Dan Henderson may be considered one of the top 10 mixed martial artists to ever compete, but that doesn't mean there won't be a point where he will have to walk away from the sport. At 44 years of age, that moment is coming sooner rather than later. A one-sided loss to Gegard Mousasi at UFC on Fox 14 would be enough to call an end to one of the most productive MMA careers in history.
Success has followed Henderson nearly everywhere he has competed. He's a former Strikeforce, Pride and UFC tournament winner. Yet all of those accolades seem too long ago.
Since moving back to the UFC in 2011, Henderson has won only two fights. Both of those fights came against Mauricio Rua—another fighter who is in the latter part of a great career. Henderson's 2-4 run within the Octagon has left room for many individuals to propose that it is perhaps time for him to step away from the sport. It's a proposition Henderson has addressed but not acted upon.
“I feel good and I know I'm able to compete with the top guys in the sport,” said Henderson in a 2013 interview by Christopher Murphy of BJ Penn.com. “I'm thinking it will be at least two years before I talk about retiring.”
Time has ticked away, and now Henderson is at a crossroads in his career.
Mousasi is a dangerous competitor who is a multiple-time champion in his own right. The former Strikeforce and DREAM title holder is looking to remain relevant within the middleweight division after suffering a recent loss to Ronaldo Souza in September.
His diversified attack game can be a problem for Henderson, who has visibly slowed with age. In his recent bouts he has been relegated to striking exchanges because he has struggled to use his wrestling to score any takedowns. In fact, according to FightMetric, “Hendo” has been unable to take an opponent to the mat since his fight with Lyoto Machida at UFC 157 three years ago.
If Henderson takes a bad loss this weekend, UFC President Dana White should step in to remove the eventual Hall of Fame candidate. White has done so multiple times in the past. Fighters such as Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell and others have listened to White openly say that he doesn't believe these men need to fight again.
“I want Hughes to retire. Hughes has nothing left to prove,” White said in a MMA Weekly report by Damon Martin. “If you look at the guys who helped us build this company, Hughes was one of them, Chuck Liddell (too), it's hard to finally say it's over.”
Now, removing Henderson from the UFC would not mean that his fight career is over. Organizations such as Bellator and World Series of Fighting have signed multiple UFC veterans. The pairing of Tito Ortiz against Stephan Bonnar—two other fighters who were “retired”—shows that these groups are willing to do all they can to sign fighters who will bring in ratings.
This weekend will mark Dan Henderson's 43rd professional MMA bout. If he finds himself on the receiving end of a one-sided defeat, he should take steps away from active competition. Henderson does not have anything left to prove to the fight community. Continuing to take bouts at this point would do harm to his already outstanding legacy.
