Henderson ends Silva's title reign

By James Melroy

In a night filled with upsets, Dan Henderson's surprising victory over Wanderlei Silva on Saturday night in the main event of "PRIDE 33: The Second Coming" at the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas was also a history-making outcome.

Henderson, a native of Downey, knocked out Silva with a left hook 2:08 into the third round to capture the middleweight championship.

Henderson, who already held the welterweight (185 pounds) title coming into the fight, becomes the first mixed martial arts fighter to hold titles in two weight classes for a major organization. PRIDE middleweights fight at 205 pounds.

Silva had held the middleweight title since 2001, losing only in tournament-style events.

Two of those losses were to heavyweights Mark Hunt and current UFC star Mirko Cro Cop.

After a relatively uneventful first round which saw the two fighters feeling one another out for the majority of the round, Henderson took the fight to the ground and dominated the champion by holding top position for the majority of the five-minute stanza. Henderson landed several shoulder strikes, which seemed to daze Silva on a couple of occasions.

Coming out for the third round, Henderson seemed content to stand and strike with the usually sure-fisted Silva. Henderson, a member of the U.S. Olympic wrestling team in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, landed a spinning backfist to Silva's chin. Seconds later, the two were exchanging blows in mid-ring and a left hook by Henderson landed square on Silva's chin, sending him flat on his back to the mat.

"Indescribable. It's just indescribable right now," Henderson said after the fight on pay-per-view. "Everybody's always talking about my right hand, but I guess I have a hell of a left hook, too."

Nick Diaz, making his PRIDE debut after an up-and-down run with UFC, caught lightweight champion Takanori Gomi in a triangle choke, forcing the champion to tap out in the second round of their non-title fight.

The first round will likely go down as one of the best in mixed martial arts history as the two fighters exchanged blows at a torrid pace. Gomi was so spent, he could barely keep his hands above his waist, let alone block Diaz's strikes. Meanwhile, Diaz was nearly knocked out and suffered a cut under his eye, which would only become worse in the second round.

(Source)