Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Belfort-Henderson Trilogy
3. Quick Stats
4. Main Event: Belfort Head-Kicks Henderson Again
5. Almeida’s 20th Win & The Supporting Card
6. Full Results
7. Bonuses & Awards
8. Records & Milestones
9. Legacy & Impact
10. FAQ
Introduction
UFC Fight Night 77: Belfort vs. Henderson 3 took place on Saturday, November 7, 2015 at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil — broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 to 757,000 average viewers. The card drew 10,628 fans. It was the fourth UFC event in São Paulo. The main event was the trilogy rubber match between former UFC middleweight champion Vitor Belfort and Pride/Strikeforce legend Dan Henderson — a fight between two icons of MMA in the late phase of their careers.
Belfort’s head kick — Henderson ducking directly into its path at 2:07 of round one — replicated the method of Belfort’s 2013 victory in Goiânia with uncanny similarity. Thomas Almeida earned Performance of the Night for his 20th consecutive professional win by finish, at age 24, via TKO of Anthony Birchak in round one. Alex Oliveira earned PoN for a third-round KO of Piotr Hallmann. Thiago Tavares earned PoN on the preliminary card. Gleison Tibau’s win was subsequently overturned to No Contest after a positive EPO drug test. Gilbert Burns recorded an early-career victory that foreshadowed his future as a UFC welterweight title challenger.
The Belfort-Henderson Trilogy
Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson had fought twice before São Paulo. Their first meeting was at Pride 32 in February 2007 — Henderson won by unanimous decision over three rounds in one of Pride’s elite middleweight contests. Their second meeting was at UFC Fight Night 32 in Goiânia, Brazil in November 2013 — Belfort’s signature head kick knocked Henderson out in round one. The third fight in São Paulo was announced as the rubber match settlement: one win each, one fight to determine who held the H2H edge.
Both fighters were aged and in the late stages of elite careers. Belfort was 38 and coming off a first-round submission loss to Chris Weidman at UFC 187 in May 2015 — his UFC middleweight title shot. Henderson was 45 and had won his previous fight (28-second H-Bomb KO of Tim Boetsch at Fight Night 68) but carried an overall 1-5 record in his last six outings before the Boetsch performance. Their São Paulo fight was framed as a career-defining legacy contest: legends in their forties settling a 9-year rivalry in front of a Brazilian crowd that adored Belfort.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Saturday, November 7, 2015
📍 Venue: Ginásio do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil (4th UFC event in São Paulo)
👥 Attendance: 10,628
📺 Broadcast: Fox Sports 1 — 757,000 avg. viewers (609k prelims)
🏆 Main Event: Vitor Belfort vs. Dan Henderson III — Middleweight (rubber match; Belfort 38, Henderson 45; H2H: Henderson won Pride fight; Belfort won 2013 UFC KO)
✅ Result: Belfort def. Henderson via KO (head kick) — R1, 2:07 (PoN $50k; Henderson ducked into kick; Belfort swarmed)
Main Event: Belfort Head-Kicks Henderson Again
The opening moments of the fight saw Henderson and Belfort circling respectfully — two veterans who understood each other’s danger intimately. Henderson, at 45, had not lost his power, but his movement and defensive reflexes were slower than in his 2013 and 2007 fights. Belfort, at 38, remained fast and unpredictable at close range. The critical moment came when Belfort loaded and threw a head kick. Henderson, anticipating a low kick, began to duck — and ducked directly into the path of Belfort’s shin. The kick landed flush.
Henderson stumbled into the cage. The São Paulo crowd, already electric, erupted. Belfort swarmed with ground strikes until the referee waved it off at 2:07. The finish was remarkably similar to Belfort’s 2013 Goiânia KO — both came in round one, both involved head kicks. Henderson’s post-fight characterisation was terse and direct: his description of the loss focused on his own error in movement. Belfort cited patience as the key: waiting for his moment rather than forcing exchanges early. The win was Belfort’s last significant UFC victory before his retirement.
Almeida’s 20th Win & The Supporting Card
Thomas Almeida’s Performance of the Night TKO of Anthony Birchak at 4:24 of round one was the card’s most statistically striking supporting performance. Almeida — a 24-year-old Brazilian bantamweight — had never lost a professional MMA fight and had never won by anything other than KO or submission. His 20th consecutive professional win, all by finish, placed him in discussion as one of the most exciting prospects in UFC bantamweight history. His finishing rate across 20 fights was 100%.
Alex Oliveira’s R3 KO of Piotr Hallmann earned the third PoN of the night. Hallmann, a Polish lightweight with genuine UFC experience, was stopped at 0:51 of the third round. Glover Teixeira’s second-round TKO of Patrick Cummins in the co-main was a decisive and relatively straightforward LHW performance. Gilbert Burns’ unanimous decision over Rashid Magomedov on the main card was an early-career win by the Brazilian lightweight — a footnote before his welterweight move and eventual UFC WW title challenge. Gleison Tibau’s lightweight win was subsequently announced as overturned to a No Contest following a positive test for erythropoietin (EPO), a blood-boosting agent.
