UFC 139 Results & Analysis

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua VS Dan "Hendo" Henderson - Two dogs staring at each other through the cage since the legendary Pride Fighting Championship days. One of the greatest battle's in UFC history concluded with a controversial Unanimous Decision (48-47,48-47,48-47) victory for Henderson; the judges scores were questionable as many had scored the bout as a draw, resulting in many fans demanding a more conclusive re-match between the two legends.
The UFC's motto - "Leave It All In The Octagon" was truly fulfilled, as the back and forth bout was fought for five epic rounds; the early rounds were in Hendo's favour, with multiple Shogun takedown attempts being stuffed by the Greco-Roman wrestler, resulting in a barrage of ruthless punches which bloodied up Shogun's face early on. Although both fighters landed over and over looking to finish, Hendo's attack seemed to be causing the most damage. However, the 'never say die' attitude of Shogun led to continuous pressing forward with straight left and right hands. An over-hand right by Hendo buckled Shogun in the 3rd round but the warrior spirit of Shogun would not be easily finished; these bursts of power punches became Hendo's downfall within the championship rounds, where Shogun managed to land multiple straight/uppercut punches and takedowns where his BJJ black belt helped him mount Hendo on several occasions and ground n' pound the gassed Hendo.
The "W" launched Hendo into title contention for either Anderson Silva's middleweight or Jon Jones light heavyweight crown.
The heart of both fighters earned $70,000 for the joint Fight of The Night bonus, shared with the Wanderlei Silva VS Cung Le brawl, ending in a TKO victory for "The Axe Murderer".

Main Card:

• Light Heavyweight bout:  Stephan Bonnar vs.  Kyle Kingsbury

Bonnar defeated Kingsbury via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-25, 30-27).

• Welterweight bout:  Martin Kampmann vs.  Rick Story

Kampmann defeated Story via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

• Bantamweight bout:  Urijah Faber vs.  Brian Bowles

Faber defeated Bowles via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:27 of round 2.

• Middleweight bout:  Wanderlei Silva vs.  Cung Le

Silva defeated Le via TKO (knees and punches) at 4:49 of round 2.

• Light Heavyweight bout:  Maurício Rua vs.  Dan Henderson

Henderson defeated Rua via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47).

Preliminary Card:

• Catchweight (158 lb) bout:  Shamar Bailey vs.  Danny Castillo

Castillo defeated Bailey via TKO (punches) at 4:52 of round 1.

• Welterweight bout:  Matt Brown vs.  Seth Baczynski

Baczynski defeated Brown via submission (guillotine choke) at 0:42 of round 2.

• Catchweight (141 lb) bout:  Miguel Torres vs.  Nick Pace

Torres defeated Pace via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

• Lightweight bout:  Gleison Tibau vs.  Rafael dos Anjos

Tibau defeated dos Anjos via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27).

• Middleweight bout:  Tom Lawlor vs.  Chris Weidman

Weidman defeated Lawlor via submission (D'arce choke) at 2:07 of round 1.

• Bantamweight bout:  Michael McDonald vs.  Alex Soto

McDonald defeated Soto via KO (punches) at 0:56 of round 1.

• Light Heavyweight bout:  Ryan Bader vs.  Jason Brilz

Bader defeated Brilz via KO (punch) at 1:17 of round 1.

Fighters were awarded $70,000 bonuses.

• Fight of the Night:  Wanderlei Silva vs.  Cung Le &  Maurício Rua vs.  Dan Henderson
• Knockout of the Night:  Michael McDonald
• Submission of the Night:  Urijah Faber