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| Strikeforce Preview: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson |
After Zuffa LLC purchased PRIDE in March of 2007, those dreams went up in smoke. Now, more than 4 years later, fans are finally getting the fight they had been asking for as American Dan “Hollywood” Henderson (‘Dangerous’ is a terrible nickname compared to Hollywood, so I don’t care what Jimmy Lennon Jr. calls him, he’s still Hollywood to me) takes on “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor Emelianenko is returning to the cage on the heels of back-to-back losses; really the first legitimate losses of his otherwise stellar MMA career. Emelianenko is at a bit of a career crossroads here, another loss would surely hurt his drawing power and his career legacy. A win will re-establish him as a proven commodity in the eyes of regular MMA fans and will return some of his reputation as the world’s number-one draw in MMA. For Henderson it’s another fight. At age 40 Henderson is the reigning, but not defending Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion and will be stepping up in weight (sort of) to take on Emelianenko. Henderson has stated in interviews that he feels he can still compete at the elite level, despite his age, and if there is one thing that Randy Couture has taught us, it’s that elite-level wrestlers can fight well into their 40′s with little physical depreciation. The fight has a lot of potential for fireworks and is actually an intriguing contrast in styles. Fedor has long been known for his slightly unorthodox striking combinations but irrefutable power, while the overhand right of Henderson is one of the biggest game-changers in the sport. On the ground Fedor has shown himself to be surprisingly adept, using an active, attacking guard to keep his opponent’s on the defensive while always searching for scrambles. On the other hand Henderson is one of the best wrestlers in the Light Heavyweight division and has the ability to take down most opponents if he chooses. There are a couple of big questions coming into this fight. First of all is what is the weight discrepancy going to be? Fedor usually weighs about 230 but is often quite soft in the middle, so I would expect the usual from him. However, Henderson is a Light Heavyweight moving up in weight, but has said that since the Heavyweight limit starts at 206, that’s his target. Henderson should be used to fighting bigger guys from the early days in his career, but 30 pounds is a lot to give up against a guy who two fights ago was considered the best Heavyweight fighter in MMA. One of the other big question marks coming into the fight is Emelianenko’s motivation and mental game. No one except for Fedor knows how he is feeling physically and mentally. And unless you think that “it will be decided by God’s will,” means anything at all, he’s not letting the cat out of the bag. What will the Russian’s mindset be like after coming off a beating from Antonio Silva. The bookmaker’s have had a betting line on this fight up for several weeks and I have been following it closely. As usual, I’m going to plug Bet Phoenix as an absolute must for anyone serious about betting on Mixed Martial Arts. I am going to discuss the best possible lines that can be found on each fighter. Currently the line sees Emelianenko as a greater than 2-1 favorite. His current line sits at -220 at best. Meaning Fedor’s supporters will need to wager $220 to win $100. A line of -220 equates to the books giving the Russian a 68.75% chance of winning this fight. Conversely the American Henderson is +206 at best odds. Supporters of ‘Hendo’ will win $206 for every $100 wagered, this betting line equates to a 32.7% chance of winning the fight. Once again due to the nature of sports betting and the inherit house advantage for bookmakers, the percentages don’t add up to exactly 100%. I’m a pretty big fan of Dan Henderson and admittedly not so much a fan of Emelianenko, so will side with Dan Henderson in this fight. Bet on Dan Henderson 
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Fans of the former Pride Fighting Championships will be in for a treat this Saturday night, as two MMA Pioneers and Legends collide for the first time. During the height of PRIDE’s popularity in the early 2000′s many fans were calling for this fight to happen, but it never came to fruition.
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