Full Results
Main Card (Fox Sports 1)
Vitor Belfort def. Dan Henderson — KO (head kick) — R1, 2:07 — Middleweight (PoN $50k; Henderson ducked into kick; Belfort’s 2nd head kick KO of Henderson; trilogy settled 2-1 Belfort)
Glover Teixeira def. Patrick Cummins — TKO (punches) — R2, 1:12 — Light Heavyweight (Teixeira dominant)
Thomas Almeida def. Anthony Birchak — TKO (punches) — R1, 4:24 — Bantamweight (PoN $50k; Almeida’s 20TH CONSECUTIVE WIN all by finish at age 24)
Alex Oliveira def. Piotr Hallmann — KO — R3, 0:51 — Lightweight (PoN $50k)
Gilbert Burns def. Rashid Magomedov — Unanimous Decision — Lightweight (Burns early career; future UFC WW title challenger)
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1 / UFC Fight Pass)
Thiago Tavares def. Clay Guida — Featherweight (PoN $50k; Tavares wins)
Gleison Tibau def. [opponent] — Lightweight (RESULT OVERTURNED TO NO CONTEST after EPO positive — erythropoietin blood-booster; Tibau received 2-year USADA suspension)
+ Further prelim and early prelim bouts — 13-fight card total
Bonuses & Awards
🚨 Note: No Fight of the Night was awarded — all four bonuses were Performance of the Night.
🥇 Performance of the Night: Vitor Belfort, Thomas Almeida, Alex Oliveira, Thiago Tavares — $50,000 each
Records & Milestones
• Thomas Almeida won his 20th consecutive professional fight by finish — a 100% finishing rate, all by KO or submission.
• Belfort’s 2-1 head-to-head edge over Henderson: the decisive fight used the same weapon (head kick) as the 2013 Goiânia fight.
• Gleison Tibau’s win overturned to NC after EPO positive — a 2-year USADA suspension followed.
Legacy & Impact
The São Paulo card’s most durable legacy is the Belfort/Henderson trilogy result: Belfort won both UFC fights via head kick finish, establishing a stylistic symmetry that is rare in long-career rivals. The 2015 São Paulo fight was widely characterised as the end of both fighters’ elite-level competitiveness. Henderson fought three more times before retiring; Belfort fought four more times. Neither returned to the main event level they had occupied before Fight Night 77. Thomas Almeida’s 20-fight undeaten run ended with a loss to Cody Garbrandt at UFC 200 in July 2016 — a performance that stopped his run but launched Garbrandt’s title campaign.
Gilbert Burns’ São Paulo win over Magomedov was among the earliest of a UFC career that produced 13 wins between 2015 and 2021. After moving to welterweight in 2018, Burns challenged Kamaru Usman for the UFC WW title at UFC 258 in February 2021, losing by R3 TKO in a competitive fight. His São Paulo lightweight win was his 4th UFC fight and a building block for what became a top-three WW career.
FAQ
Why did Henderson duck into Belfort’s kick in both UFC fights?
The fundamental mechanical error was the same in both fights: Henderson anticipated a low kick and began to duck forward, which brought his head into the path of the incoming head kick. Belfort’s timing — throwing the head kick precisely when Henderson committed to the duck — was the execution quality that made the finish possible. Anticipating kick level is one of the fundamental defensive challenges in striking exchanges. Henderson, in both 2013 and 2015, read the setup as a low attack. The head kick was thrown before his defensive movement could correct. At 45 in 2015, his reaction time for course corrections was slower than at 40 in 2013.
Was this Belfort’s last significant win?
Yes. Belfort fought four more times after São Paulo: losses to Ronaldo ‘Jacaré’ Souza (UFC Fight Night 82, February 2016), Gegard Mousasi (UFC 204, October 2016), Uriah Hall (UFC Fight Night 119, October 2017), and a win over Nate Marquardt (Bellator 222, June 2019). The Henderson KO was the last UFC win of his career and the last win that placed him in the middleweight title conversation. He has since fought in other promotions. São Paulo was the effective conclusion of his UFC career as a significant middleweight.
What happened with Gleison Tibau’s EPO situation?
USADA announced Tibau’s positive test for erythropoietin (EPO) in mid-2016 following both in-competition and out-of-competition sample analysis. EPO is a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production, improving oxygen delivery to muscles — classified as a blood-doping agent and banned across sport. Tibau initially contested the finding and requested B-sample analysis, which also returned positive. He received a two-year suspension. His UFC Fight Night 77 win over Dileno Lopes was overturned to a No Contest. EPO positive tests are relatively rare in MMA compared to steroids; the Tibau case was one of the higher-profile blood-doping results in UFC history.
What made Thomas Almeida’s 20-fight unbeaten streak significant?
The streak’s significance was not only its length but its quality: Almeida had never won by decision — every win was by KO or submission. A 100% finishing rate across 20 fights at age 24, against UFC-quality opposition in the bantamweight division, was historically uncommon. The fight analytics community pointed to his Muay Thai striking and precision as the tools driving the finishing rate. His UFC contendership case was building with each Performance of the Night bonus. The eventual loss to Cody Garbrandt at UFC 200 ended the streak but demonstrated that his finishing style had predictable vulnerabilities against elite-level speed and accuracy.
Was the São Paulo card considered strong commercially?
10,628 attendance at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera was a solid result for a São Paulo indoor arena card. The venue capacity configured for a UFC event was approximately 11,000–12,000, so the attendance represented a near-sellout. Brazilian Fight Night cards headlined by Vitor Belfort consistently performed well commercially. The 757,000 FS1 viewership was below the Nashville card’s 1.16M but within the typical Fight Night Brazilian card range. The card was commercially standard for a Brazil-hosted event.
Where did Gilbert Burns’ career go from São Paulo?
Burns fought at lightweight for three years after his São Paulo win, accumulating a UFC LW record of 6-1 including wins over Alex White, Belal Muhammad, and Olivier Aubin-Mercier. He transitioned to welterweight in 2018 with wins over Dhiego Lima and Ryan LaFlare. A 2019-2020 welterweight streak including wins over Gunnar Nelson and Demian Maia produced his UFC WW title shot against Kamaru Usman at UFC 258 in February 2021. He was stopped in the third round in a competitive fight. His subsequent wins over Stephen Thompson and Gilbert Burns cemented him as a top-three WW. São Paulo was the beginning.