Dan Henderson Tribute

Weeks leading up to UFC 204, everyone knew that win or lose it would be the last time we would see Dan Henderson in the octagon. Although he teased one more fight(should he win the championship), it would be hard to imagine him returning when he could retire on top. Accomplishing the one feat he never had in his remarkable career, which is UFC Championship, would be the cherry on top. Despite not winning the fight with Michael Bisping, there were a lot in the MMA community who thought he did enough to take it. I personally scored the fight for Bisping but felt there wasn’t a better way for Henderson to retire on top. Henderson has had a lot of memorable moments and fights in his 19 year career, so what better way to go out on than another memorable war, where he nearly won the championship. Despite losing the fight, Henderson has nothing to be ashamed of as he went out on his high horse, almost finishing the middleweight champion Michael Bisping on two occasions. At the end of the day, Henderson gave the fans another memorable moment in his MMA career, moments that helped him become one of the most fan favorite fighters in the sport’s history. 

The first time I was introduced to Dan Henderson would be in late 2002 when I first started watching the sport. I became hooked on the sport after ordering UFC 40 to watch the first Tito Ortiz/Ken Shamrock match. Being a massive pro wrestling fan since I was in diapers, I ordered the PPV to watch Ken Shamrock, whom I grew up watching wrestle in the WWE. On the undercard I saw Chuck Liddell knock out Babalu Sobral with a head kick and I immediately became hooked to the sport. After doing more research on MMA, I discovered a different organization that was popular amongst the MMA fans called PRIDE, finding out at the time it had much more entertaining fights than the UFC. One day I was strolling through the mall and found out that HMV was selling PRIDE DVD’s so I picked up a few, the one I remember in particular was PRIDE 13. Dan Henderson was a young 30 years old at the time of the event facing off against Renzo Gracie. Although I was just getting into the sport at the time, I knew the Gracie family name rang bells among the MMA community, so I was expecting Renzo to get an easy submission win. What I saw during the fight was the opposite: Renzo shot in for a takedown and Dan Henderson knocked him out cold with a left hand. What an introduction to Dan Henderson, a fighter whom I would go out of my way to watch for many years to come.

Although Dan Henderson entered the MMA as a wrestler, having competed in the Olympics for USA in both the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games, he was better known to the fans for his powerful right hand or as we like to call it, the infamous “H-bomb”. To compliment his dynamite right hand, he also possessed of the greatest chins in MMA history with the heart to win. A lot of Henderson’s fights were something that you would imagine that would come from a MMA version of a Rocky movie, which made him among one of the most popular fighters since his entrance to the MMA. Although his career has been considered an inconsistent one, part of that is due to his willingness to take risks. While most legends tend to stay their entire career at one weight class, Dan Henderson would go up and down between Middleweight and Light Heavyweight, fighting and defeating the best that both divisions had to offer. Throughout his fighting career, Henderson would consistently remain one of the top fighters at both those weight classes, something that should be heralded when reflecting on his career.

As far as the pinnacle of Dan Henderson’s career, some people will suggest the highlight reel knockout of current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping at UFC 100. Others will suggest the epic war with Shogun Rua at UFC 139, which many consider one of the greatest fights in UFC history. One could argue that it was when he knocked out the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time, Fedor Emelianenko, in a roller coaster of a fight in Strikeforce. I think what his greatest accomplishment(should be widely considered) was when he knocked out Wanderlei Silva at PRIDE 33 to become champion at both Middleweight and Light Heavyweight. Although Dan Henderson never won UFC gold, I believe that win over Fedor was clearly on an equal level. Before PRIDE was bought out by the UFC, the majority of MMA fans tend to hold PRIDE in higher regard than the UFC due to the talent level in PRIDE. Henderson originally won the Middleweight Championship (in PRIDE they called the Middleweight division Welterweight), when he beat Murilo Bustamante in a close decision in the finals of the 2005 tournament to decide the first champion at the weight class. In what was PRIDE’s second to last show before their acquisition by the UFC, they made a champion vs. champion fight with Henderson and the Light Heavyweight champion, Wanderlei Silva. For those who aren’t informed, Wanderlei Silva(whom also previously beat Dan Henderson in PRIDE back in 2000) is regarded as one of the greatest Light Heavyweight fighters. At the time, Wanderlei Silva was considered at the peak of his career, and other than Fedor, was easily the greatest fighter to fight under PRIDE. He was vicious, cold and calculated knockout artist who destroyed pretty much every fighter they put in front of him. Having already lost to Wanderlei before, Henderson was the underdog going into the fight. But as Henderson has proven before, with his will to win and powerful right hand you could never count him out. Oddly enough it was a left hook thatat knocked Wanderlei Silva out and allowed Dan Henderson to become the last Light Heavyweight champion in PRIDE, which was no doubt his crowning accomplishment.

As far as my personal favorite Dan Henderson moment, as mentioned earlier, it would had to have been his epic war with Shogun Rua at UFC 139. This was Henderson’s first fight back with the UFC after a great run with Strikeforce where he became the Light Heavyweight champion, as well as knocking out Fedor Emelianenko. Shogun Rua, who lost the UFC Light Heavyweight championship earlier that year to Jon Jones, rebounded from that championship loss knocking out another former Light Heavyweight champion in Forrest Griffin(who previously beat Shogun back in 2007). Shogun Rua himself is also widely considered as one of the greatest Light Heavyweight fighters ever and was not only a former UFC Champion, but was PRIDE Grand Prix champion as well. Rua remained as one of the top fighters in the division for a very long time. Despite Henderson and Shogun both fighting in PRIDE during the same time, they were never pitted against each other, so this was an exciting new match up between two legendary future hall of fame fighters. The fight started out with Dan Henderson coming out strong rocking Shogun on numerous occasions and winning the first three rounds. In the 4th round, Henderson started to lose steam and Shogun would come on strong in the last 2 rounds, almost finishing Henderson at one point late in the fight. Henderson once again showed his will to win and was able to survive. After securing the first three rounds, Henderson was able to win the unanimous decision in what was a roller coaster of a fight and is still talked about and regarded as one of the greatest fights ever.

Dan Henderson, as a long time fan of MMA I want to personally thank you for all the great memories you provided us. I want to thank you for your willingness to take risks, and fight anyone they put in front of you to provide us fans with great fights. And last of all I want to thank you for putting everything you had on the line whenever you fought, giving it 100% every time you fought. You epitomize what an MMA should strive to be, and once again thank you for everything.

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