Improbable is the notion of any man knocking out the legend known as Dan Henderson.
From Wanderlei Silva and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Anderson Silva, from Rousimar Palhares and Michael Bisping to Jake Shields and Rafael Cavalcante, nobody has been able to knock Henderson out.
None of those guys even had enough to get a stoppage by strikes or a TKO by a cut on him—Wanderlei, Shields and Rampage all beat Henderson by decision (although Hendo avenged the loss to Wanderlei just before facing Rampage), while "The Spider" beat him by second-round submission.
So far, nobody has come close to stopping the unstoppable; nobody has come close to making the impossible possible and knocking Dan Henderson out and out cold...
...until now.
You see, in his bout with "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko, Henderson faces the one man with the power necessary to turn the constantly-bright lights of the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion out quickly.
Is it solely due to Fedor's knockout power?
Absolutely not.
Recall, if you will, Fedor's past two fights and that they are both losses.
First, Fedor went wild after lulling himself into a false sense of control following a big uppercut that he thought connected with Fabricio Werdum's chin, and then tapped out to one of the most technically-beautiful triangle-armbars in the sport.
Then, in a somewhat controversial bout this past February, Fedor and Antonio Silva tied at 19-19 by the end of the second round of their quarterfinal bout in the Strikeforce Grand Prix, but the damage done to the right eye of Fedor was seen by a ringside doctor as severe enough to warrant a TKO stoppage.
Let's be honest: Fedor needed to slim down, he needed to bring back whatever was lacking in the Werdum and Silva fights and most importantly, he needed to remember why some boldly considered him to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world at one time.
He's never been on a two-fight skid in his whole career, and the fire lit under his ass was always evident, even when his fights were close, so there was never any question of whether Fedor was motivated or not.
Now, things are different with Fedor's two losses in the books.
Many believe that his fire has long since extinguished and that this fight is happening just to give Dan Henderson a fight, but I would beg to differ.
This fight is happening because the Strikeforce brass knows how to put on monumental clashes that people would pay to see.
As for Fedor's fire?
If it really did leave, expect the fire to come back hotter than ever come Saturday, and don't expect Henderson's chin to survive when it does.
For those who will be representing Team Hendo on Saturday, you can learn why Fedor will get knocked the f**k out here.
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