HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – The reign of "The Last Emperor" may finally be over.
With a stunning, come-from-behind victory, Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson earned a first-round TKO over Fedor Emelianenko, handing the once-unbeatable Russian his third-straight defeat.
The heavyweight bout served as the featured contest of Saturday night's "Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Henderson" event, which took place at place at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., near Chicago. The evening's main card aired on Showtime.
With an electric crowd chanting the names of both fighters, the two MMA legends went toe-to-toe at the opening bell.
Emelianenko rushed forward and seemed to connect flush with his famed leaping punches, but a staggering Henderson answered right back. Powerful punches winged from the upper deck as Emelianenko appeared to be on wobbly legs in the early going. Still, as blood trickled from his right eye, he slowed the pace down in the clinch and looked to recover. Emelianenko received one warning for grabbing the fence, but Henderson ultimately backed away and reset on the feet.
On the restart, both fighters were much more patient, and Emelianenko landed a crisp right hand. A flurry moments later sent Henderson to the canvas, and the finish looked imminent. It was, but in shocking fashion.
In a stunning turn of events, Henderson scrambled out the back door
and landed a thunderous uppercut to the chin by firing underneath Emelianenko's right arm. The Russian collapsed to the canvas, and a few additional blows forced referee Herb Dean to halt the bout with 48 seconds remaining in the opening round. The final series of punches appeared to land directly to the back of the head, but Dean had already made his decision.Henderson (28-8 MMA, 2-2 SF) has now earned three-straight victories, and at 40 years old is 6-1 in his past seven fights. Emelianenko (31-4 MMA, 1-3 SF) has now dropped three-straight fights and will be forced to answer further questions about his retirement.
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