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Don’t Make Dan Henderson Angry—You Wouldn’t Like Him When He’s AngryBy Chuck Mindenhall
fighter heading into his middleweight bout with Rousimar Palhares at UFC 88 in Atlanta is an understatement. Yet to say he’s washed up after dropping back-to-back title fights with Quinton Jackson (205) and Anderson Silva (185) respectively, well, that’s just plain crazy talk.
Because you know what? There’s something about a 37 (soon to be 38) year-old warrior telling you that taking lumps from the best in the world is still a good learning experience that’s inspiring. After all, when is daring ever safe against daring men? Hendo, who has yet to meet a challenge that he didn’t like, says never.
“I don’t think anyone else has had as tough a first two fights back in the UFC as I have, and that’s the way I prefer it,” Hendo says. “I want to fight the best in the world, to test my skills and see how I am. You win some, you lose some—unfortunately, I’ve lost the last two. I’m definitely going out there this fight [with Palhares] to win and take nothing less than winning.”
Granted, the Greco-Roman wrestler Henderson (22-7) has won 18 professional bouts in Pride and the King of Kings competitions since his last UFC victory against Carlos Newton back at UFC 17, notching wins over Wanderlei Silva, Kazuo Misaki, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Renzo Gracie and a laundry list of contenders more. But it’s been a long, long time since he’s lost consecutive fights—2002, to be exact—and he’s never dropped three.
Pressure? Maybe, but Hendo is taking a cue from the man he last knocked out at Pride 33 to gear up for his fight with the ever-dangerous up-and-comer, “Toquinho” Palhares (17-1), who is coming off a victory in his UFC debut by submitting Ivan Salaverry in May.
“Well, I think having lost my last two fights, I definitely need to get back in there and win this one for sure. I think Wanderlei Silva was in a similar situation, except for he’d lost three in a row. But again, the three that he lost were against three top guys. Then they put him against Jardine and he was kind of with his back to the wall and he went out there and took care of business, so I guess I got to follow his lead.”
To do that, Henderson shook things up a bit in his training. Gone is Ryan Parsons, his coach and nutritionist over the last few fights, off to start his own gym. “It just wasn’t working out,” Henderson says. And, rather than training at Oscar De La Hoya’s old compound up in Big Bear in relative solitude, as he did leading up to his fight with “Spider,” Henderson is remaining at sea level with all his familiar distractions.
That is, his family, his ranch in Temecula, and guys like Sokoudjou and The Ultimate Fighter 8 cast member Krzysztof Soszynski punching that famous chin of his.
“You know, I’m one of those guys, I don’t need to focus on the fight all the time and it’s actually better for me to have distractions,” he says. “The elevation was kind of nice, but I didn’t notice a huge benefit off that. I don’t know, my body felt a little weird that night when I fought Anderson Silva.”
That night was March 1, in Columbus, Ohio. Henderson dropped down to the 185-pound division to take on Silva at UFC 82 because, as he said at the time, “there’s nobody left to challenge him.” Even though he’d just fought and lost a close decision to Quinton Jackson in a heavily-hyped bout a few cards before, the stakes were even higher going into that Silva fight. It was two styles colliding, two proud clinches, two diametrically opposed personalities; he’d either crash through Silva and bring all the surrounding hype down with him, or he’d fall and then give birth to the best pound-for-pound fighter in the business.
In defining circumstances like those, all a fighter can do is put himself in a position that he feels at his physical and mental peak on fight night. Instead, the durable veteran Henderson felt “weird” as he stepped into the Octagon.
He won the first round decisively; got choked out with eight seconds left in the second.
Silva became more mythological. Henderson was back to the drawing board.
“I didn’t quite do the weight cut as I was planning—I overshot it by three pounds,” he remembers, saying he felt flat and his energy flagged too quickly. “That’s my own fault. I normally like to lose five or six pounds at weigh-ins. I was eight pounds over and I ended up losing 11. It came off a little bit too easy—but again, it’s just not good to do. And who knows, that could have been a reason. Or could have been just not a good night for me in general.”
And now Henderson gets a chance to rectify things against Brazilian Top Team’s Palhares, who is on a six-fight winning streak, the last five coming via submission. Remarkably, it’s Hendo’s first non-title fight since 2005. For once in a long while he may not be headlining, but Henderson would love a stand-up war to steal the fight of the night honors.
“I think this is a good match up for me,” he says. “I’m going to be the guy that’s a lot more dangerous on my feet and it’s somewhere he doesn’t want to be with me. So it’s going to be his task to get me into his world on the ground. I’m not the easiest guy to take down, you know—so the determining factor of the fight is who can defend takedowns, who can get their takedown and if I can knock him out coming in or whatever.”
As for those scary leglocks, armbars and chokes that are sure to be applied?
“Yeah, that’s pretty much all Palhares has is submissions,” Henderson says. “I try to come up with a game plan not to fight right in the guy’s strengths, so obviously I’m going to be trying to stay up on my feet with him.”
And that’s how it goes when he envisions the fight, too. Him catching the lesser experienced Palhares with something big, just as he did with Wanderlei Silva in his last triumph.
“I just see myself knocking him out,” he predicts. “I was pretty pissed at my last performance and I’m probably going to be a little bit pissed when I go out there and fight this guy. I’m ready to do a 15-minute grappling match with him if I have to, but I’m not going to lose.”
