Blake’s Take on “Feijao” Cavalcante vs. Dan Henderson for Lt. Heavyweight Title in Columbus

Added on Mar 02, 2011 by Brian Blake in

UFC & MMA

This weekend Strikeforce along with some of its stars will be heading to the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH for their latest show which will be headlined by newly crowned light heavyweight champion Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante (10-2, 3-1 SF) as he puts his title on the line against former Pride Middleweight Champion Dan Henderson of Temecula, California.

The Brazilian Cavalcante, who was born and raised in Sao Paulo, became the organizations Light Heavyweight Champion following his third round TKO win over Mohamed Lawal back in August of last year in Houston, TX. Four months prior to that Henderson (26-8, 1-1 SF) was involved in a title shot of his own against then middleweight champion Jake Shields of San Francisco.

Many perceived the bout to be a sure thing for Henderson. Many were then surprised when the younger Shields used all five rounds to keep Henderson from being able to properly execute his game plan ultimately resulting in Shields hanging on to his title for a short while longer before leaving Strikeforce to join the UFC.

Henderson rebounded with a win in December in a move up to the light heavyweight division against fellow veteran Babalu Sobral in a light heavyweight title eliminator bout. Nearly 11 years after their initial fight, Henderson once again scored a win over Sobral, this time with a first round knockout via punches.

Now the two are set to clash on Saturday night in a five round title affair that has the challenger in Henderson as the betting favorite at -250 while the underdog champion sits at +175. Despite Henderson being the favorite it’s a pretty even match up with both men having the potential to pull off the win.

Henderson, who is 10 years older than his opponent, made it clear during a conference call with various members of the media that he expected both guys to come out and look for the knockout. Its a safe assumption considering that 11 of Henderson’s 26 wins and all but 3 of Cavalcante’s victories have come via KO or TKO. On the other hand, only Calvacante has been on the receiving end of a knockout loss having been stopped by Mike Kyle in June of 2009.

This is supported by the fact that between the two of them they have only found victory via submission on four occasions. The last time it happened in the case of Cavalcante was in 2006 while Henderson hasn’t registered a submission win since his fifth professional fight in 2000.

Considering it is expected to be a stand up war when the two hit the cage on Saturday you’ve got to give the edge to Henderson who throws his punches with a bit more authority and of the two, has the advantage from a technical aspect. While Cavalcante can certainly turn out the lights of his opponent on any given night its Henderson who throws in a less looping fashion. Henderson’s shots will get there first and it will make the difference in who wins and who loses.

Even though Cavalcante has the luxury of being able to consult with teammates such as UFC Middleweight champ, Anderson Silva, as well as the brothers Noguiera, all of whom have faced Henderson, I don’t think anything they say will have any bearing on Henderson simply being a better fighter with the ability to emerge victorious.

While it can’t be completely discounted that this one ultimately winds up in the hands of the judges following five rounds of action, I’m more inclined to say that one of these guys will get the job done before the final bell sounds. Henderson has put up thrilling stoppage wins via stikes against the likes of Sobral, Michael Bisping and Wanderlei Silva in the past few years. The champion’s last seven wins have come by way of strikes.

That being said, I’m going to have to side with the older and more experienced Henderson to end the three fight winning streak of Cavalcante. My official prediction being he adds the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship to his already impressive mixed martial arts resume as he stops Cavalcante in thrilling fashion during the third round of their championship clash.