After a dominant debut at light heavyweight, Daniel Cormier looks like a dominant fighter at 205 pounds and took on his toughest challenge yet in Dan Henderson. Henderson, a legend of the sport, is coming off a very impressive win over Mauricio Rua and seems to be the ageless wonder of MMA. Whoever came out of this fight on top was almost guaranteed a headlining event in their next bout. Cormier, who entered this fight undefeated, has been looking like a very scary contender after dropping weight and many people have him next in line to fight Jon Jones if he comes out with a win.

Daniel Cormier Dominates Dan Henderson and Wins via Third Round Submission

The first round was much of what was expected, with Cormier gaining a takedown and top position within the first minute of the fight. Cormier did not let up and was able to stay on top for almost the whole round. Henderson did not seem strong enough to escape and Cormier was able to overpower Henderson throughout the whole round. With a minute left, Henderson was able to get back to his feet as Cormier backed off after a leg lock attempt. As the round concluded, Henderson was able to finish strong to hope for a much more favorable second round.

Henderson tried to get the striking game going at the start of the second but was not able to do any damage. Cormier was able to get through Henderson’s punches and gain top position after a seemingly lazy guillotine attempt by Henderson. Once on top, Cormier continued to have his way with Henderson and continued to land some light punches in the ground-and-pound. No matter what Henderson tried to get out from the bottom, nothing seemed to work against the more powerful and dominant Cormier. While both these fighters are Olympic-level wrestlers, Cormier’s dominance in that facet came alive for two straight rounds.

Cormier was relentless in the third and final round. While he let the stand-up game play out for a minute or so, Cormier landed a monstrous takedown and just threw Henderson to the ground on two straight takedown attempts. Once again, after getting Henderson to the ground, Cormier was not letting him go. After completely dominating on the ground, Cormier was able to roll into a rear naked choke and knocked Henderson out with the submission.

So where does this leave Cormier? He is well on his way to a title shot but has Alexander Gustafsson in his way. Does this open the door to a number one contender spot? It would be hard to expect that after Gustafsson seemed almost guaranteed another shot at the title with a win in his last fight. Whether the number one contender bout happens or not, both Cormier and Gustafsson look like the best competition for current champ Jon Jones.