Issue 021

January 2007

May 15, 1998, Mobile, Alabama

Carlos Newton

Twenty-nine-year-old submission stylist Newton started his professional career as a teenager, facing enormous K-1 fighter Jean Riviere on a chaotic Extreme Fighting show in Canada on just a day’s notice. Newton lost after entering a gutsy performance but went on to become a regular for both PRIDE and UFC between 1998 and 2004. Charismatic and skilled, Newton won the UFC welterweight title from Pat Miletich in 2001, losing it to Matt Hughes later that year. His battles with Miletich, Jose ‘Pele’ Landi-Jons and Matt Hughes (twice) were some of the most memorable fights of the ’98-2002 period. Newton lost as many as he won but was always fantastic entertainment. ‘The Ronin’, whose MMA record is 12-10, lost three fights by decision in 2004 and has fought only once this year but has signed up with the IFL as the coach of the Toronto dragons. 

Dan Henderson

An original member of Team Quest, 36-year-old Henderson is the PRIDE Bushido welterweight champion. A genuine elite wrestler, Henderson also has a hefty right hand and with a 21-5 record is very experienced. Starting out with the Real American Wrestling team, the two-time Olympian in Greco-Roman wrestling has been a PRIDE regular since his former home RINGS collapsed in late 2000. With victories over fighters like Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral, Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua and Yuki Kondo, Henderson is a very accomplished fighter. He won his title by triumphing in last year’s Bushido tournament, KO’ing Ryo Chonan and Akihiro Gono and earning a decision over Murilo Bustamante.

The fight

They met in the final of a four-man, u200lb middleweight tournament at UFC 17: Redemption. They had had very different semi-final matches. Newton had dispatched Bob Gilstrap in just 52 seconds with a triangle choke after almost armbarring his opponent twice, while Henderson ground out a decision over the tricky Allan Goes (the fight saw Henderson floored twice, clearly hurt the second time). Thankfully for him Goes then illegally kicked him in the face, leading to a timeout and a talking to from the ref – Henderson earned the decision by handing out some punishment in the overtime period. With a far easier fight earlier in the evening, Newton seemed to have the advantage going into what turned out to be a real classic of that era. Six pounds lighter at 187lbs, Newton was looking to bag himself a shot at then-champion Frank Shamrock by winning this tournament. Like Henderson, this fight was early in his professional career and years later it remains one of his most entertaining. 

Coming out swinging Newton hurt Henderson with some fast punches in the first 20 seconds. The wrestler responded with a powerful and seemingly instinctive double-leg takedown. Even while being slammed to the mat Newton was thinking about the submission and looked for a guillotine. Unable to get it he tried controlling Henderson from the guard. Unfortunately for the young Canadian, he was stuck by the fence and had to take some big shots to both head and body. Losing his mouthpiece allowed Newton some respite so the two fighters were, somewhat unfairly for Henderson, restarted on their feet. These days they’d quite rightly need to start again on the mat. 

Pawing with his punches, Henderson looked slow and inexperienced on his feet. Surprisingly, Newton scored an eye-catching double-leg takedown of his own. Impressively, Henderson was soon back on his feet and actually started landing some punches. As they approached the five-minute mark Henderson had the younger man in a terrible position. Trapped in Henderson’s favorite Greco-Roman technique, the front headlock, Newton appeared almost helpless to stop Henderson’s continuous barrage of heavy knees to the face. His hands up to try and block them, he looked in real trouble, but somehow escaped and recovered very quickly to throw some punches of his own. When Henderson went back to the headlock Newton tried to turn and escaped but succeeded only in landing on the ground with Henderson looking to strike. The action slowed for a couple of minutes as Newton used an effective guard. Henderson landed some meaty shots but never more than one or two in succession before Newton tied him up again. Eventually, Henderson opted to stand back up with around eight minutes gone.

Looking tired with his arms held dangerously low, Henderson took a couple of vicious Newton low kicks. A combination of punches from Newton had the Greco-Roman stylist looking unsteady and Henderson was aware enough to clinch and stall long enough to get his strength and senses back. Newton held guard once more and Henderson tried breaking it by lifting Newton up and dropping him back down, hard. Landing flat on his back, Newton was fine and neither man was doing much as the buzzer went to signal the end of the 12-minute round. 

A three-minute overtime awaited and Henderson had already fought for 27 minutes during this tournament. Looking fresher, Newton landed some nice kicks to the body before going after Henderson’s legs and then swinging some wild shots in his opponent’s general direction. One of those big swings finally landed and Henderson looked all over the place, slipping and sliding around the mat as he desperately tried to survive Newton’s hurried onslaught. As in the earlier match against Goes, his recovery was quick and after avoiding a kimura attempt on the ground, Henderson finished the fight throwing punches at Newton on the mat. 

A tough decision faced the judges, particularly as Newton had so clearly controlled the overtime period while Henderson had been in charge early on. Two of them went for Henderson and one opted for Newton, rendering a verdict that remains a subject of much disagreement even now. Sadly, Henderson didn’t return to the UFC for what would have been a fascinating title clash with Shamrock. The two met on ‘The Contenders’, a submission tournament that flopped on pay-per-view in 1997, and Shamrock had tapped Henderson out with a heel hook in seconds. Under full UFC rules things may have been very different and it is a shame the fight never came off.