Dan Henderson vs Renato Sobral 2 - Strikeforce: St. Louis
Another throwback, this time featuring arguably MMA’s scariest puncher ever Dan Henderson.
In 2010, Hendo is already a legend of the sport tho his biggest win was arguably still to come. He was a former Pride FC welterweight and middleweight champion, beating the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Murilo Bustamante, Kazuo Misaki, Ninja Rua, etc as well as a successful tour in the UFC where he challenged for LHW and MW gold. He came up short but left the promotion on a 3 fight win streak, beating Michael Bisping, Rich Franklin, and Rousimar Palhares. He’d head over to Strikeforce where he challenged for MW gold but lost to Jake Shields. Hendo took it as a sign to move up to 205lbs and was given a title elimination bout with old foe - Renato Sobral aka Babalu.
Babalu was looking for revenge. Hendo was the first person to hand him a loss earlier in his career. While he picked up a bunch of losses to familiar names like Fedor, Liddell, Sonnen, and Randleman, he picked up some notable wins over guys like a young Shogun Rua, Sonnen, Mo Smith, etc. It was enough to get him the Strikeforce LHW title, before he lost it to Gegard Mousasi. Heading into this rematch with Hendo, he was being given a shot to earn it back.
