My solid start to the 2014 UFC season finally took a hit last weekend at UFC 171. I had Shields and Condit, as well as Hendricks inside the distance and none of those things happened so it ended up being a tough 0-3 night for me. That said they were some great fights to watch, especially the Hendricks vs Lawler battle. I was very impressed with Robbie in that one and think he might get another shot at the title soon enough.
Now we look ahead to UFC Fight Night 38 in Natal, Brazil. Shogun Rua welcomes Dan Henderson to his home country in their rematch of late 2011. There are a few other good fights on this card including CB Dolloway getting back in the ring and hoping to climb up the Middleweight ladder.
Shogun Rua vs Dan Henderson
In the November, 2011 fight Dan Henderson was able to earn a unanimous decision victory over Rua in his return to the UFC after four fights in Strikeforce. Since then though Henderson has lost 3 fights in a row. Three losses in a row may sound pretty bad, but when you look at his competition and how he lost its tough to say if he’s lost a step. Henderson fought Machida and Evans to split decision losses in early and mid 2013 before getting knockout from a Belfort head kick this past November. As you probably know Machida is on the top of his game getting a title shot at middleweight in May and Evans followed up the Henderson win with a dominating performance against Chael Sonnen. Vitor was expected to fight for the middleweight title, but pulled out of the fight after the UFC banned the TRT treatment he was on.
Henderson doesn’t get an easier fight now from the UFC with Shogun Rua the favourite going into this one. Rua is coming off a win against James Te-Huna which can be considered a decent win, but nothing exceptional. Before that he lost to Chael Sonnen via first round submission and Alexander Gustafsson via decision, while beating Brandon Vera via TKO right after his Henderson loss.
The oddsmakers have Rua as a more than 2-1 favourite and I think this is way too big of a favourite. Henderson still has his knockout power and was able to stand toe to toe with Machida and Rashad very recently. I put both of these fighters as better than Shogun right now so I think this fight could really go either way. Because of this I like Henderson as the big dog.
Take Henderson +200 at BetOnline.
C.B. Dolloway vs Cezar Ferreira
Cezar Ferreira is relatively new in the UFC, but he hasn’t disappointed yet winning his last 3 fights after winning the TUF: Brazil Middleweight tournament. He hasn’t really fought anyone of CB Dolloways caliber yet though so this will be an interesting fight for Ferreira.
Dolloway is a UFC vet. He’s coming off a loss to Tim Boetsch, but he did win his previous two fights against Jason Miller and Daniel Sarafian. The Daniel Sarafian fight is the most interesting because Dolloway won via split decision against Sarafian and Cezar Ferreira also win his last fight with Sarafian via split decision.
There’s not a lot to go on in this fight and we might have to wait until these two battle it out, but I’m going with Dolloway and his experience to find a way to win this fight similar to how he did against Sarafian.
Take Dolloway +200
CB Dolloway • Cezar Ferreira • Dan Henderson • Shogun Rua