Henderson’s actions highlight safety issue

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By Dann Stupp, Contributing Writer Updated 12:20 AM Monday, July 13, 2009

This past Saturday’s, July 11, milestone UFC 100 event was an unimaginable success — one that seemed all but impossible for the UFC just a few years ago.

However, as far as mixed martial arts and its top promotion have come, one of UFC 100’s featured bouts shone a bright spotlight on one of the sport’s major safety issues.

First things first, though. While UFC 1 launched 16 years ago with (almost) no holds barred, MMA has since cleaned up its act and implemented numerous rules and regulations. Thanks to the efforts, the sport — despite the misconceptions — has never produced a death or serious injury in a major organization such as the UFC.

But when Dan Henderson defeated Michael Bisping in brutal fashion during Saturday’s event in Las Vegas, a worldwide audience — estimated in the tens of millions — saw a truly sickening knockout.

The initial KO, produced from Henderson’s trademark overhand right, was brutal enough. Bisping instantly went stiff and crashed to the mat completely out cold.

Then, just a split second later — with the referee unable to stop him in time — Henderson reared up and dove to the mat to deliver another brutal shot to his clearly unconscious opponent.

Sadly, the blow was perfectly legal.

Until a referee intervenes, a fight isn’t over. Henderson knew he was allowed to deliver the blow — but does that mean he should have?

In the heat of competition, with adrenaline pumping and decisions made in the blink of an eye, you initially couldn’t assume maliciousness — even though Henderson and Bisping recently served as rival coaches on the UFC’s reality series and have real hatred for each other.

Despite the bad blood, one could argue, maybe things happened so quickly that Henderson didn’t even realize his opponent was asleep.

But in a post-fight interview, Henderson — otherwise known as a classy fighter — essentially admitted that he did, in fact, realize Bisping was out and that he “just wanted to shut him up a little bit” with the extra (and extremely dangerous) shot.

After the event, UFC President Dana White said Henderson later apologized and told him he was just joking. Henderson, though, was jovial and far from remorseful in the post-fight news conference. He said he was just “in the heat of the moment” but that the extra blow “felt good.”

With anything short of a shock collar or stun gun, referees — no matter how quick and experienced — won’t always be able to stop unconscious fighters from taking unneeded blows.

And as we saw Saturday, when left solely to the fighters, the right choice isn’t always made.

Dann Stupp is editor-in-chief of MMAjunkie.com, a content partner site of Yahoo! Sports. For the latest mixed-martial-arts news, go to www.MMAjunkie.com.

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