Dan Henderson winds up to punch a defenseless Wanderlei Silva in the third round of their Pride Fighting Championship middleweight title bout Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center. Henderson won seconds later by technical knockout in a stunningly one-sided bout. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Dan Henderson pounds on Wanderlei Silva in the third round of their Pride Fighting Championship middleweight title bout. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Dan Henderson is a two-time former U.S. Olympic wrestler, but his punching prowess led him to the Pride Fighting Championship middleweight title Saturday.

In a stunningly one-sided bout, Henderson dominated Wanderlei Silva, a nearly 3-1 favorite, and knocked him out at 2:01 of the third round before 13,180 fans at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Henderson, who also owns the Pride welterweight belt, became the first fighter in Pride history to hold two titles simultaneously.

"Indescribable" said Henderson, who joked that because he can't make lightweight he may now go after the heavyweight title. "It's an indescribable feeling right now."

The fight started slowly and the crowd was booing just a minute into the match.

But it wasn't long before it was roaring as Henderson used his punching power to subdue the hard-hitting Brazilian, who was taken to a local hospital Friday night and received antibiotics to treat a case of strep throat.

By the end of the first round, Silva had a small cut near his right eye and walked on unsteady feet back to his corner at the bell.

Less than 30 seconds into the second, the crowd began to get a sense of the impending upset.

The fight ended in dramatic fashion in the third. Henderson threw a wide left hook that clipped Silva on the chin and put him down and out.

"They all talked about my right hand, but I guess I have a hell of a left hook, too," Henderson said.

Watching a replay of his winning shot, he beamed and said, "Shoot, I got him. I got him with the left hook. I spent a lot of time practicing my left hook. Practice paid off."

In the primary undercard bout, Nick Diaz made his Pride debut a memorable one, scoring an equally stunning upset of lightweight champion Takanori Gomi in a non-title bout. After a wild first round in which both men nearly were stopped, Diaz ended the bout at 1:26 of the second on a triangle choke.

The power-punching Gomi hurt Diaz badly early, knocking him down.

"I didn't even realize I was down," a battered, bruised but clearly happy Diaz said later.

Diaz, who has fought primarily in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, weathered the storm, and by the end of the first round, it was Gomi who was on the verge of being stopped.

Diaz was landing a series of combinations to the head in the last minute as Gomi kept his hands at his side and did little to stop them.

The fight went to the ground early in the second and that was Gomi's downfall. Diaz got his legs around Gomi's neck and slapped on the triangle choke, forcing submission.

Shogun Rua made a statement Saturday that he belongs in the conversation regarding the world's top 205-pounders. Rua stopped Alistair Overeem at 3:37 of the first round.

The bout was a high-energy match and Overeem had the early edge as the two waged a stand-up fight. But once Rua got Overeem to the ground, the bout was short-lived.

With Overeem flat on his back, Rua dived in with a chopping right-hand punch that was the decisive blow. Rua landed several more shots before the bout was halted.

"When I come to the ring, I bring the Samurai sword and I'm coming to beat everyone," said Rua, who had defeated Overeem in Japan on Aug. 8, 2005.

Frank Trigg remained successful since moving up to the 185-pound class, scoring a convincing decision over Kazuo Misaki on Saturday. Trigg repeatedly took Misaki down and dominated a fight that was mostly on the ground.

Trigg pulled a unique doubleheader Saturday. Only minutes after his bout ended, he returned to ringside in a sport coat to serve as a television color analyst on Pride's pay-per-view broadcast.