UFC comes to San Jose

But the city in the South Bay known as a MMA hot spot will be taking it’s biggest step forward tonight when the Ultimate Fighting Championship sets up shop at the HP Pavilion for UFC 139.

The fighting card, featuring San Jose’s own Cung Le, will be the first time the premiere MMA organization on the planet will visit the South Bay.

San Jose has long been a Strikeforce stronghold. But its buyout in 2011 opened the door for UFC to finally make a visit. And like any fight card under the UFC banner, Saturday night’s debut in San Jose will not be short of firepower.

Mauricio "Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson headline the fight card in a light heavyweight bout. Rua is coming off a first round knockout of Forrest Griffin at UFC 134 in his native Brazil. The win came after losing at UFC 128 to Jon "Bones” Jones. In Dan Henderson, Rua faces a MMA legend, with experience in the PRIDE Fighting Championships, Strikeforce and the UFC.

"Well, I think certainly this is a marquee fight for me,” Rua said via conference call. "A very important fight. Dan Henderson is a legend and MMA champion (at) PRIDE, a champion of Strikeforce. He’s a guy with a big history in the sport and this fight obviously means a lot to me. Right now, my whole focus is on the fight with Dan Henderson.”

Henderson comes in riding a three-bout win streak; the latter being a TKO against Fedor Emelianenko that may have resurrected his career. Henderson last appeared in the UFC in 2009, beating Michael Bisping before signing a contract with Strikeforce.

"I definitely feel like I got a lot of fight left in me and I come with a game plan for every opponent, every fight,” Henderson said. "I’m excited about fighting Shogun. It'’ something that the fans have been looking forward to for a long time and wanting for a long time and he’s a tough opponent and well-rounded and definitely a huge challenge for me to get past.”

Henderson versus Rua provides some interesting story lines. For Henderson, it’s a chance to prove that no matter the fighting organization, he’s one of the best the sport has ever seen. And for Rua, it’s answering the question of whether his recent run with injury has sent the once unbeatable fighter to the realm of normalcy.

"I think I’m a 100 percent recovered from my injuries,” Rua said. "For a fighter, it was very tough to stay sidelined for one year without competing. As a fighter, I like to stay active and stay busy quite often and keep active. Thank God I’m recovered from my injuries. I hope to be able to keep this rhythm going on and keep fighting, (staying) active for a long time.”

Henderson believes he is not fighting only for himself but the all fighters from Strikeforce.

"Obviously I’d like to represent Strikeforce well, being their champion. But first and foremost, I just need to represent myself and what I’ve done in my career,” Henderson said. "I don’t feel any pressure to perform because of coming from Strikeforce at all. I think it’s pretty much from the consensus that Strikeforce has some top fighters in there and top champions in there, and I am not worried about proving anything.”

Perhaps no one will receive a bigger ovation Saturday night than Le, who is making his UFC debut following eight fights (7-1 record) with Strikeforce — all of which took place in his hometown of San Jose.

Le will take on Wanderlei Silva, one of the most decorated and respected MMA fighters of all-time, in a middleweight bout. Silva is coming off a loss to Chris Leben at UFC 132. Le hasn’t fought in almost 18 months, last appearing at Strikeforce:Fedor vs. Werdum, where he recorded a knockout of Scott Smith.

"Yes. I’ve had a long layoff,” Le said. "But this time around I made sure I stayed in shape and, you know, just training on a consistent basis. As soon as I came back from China in February, I was back in the gym sparring and scrapping and wrestling so I feel good and fighting in the UFC is -- it’s an honor and I’m very excited to be part of the UFC now. UFC is top of the food chain. And they’re the one who’s really put MMA on the map. It’s always exciting to fight for a different league that it’s like, you know, going from the CFL to the NFL, so that’s how I feel.”

"This is a great match with me and Cung,” Silva said. "I know it will be a great show for the fans. We both have attacking styles. We both fight.”

Silva has enjoyed a career that has encompassed 45 fights (33-11-1), and for the Brazlian, tonight is his chance to prove he’s still has plenty to offer the MMA world.

"I think my performance in this fight will allow me to fight again,” Silva said. "I don’t want to retire and I know that if I perform like I do in the gym, I will. What happened in my last fight can happen to anyone in MMA. You can’t tell Cain Velasquez he should retire now because he got knocked out.”

"Well it’s awesome, it’s like full circle,” Le said of his return to San Jose. "I had my first MMA fight in San Jose and now I have my first UFC fight in San Jose, but you know there’s a lot more distraction because you know all your old friends from high school, junior high, they’re definitely hitting you up for a ticket for free.”

Also on the main card, Urijah Faber will fight Brian Bowles in a bantamweight bout. Faber is 25-5 in his career, after spending the majority of his time with World Extreme Cagefighting. He’s 1-1 with the UFC.

Bowles is 10-1 and 2-0 with the UFC. This is a UFC bantamweight title eliminator.

In welterweight action, Martin Kampmann (17-5) will face Rick Story (13-4).

Stephen Bonnar (13-7) and Kyle Kingsbury (11-2) will tangle in light heavyweight action.

In preliminary card action, Ryan Bader (12-2) will take on Jason Brilz (18-4-1) and Michael McDonald (13-1) will face Alex Soto (6-0-1).