Written by Scott Swerbinsky

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UFC 139 went down last night in San Jose, California and what a great show it was. The main event might have been the best fight ever and a crowd favorite earned another title shot in the near future.

 

Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua capped off a solid night of mixed martial arts action with an instant classic. While it wasn’t the most technical fight I have ever seen, it was back and forth and action packed.

 

Coming into the fight there was talk that Rua was in the best shape of his life and hungrier than ever. When he stepped into the octagon, I didn’t see that. He appeared out of shape, something we are getting used to seeing from Shogun. Henderson however, at age 41, looked in peak physical condition.

Thirty seconds into the fight, Henderson landed a big shot and appeared that this was going to be a quick night. Shogun recovered but was huffing and puffing with a few minutes left of the first round, and this was a five round contest.

The beating from Henderson continued and Rua showed more than ever before. He weathered numerous storms and started to land big shots of his own. At one point I thought to myself “The hell with the scorecards, there is no loser here.” The fans were the real winners as two legends beat the living shit out of each other for twenty five minutes.

Henderson pulled out a very close decision and rightfully so. He won three of the five rounds. Both fighters had rounds that were extremely one sided and that goes to show just how tough both of these guys are. It was fun to watch and I sat there is amazement that they were able to continue fighting as such a pace while taking a horrible beating.

If you missed this fight, you need to check it out, it’s well worth the time.

The performance of the night goes to none other than “The California Kid” Urijah Faber. He looked phenomenal yet again in a dominating performance over a very tough Brian Bowles.

Faber landed a huge punch that led to a second round submission victory. With the win, Faber earned another title shot against Dominick Cruz. Faber and Cruz have fought twice already with one victory a piece. There is talk that Urijah and Cruz will be the next coaches on The Ultimate Fighter reality show to hype of the title contest.

The co main event of the night was a bit of a letdown. Cung Le, making his UFC debut and fighting in front of his hometown fans, disappointed in a big way. He looked very out of shape and rusty in his fight with Wanderlei Silva.

Silva does deserve credit for weathering an early storm and getting a 2^nd round knockout, but Le looked gassed out about two minutes in. I think Le might have underestimated Silva and he paid the price by getting a beat down.

Full results:

• Dan Henderson def. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
• Wanderlei Silva def. Cung Le via knockout (strikes) - Round 2, 4:49
• Urijah Faber def. Brian Bowles via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 2, 1:27
• Martin Kampmann def. Rick Story via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
• Stephan Bonnar def. Kyle Kingsbury via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-25, 30-27)
• Ryan Bader def. Jason Brilz via knockout (punch) - Round 1, 1:17
• Michael McDonald def. Alex Soto via knockout (punches) - Round 1, 0:56
• Chris Weidman def. Tom Lawlor via technical submission (D'arce choke) - Round 1, 2:07
• Gleison Tibau def. Rafael dos Anjos via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
• Miguel Torres def. Nick Pace via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Seth Baczynski def. Matt Brown via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 2, 0:42
• Danny Castillo def. Shamar Bailey via TKO (punches) - Round 1, 4:52

What a great night of mixed martial arts action. There were a lot of fans out there complaining after the UFC on Fox card but this should erase all of those bad thoughts. UFC 139 was awesome, plain and simple. Mixed martial arts is still the fasting growing sport in the world and I would assume they earned even more fans after last night’s card.