Here’s another prediction: In another 10 years, in 2018, Dan Henderson will be an MMA Hall of Famer.
fighter heading into his middleweight bout with Rousimar Palhares at UFC 88 in Atlanta is an understatement. Yet to say he’s washed up after dropping back-to-back title fights with Quinton Jackson (205) and Anderson Silva (185) respectively, well, that’s just plain crazy talk.
Because you know what? There’s something about a 37 (soon to be 38) year-old warrior telling you that taking lumps from the best in the world is still a good learning experience that’s inspiring. After all, when is daring ever safe against daring men? Hendo, who has yet to meet a challenge that he didn’t like, says never.
“I don’t think anyone else has had as tough a first two fights back in the UFC as I have, and that’s the way I prefer it,” Hendo says. “I want to fight the best in the world, to test my skills and see how I am. You win some, you lose some—unfortunately, I’ve lost the last two. I’m definitely going out there this fight [with Palhares] to win and take nothing less than winning.”
Granted, the Greco-Roman wrestler Henderson (22-7) has won 18 professional bouts in Pride and the King of Kings competitions since his last UFC victory against Carlos Newton back at UFC 17, notching wins over Wanderlei Silva, Kazuo Misaki, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Renzo Gracie and a laundry list of contenders more. But it’s been a long, long time since he’s lost consecutive fights—2002, to be exact—and he’s never dropped three.
Pressure? Maybe, but Hendo is taking a cue from the man he last knocked out at Pride 33 to gear up for his fight with the ever-dangerous up-and-comer, “Toquinho” Palhares (17-1), who is coming off a victory in his UFC debut by submitting Ivan Salaverry in May.
“Well, I think having lost my last two fights, I definitely need to get back in there and win this one for sure. I think Wanderlei Silva was in a similar situation, except for he’d lost three in a row. But again, the three that he lost were against three top guys. Then they put him against Jardine and he was kind of with his back to the wall and he went out there and took care of business, so I guess I got to follow his lead.”
To do that, Henderson shook things up a bit in his training. Gone is Ryan Parsons, his coach and nutritionist over the last few fights, off to start his own gym. “It just wasn’t working out,” Henderson says. And, rather than training at Oscar De La Hoya’s old compound up in Big Bear in relative solitude, as he did leading up to his fight with “Spider,” Henderson is remaining at sea level with all his familiar distractions.
That is, his family, his ranch in Temecula, and guys like Sokoudjou and The Ultimate Fighter 8 cast member Krzysztof Soszynski punching that famous chin of his.
“You know, I’m one of those guys, I don’t need to focus on the fight all the time and it’s actually better for me to have distractions,” he says. “The elevation was kind of nice, but I didn’t notice a huge benefit off that. I don’t know, my body felt a little weird that night when I fought Anderson Silva.”
That night was March 1, in Columbus, Ohio. Henderson dropped down to the 185-pound division to take on Silva at UFC 82 because, as he said at the time, “there’s nobody left to challenge him.” Even though he’d just fought and lost a close decision to Quinton Jackson in a heavily-hyped bout a few cards before, the stakes were even higher going into that Silva fight. It was two styles colliding, two proud clinches, two diametrically opposed personalities; he’d either crash through Silva and bring all the surrounding hype down with him, or he’d fall and then give birth to the best pound-for-pound fighter in the business.
In defining circumstances like those, all a fighter can do is put himself in a position that he feels at his physical and mental peak on fight night. Instead, the durable veteran Henderson felt “weird” as he stepped into the Octagon.
He won the first round decisively; got choked out with eight seconds left in the second.
Silva became more mythological. Henderson was back to the drawing board.
“I didn’t quite do the weight cut as I was planning—I overshot it by three pounds,” he remembers, saying he felt flat and his energy flagged too quickly. “That’s my own fault. I normally like to lose five or six pounds at weigh-ins. I was eight pounds over and I ended up losing 11. It came off a little bit too easy—but again, it’s just not good to do. And who knows, that could have been a reason. Or could have been just not a good night for me in general.”
And now Henderson gets a chance to rectify things against Brazilian Top Team’s Palhares, who is on a six-fight winning streak, the last five coming via submission. Remarkably, it’s Hendo’s first non-title fight since 2005. For once in a long while he may not be headlining, but Henderson would love a stand-up war to steal the fight of the night honors.
“I think this is a good match up for me,” he says. “I’m going to be the guy that’s a lot more dangerous on my feet and it’s somewhere he doesn’t want to be with me. So it’s going to be his task to get me into his world on the ground. I’m not the easiest guy to take down, you know—so the determining factor of the fight is who can defend takedowns, who can get their takedown and if I can knock him out coming in or whatever.”
As for those scary leglocks, armbars and chokes that are sure to be applied?
“Yeah, that’s pretty much all Palhares has is submissions,” Henderson says. “I try to come up with a game plan not to fight right in the guy’s strengths, so obviously I’m going to be trying to stay up on my feet with him.”
And that’s how it goes when he envisions the fight, too. Him catching the lesser experienced Palhares with something big, just as he did with Wanderlei Silva in his last triumph.
“I just see myself knocking him out,” he predicts. “I was pretty pissed at my last performance and I’m probably going to be a little bit pissed when I go out there and fight this guy. I’m ready to do a 15-minute grappling match with him if I have to, but I’m not going to lose.”
Here’s another prediction: In another 10 years, in 2018, Dan Henderson will be an MMA Hall of Famer.