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Just one week after the UFC put on its UFC On Fox 1: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos event in Anaheim, the promotion is heading the HP Pavilion in San Jose for UFC 139: Shogun vs. Henderson. This will be the first time the UFC has ever been in San Jose (though they have had shows in Oakland, Anaheim and Sacramento), as the city was the base of operations for the longtime rival promotion, Strikeforce.
Well, the UFC's parent company, Zuffa, purchased Strikeforce, and that means Bay Area fans get to see two legendary PRIDE veterans in Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua face off in the main event of a stacked event, which will be live on pay per view for those not attending. That main event should be explosive, with two fighters who boast strong knockout power as well as fundamentally sound ground games.
"Shogun" is coming off a win over Forrest Griffin, a fight that happened after Rua lost his title to current champion Jon Jones, while Henderson just beat Fedor Emelianenko in Strikeforce, and was the promotion's light heavyweight champion before making the jump back to the UFC. Henderson has his eyes on a potential matchup with Jones for UFC gold to add to his long list of accomplishments, but Shogun is very much a strong test, and may even be favored by some.
Seven fighters on the card have ties to California, including Henderson and Cung Le, who fights out of San Jose and has had six fights in the state of California throughout his career. Kyle Kingsbury, Urijah Faber, Michael McDonald, Alex Soto and Danny Castillo all have ties to California, as well. Stay tuned to the stream for news and breakdowns as the event approaches on Saturday.