Dan Henderson is a retired American MMA fighter. Among his achievements are the champion Pride FC promotion titles in two weight categories at once (welterweight and middle). In addition to this, in 2011 he became the champion of the MMA organization Strikeforce among light heavyweights.
Participation in the Olympics and the first victories in MMA tournaments
Dan Henderson was born on August 24, 1970 in Downey, California. In 1992 and 1996, he went to the Summer Olympic Games as part of the United States Greco-Roman wrestling team, but could not win a single medal.
In 1997, Dan became a fighter in mixed martial arts (MMA) and performed in this capacity at the Brazilian Open. Within the framework of this championship, Dan demonstrated brilliant work in the ground and in the rack and defeated all his opponents.
A year later, in 1998, Henderson appeared on UFC 17 - one of the early UFC promotion shows. Within one evening, he defeated Allan Goes and Carlos Newton, earning the sympathy of both fans in the audience and viewers. It is interesting that Newton broke Henderson's jaw with one of the blows, but he continued to fight, and in the end the judges recognized him as the strongest.
The third MMA tournament in Henderson's biography was a tournament called "Rings: King of Kings Tournament 1999", held in the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka. 32 fighters fought for the victory, including quite famous figures of the MMA world (for example, Gilbert Avel and Antoniu Nogueira). But none of them could stop Henderson - he won all 5 of his fights and became the rightful owner of the championship belt.
Athlete's career from 2000 to 2009
In 2000, Henderson began performing under the auspices of the MMA promotion Pride Fighting Championships. It was during cooperation with Pride FC that he defeated fighters such as Murilo Roy, Renato Sobral, Vanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Renzo Gracie. And he managed to become the champion of this promotion twice: in 2005 on average (up to 83 kilograms), and in 2007 welterweight (up to 73 kilograms) weight.
In the fall of 2007, Henderson signed a contract with the UFC. At UFC 75, he met with Quinton Jackson. The fight was stubborn, the fight lasted all five rounds. But as a result, the judges unanimously decided that Jackson was still stronger. Until the end of 2009, Henderson had four more fights in the UFC - in one he lost, and in three he won.
Dan Henderson at Strikeforce
In 2010, Henderson became a fighter in such an MMA organization as Strikeforce. And as early as the next year he achieved a light heavyweight championship belt here (and at that time he was already over forty). After such success, the authoritative portal Sherdog included him in his TOP 10 best MMA fighters.
One of Henderson’s most striking battles in Strikeforse is the fight against Fedor Emelianenko in July 2011. This, by the way, was the American heavyweight debut. As you know, that fight ended in the annoying defeat of an athlete from Russia. In the first round, Henderson sent Emelianenko unconscious with a powerful uppercut, after which the referee interrupted the match.
The new return of the fighter to the octagon
Then Henderson again began speaking in the UFC (this was due, in particular, to the fact that Strikeforce as an organization ceased to exist). For another five years, the fighter steadily entered the octagon, but he had more defeats during this period than victories.
Henderson's last fight took place on October 8, 2016 at UFC 204. It was a duel for the middleweight title (Henderson was in the role of challenger). His opponent in this case was Michael Bisping. There were episodes in the battle when Henderson dominated and inflicted serious damage on his counterpart. But as a result, the judges still recognized Bisping as the winner. Henderson then announced his retirement at MMA.
In total, Henderson had 47 professional fights in mixed martial arts and 32 of them won.
