"I tried to finish him a couple of times and it tired me out a little bit. He tired to Rocky Balboa-me early on. He wore me out with his head. I thought it was one or two shots away from being finished but he tucked his head in pretty nice. As soon as he got that takedown in the fifth round I knew I had the fight won I just didn't give him a 10-8 round. I would have been very, very surprised if I didn't win and very disappointed in the judges. Honestly, I thought I won the first four rounds, three easily, with a possible 10-8 round. So I knew I had the fight won in the fifth round. It's not the way I like to finish fights but he wasn't doing too much damage and I was still able to move on bottom and recover guard or half-guard once or twice. He did a good job staying on top and recovering mount. Had the fight been real close, I probably would have tried to get back to my feet and finish him."
Dan Henderson reflects on his triumphant return to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) last night (Nov. 19, 2011) at UFC 139 from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. "Hendo" stood toe-to-toe with Mauricio Rua for five grueling rounds but was fading fast in the final two frames of their five-round tilt. The promotion recently switched all headliners to from three to five rounds, taking away a lopsided unanimous decision win for Henderson into a gritty comeback for "Shogun," who almost stole the contest with a dominant last round, similar to Mark Hominick vs. Jose Aldo at UFC 129 earlier this year. The scorecards call the former Olympian the winner of their "Fight of the Night" affair, but do you disagree? Should it have been a draw instead? Read our live results and play-by-play (click here) and give us your take.
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