Babalu in photo by Esther Lin
Renato Babalu will face Dan Henderson at the December 4 Strikeforce show in St. Louis, Missouri, according to an article on MMAJunkie.com. Henderson is coming off a loss to Jake Shields last April, on his organizational debut. Now Babalu, the former light heavyweight champion of the event, is coming off a win over Robbie Lawler in June.
And there’s history to the bout. Henderson beat the Gracie Barra black belt in February 2000 at Japan’s now-defunct Rings promotion.
On a single evening, Babalu submitted Russia’s Mikhail Illoukhine with an armbar and then went past Japan’s Kiyoshi Tamura via majority decision. At the other end of the tournament bracket, Henderson beat Dutch bruiser Gilbert Yvel via unanimous decision and then went past no less than Rodrigo Minotauro by split decision. In the grand finale, Hendo again eked out a win, this time by majority decision.
Check out how that fight went and don’t forget to leave your opinion in the comments field:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqUEuKBrxGU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjqQh_2sf0Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTdR9krtacM