ahead in line to take on Henderson, allowing the Russian to fight against opponents who can’t overwhelm him with size alone. His skill would be measured, not his body mass index, in a light heavyweight fight.
It would make for an interesting fight at a minimum, as Henderson isn’t massive for a light heavyweight, and Emelianenko would be in supremely good shape at 205 pounds. Both men are similar size and love to throw big right hands. On top of it, you have an American Olympic wrestler taking on a Russian Sambo expert, which sounds something like an MMA version of “Rocky 4.”
You can argue that Emelianenko didn’t lose because of overwhelming skill to Silva, just size, and Werdum’s submission was a superb display of Brazilian jiu-jitsu from one of its finer practitioners. What you can’t argue is that a fight between Henderson and Fedor at 220 would be something either deserves.
Henderson is a champion with a title to defend. Fedor needs to challenge him for it. Anything less would be uncivilized.
