Dan Henderson knocks out Rafael Feijão in Strikeforce

Dan Henderson (left) knocked out Rafael Feijão (right)

Carnival Saturday had a bitter taste for Rafael Feijão. The Brazilian athlete was knocked out by Dan Henderson and lost the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt. The fight was the main attraction of the event held, in the early hours of Saturday to Sunday, in the city of Columbus, in the United States. With the triumph, Hendo, as the 45-year-old American is known, adds another important title to his career, having already won the Pride belts (in two categories), UFC and Rings.

At the beginning of the fight, Henderson started to take the initiative and tried to trap Feijão against the fence, but with a beautiful straight right, in the counterattack, the Brazilian athlete knocked the North American out. With quick absorption, Hendo managed to recover and reverse the position, coming out on top in the ground fight. In the second round, the North American didn't want to take any chances in the fight on his feet and worked most of the time in the clinch and trying to take the fight to the ground, even so the best moments came from Rafael, who managed to sweep Dan to the ground . In the third round, however, Henderson landed a powerful right cross that knocked Feijão down. Without wasting time, Dan threw two more punches on the ground and knocked out the Brazilian. Now, Dan Henderson He has 27 wins and just eight losses in his career, while Rafael has his third loss in 13 appearances.

The other Brazilian in action at the event had better luck: Jorge Gurgel needed just 47 seconds to land a tight guillotine choke and submit the American Billy Vaughan. With the victory, Gurgel overcomes the bad phase of two consecutive defeats and rediscovers the path to triumphs.

Coenen defends women's belt

In the other title fight of the night, Marloes Coenen encountered difficulties, but managed to defend the women's welterweight division belt. Facing the previously undefeated Liz Carmouche, the champion suffered from the arsenal of takedowns and punches from the challenger's guard. However, in the fourth round, Marloes managed to land a tight triangle and end the fight.

Check out the full results of the event below:

main card:

Dan Henderson derrotou Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante by knockout in R3;

Marloes Coenen submitted Liz Carmouche with a triangle choke in R4;

Tim Kennedy submitted Melvin Manhoef with a rear naked choke R1;;

Jorge masvidal defeated Billy Evangelista via unanimous decision by the judges;

Preliminary Card:

Roger Bowling defeated Josh Thornburg via unanimous decision;

Jorge gurgel submitted Billy Vaughan with a guillotine choke in R1;

Jason Freeman defeated Jason Riley via TKO in R1;

Brian Rogers defeated Ian Rammel via TKO in R1;

Mitch Whitesel submitted Marc Cofer with a guillotine choke in R1;

John Kuhner submitted JP Felty with a triangle choke in R2.