Dan Henderson is a retired American MMA fighter. Among his achievements are the championship titles of the Pride FC promotion in two weight categories at once (welterweight and middle). On top of that, in 2011, he became the Strikeforce MMA Light Heavyweight Champion.
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 traveled to the Summer Olympics with the United States Greco-Roman wrestling team, but failed to win a single medal.
In 1997, Dan became a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter and competed in that capacity at the Brazilian Open. Within the framework of this championship, Dan demonstrated brilliant work on the ground and in the standing position and defeated all his opponents.
A year later, in 1998, Henderson appeared at UFC 17, one of the earliest UFC promotions. Over the course of one evening, he defeated Allan Goes and Carlos Newton, earning the sympathy of both the fans in the hall and the viewers. Interestingly, 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 the Rings: King of Kings Tournament 1999, held in the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka. 32 fighters fought for victory here, including quite famous figures of the MMA world (for example, Gilbert Ivel and Antonio 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 his collaboration with Pride FC that he defeated such fighters as Murilo Rua, Renato Sobral, Wanderlei 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 in the welterweight (up to 73 kilograms) weight.
In the fall of 2007, Henderson signed with the UFC. At UFC 75, he faced off against 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 bouts in the UFC - one he lost and three won.
Dan Henderson at Strikeforce
In 2010, Henderson became a fighter for such an MMA organization as Strikeforce. And the very next year he achieved the champion belt in light heavyweight here (and at that time he was already over forty). After such success, the authoritative portal Sherdog included him in its TOP-10 of the best MMA fighters.
One of Henderson's brightest fights in Strikeforse is the fight against Fedor Emelianenko, which took place in July 2011. This, incidentally, was the debut of the American in the heavyweight division. As you know, that fight ended in an unfortunate defeat for an athlete from Russia. In the first round, Henderson sent Emelianenko into unconsciousness with a powerful uppercut, after which the referee interrupted the fight.
The fighter's new return to the octagon
Then Henderson again began playing 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 during this period he had more defeats than victories.
Henderson's last fight took place on Oct 8, 2016 at UFC 204. It was the middleweight title fight (Henderson was the challenger). His rival 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 declared Bisping the winner. After that, Henderson announced his retirement from MMA.
In total, Henderson fought 47 professional mixed martial arts fights and won 32 of them.
Henderson family
In 2009, Henderson in Los Angeles met his future wife, Rachel Malter. Their acquaintance was casual: they just got into the same taxi. In the past, Rachel worked as a model and PR director for a travel company and also ran her own business.
Dan and Rachelle's wedding took place in 2014. Now their family has three children - two girls and one boy.
