UFC on FOX: Mousasi vs. Henderson

Gegard Mousasi (35-5-2) vs. Dan Henderson (30-12)

Gegard Mousasi looks for a win against one of the best fighters of all-time as he takes on Dan Henderson at UFC on FOX in Sweden on Saturday night.

At 29 years old, Mousasi is in the prime of his career, but he needs to turn things around, as he has lost two of his past three fights. A loss to Lyoto Machida last Feb. 15 is nothing to be ashamed of, especially in a fight that went the five-round distance. However, falling to Ronaldo Souza on Sept. 5 is much more disappointing, as Mousasi was forced to tap due to a guillotine choke with only 30 seconds remaining in the fight. Mousasi is a highly-skilled, versatile fighter that can win a fight by any method. He has great knockout power, but that will be tested against a fighter who has shown in his career that he is tough to beat. The 44-year-old Henderson is not the fighter that he was once, but he is still very tough and gives maximum effort whenever he steps into the Octagon. Henderson enters Saturday losing four of his past five fights, but has done so versus top-notch competition. The California native has losses to Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort and most recently, Daniel Cormier on May 24. For the heavily-favored MOUSASI, this is a fight he has to win if he ever wants to move up the rankings in the middleweight class, and he will do just enough to get the win.

Despite being only 29 years old, the Iranian-born Mousasi enters this fight with 35 career victories, with 20 of them coming by way of knockout. However, he has shown that he has the ability to win a fight in many different ways, with 10 coming by submission (6 RNC, 2 triangle, 1 guillotine and 1 kimura) and the other five by decision. His biggest advantage will be landing significant strikes as Mousasi averages 3.41 per minute, while Henderson averages only 2.38. Not only does Mousasi do a great job of landing punches, but he is also very accurate when throwing those punches (50% striking accuracy). Striking is the biggest part of Henderson’s arsenal that has declined, and if this fight turns into a brawl, then Mousasi, whose 6-foot-1 frame is two inches taller than Henderson, will be in great shape to get the win.

Henderson enters this fight with 30 wins in his career, with 14 of them coming by both knockout and decision. "Hendo" also has two wins by submission (guillotine choke and knee to the ribs), while four of his career losses have been by submission. He has never been one to back down from a challenge, as Henderson has fought 10 current or former UFC champions in his career. Neither of these two fighters is averaging a lot of takedowns (1.62 for Henderson, and 1.41 for Mousasi), but Henderson’s biggest advantage in this matchup will be his grit and determination, as this may be the final fight in his career. For someone like Henderson, the last thing he wants to do is end his career with a loss, so look for Henderson to bring a lot of energy into the Octagon on Saturday night.