#2 Dan Henderson’s one-legged reverse elbow
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Dan ‘Hendo’ Henderson (32-15) is a former Strikeforce LHW champion, UFC 17 MW tournament winner, former Pride Middleweight (205 pounds in Pride FC) and former Pride Welterweight (183 pounds in Pride FC) champion.
Hendo is also a former Pride Welterweight Grand Prix winner. He is a former Olympic wrestler with an MMA base of Freestyle as well as Greco-Roman wrestling. Hendo is also well-known for his lethal right-hand punches, referred to as by MMA pundits and fans alike as the ‘H-bomb’.
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Hector ‘Showeather’ Lombard (34-6-1-2) is the first ever Bellator MW champion and a former Olympic judoka. He is known for his explosiveness, KO power and ability to finish fights with strikes in an instant. His MMA base is Judo and kickboxing.
Hendo faced Lombard in what was advertised as Hendo’s farewell fight win-or-lose at UFC 199 in June of 2016. Entering his 43rd pro-MMA bout against Henderson, Lombard boasted the accomplishment of never having been knocked out cold in his long career.
Apart from a late-TKO stoppage loss to Neil Magny, Lombard had never been knocked out inside the cage.
Henderson and Lombard traded heavy leather from the opening bell of the bout, dropping each other multiple times. Henderson came close to finishing Lombard in the first round, after which Lombard rallied and knocked Hendo down multiple times in the same round.
Round 2 began and both fighters came out wary of each other’s power. Hendo found his range first, firing off a right head-kick to the southpaw Lombard. Lombard ate the kick and held on to Hendo’s leg in response to which he fired off a rare one-legged reverse-elbow.
He caught Lombard on the temple knocking him out instantly, and followed up with two forearm strikes to Lombard’s face on the mat. The arena in Inglewood, California erupted and Hendo climbed the cage to acknowledge his hometown fans.
From a technical standpoint, Hendo’s reverse elbow is similar to the one Silva landed on Fryklund, with the only difference being that Hendo managed to pull it off on one leg! The Sok Sab (chopping elbow) even if it’s landed in an upward or a horizontal trajectory is a devastating blow that helps a fighter to stun or knock out his opponent.
Upon re-examination, one can observe that Silva’s elbow had a slightly higher upward trajectory than Hendo’s elbow on Lombard. Nevertheless, both strikes were just as vicious. Hendo’s rare one-legged reverse-elbow lands him in the 2nd spot on our list.
