In 1999 Dan Henderson entered the Rings King of Kings 32 man Open Weight tournament in Japan
The tournament was stacked with some of the best fighters in the world, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Renzo Gracie, Jeremy Horn, Gilbert Yvel, Kiyoshi Tamura, Renato Sobral, Maurice Smith, Dave Menne, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Valentijn Overeem, Alistair Overeem.
Henderson was one of the lightests fighter to enter the tournament. (90kg / 198lbs)
In 1999 Dan Henderson entered the Rings King of Kings 32 man Open Weight tournament in Japan
The tournament was stacked with some of the best fighters in the world, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Renzo Gracie, Jeremy Horn, Gilbert Yvel, Kiyoshi Tamura, Renato Sobral, Maurice Smith, Dave Menne, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Valentijn Overeem, Alistair Overeem.
Henderson was the lightest fighter to enter the tournament. (86kg / 190lbs)
Tournament opponents:
A Block = Bakouri Gogitidze
A Block = Hiromitsu Kanehara
Final = Gilbert Yvel
Final = Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Final = Renato Sobral
Hendo was @ 90 kg Ice (over 198) = full strength. Still the lightest man yes I believe
Ice do you have Rings rules for those who wish to engage? If a much lighter fighter went to a decision the heaver fighter was at a great disadvantage in Rings. Round 1 with Nog was razor close to boot.
It's been a long time but I seem to recall that there was a stipulation that if there was a certain amount of weight discrepancy (10 kilos or whatever) that the lighter fighter automatically got the nod in the case of a 'draw' (time limit).
Did I make that up?
For those who were still kids when this happened; it was a VERY big deal because the payday for winning this tourney was like $100K or something, which at the time was the single biggest MMA payout to date.
And because of that money the tourney was crazy stacked with 'name' fighters literally from all over the world.