Dan Henderson vs Lyoto Machida

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

This fight is the reason I bought the UFC 157 Pay Per View. It’s not a good stylistic matchup for Dan Henderson, who is coming off a knee injury. It will be interesting to see how mobile he is.

Lyoto Machida is a crazily precise striker, but Henderson’s beaten some of the best. The fact that this is a three-rounder is good for Henderson, who doesn’t have much of a gas tank nowadays. If Machida wins, he has a good claim to a title shot, but you never know what Dana’s going to do nowadays. He might have Jon Jones fight another middleweight or make Machida fight Glover Teixeira first. Live updates after the jump:[[MORE]]

Round 1: Machida tries the front kick. Henderson coming forward, he lands a leg kick and misses a punch. Lyoto is elusive as Henderson stalks him around the cage. Machida just wants to counterpunch. A lot of feeling out early. Dan comes in and gets hit. Kick to the body from Machida.

Dan clinches, Machida gets away. Machida lands, Dan whiffs. Dan lands a leg kick. Dan lands two rights. Leg kick from Machida. Dan shoots and lands some knees from the clinch. Dan kicks and ties up Machida, he’s throwing knees from the clinch. Takedown by Machida as the round ends. Not a lot of action that round.

Round 2: Dan clinches up and lands a kick. Lyoto lands a kick to the body. Machida lands a kick to the face as Henderson whiffs. Machida comes forward and Henderson narrowly misses a big right. Dan lands a leg kick. Dan comes in and eats a knee. Henderson gets punched coming in. Leg kick from Henderson. Lyoto misses the front kick, but lands a body kick. Dan lands a knee.

Henderson eats a right and falls down, but pops back up. Front kick by Machida is blocked. Dan eats another punch coming in. Dan comes in and eats a knee, but lands a left. Leg kick from Machida. Dan comes in throwing haymakers. Lyoto is backing up. It is going to be interesting to see how the judges score this fight. They don’t usually favor a fighter moving backwards as much as Machida has.

10-9 Machida. Dan is the aggressor, but he’s not landing much. Dan is also really really tired.

Round 3: Dan is coming forward swinging, and Lyoto is backing up. Machida lands a kick to the body. Dan gets close to Machida and takes him down with four minutes left to work. Dan is tired, but hopefully he has some mileage left in his tank.  an is landing shots to the body. Referee Herb Dean is telling Dan Henderson to work even as he’s throwing punches.

Machida’s got a tight guard on, but Dan is elbowing the body. Lyoto looks for a kimura as they get to their feet. Lyoto lands a big leg kick. Lyoto is content to do jazz hands and wait for Dan to come at him. The crowd is booing. Not sure if these guys know that there are three rounds in this fight. Dan’s winning this round. The other two were tight, given the general lack of action. Machida lands a jumping front kick. Machida throws a high kick. Dan doesn’t seem to want to push the action.

10-9 Henderson.

Classic Machida fight. If you don’t come at him, nothing is going to happen. He’s a great counterpuncher, but judges don’t often like a guy backing up the whole fight. That was boring.

Judges score it 29-28 Henderson and 29-28 Machida (twice). Split decision for Lyoto Machida.

Whatever. I don’t ever want to see Henderson in another five rounder. That was three rounds with barely any action, and he looked like he needed an oxygen tank. The crowd is booing lustily.