UFC’s Dan Henderson acknowledges end of career is near — VIDEO
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — UFC veteran Dan Henderson is used to fielding questions about when he plans to retire. But he might not have to deal with them much longer.
While he has often laughed off the queries, he is finally conceding the end may be near.
The 45-year-old lifelong Californian will fight Hector Lombard in a middleweight bout at UFC 199 on Saturday at The Forum. It’s the final fight on Henderson’s UFC contract, which appears to have much more to do with his plans than his age.
Henderson, a two-time Olympian in wrestling, is well aware of his status as the oldest fighter on the UFC roster. He just doesn’t want to be defined by it.
“I guess I can (take some pride in it),” he said Thursday. “But I don’t know if it’s nice to be the oldest guy. I’d like to be the youngest guy. I tend to get asked about my age a lot, but I think people make a bigger deal out of my age than what it should be. I realize I’m the oldest guy, but I still feel great and able to compete. Age shouldn’t really matter.”
But it has showed up in his results. Henderson has lost six of his past eight fights and is coming off a first-round knockout loss to Vitor Belfort in November.
He still possesses a dangerous weapon in his right hand, though. Both of his most recent victories have come by knockout, and he has 15 KOs in his illustrious career.
There probably won’t be many more chances to add to that total. Henderson will wait for the UFC’s offer on his next contract, and he said he wouldn’t rule out looking at other organizations if he’s unhappy with it. He added that he would prefer to end his career in the UFC.
Henderson, who has held belts in Pride and Strikeforce, acknowledged Saturday could mark his final walk to the cage.
“I can’t say 100 percent it’s my last fight or that I’m going to do 10 more. I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a bigger possibility now than it was in my past. We’ll just have to see how it goes. It won’t have anything to do with the outcome of this fight or anything besides what my options are afterward.
“I’ll have to weigh that and decide whether I want to keep fighting or do something else in the sport.”
He runs a successful gym in Temecula, California, and plans to do so after he’s done fighting. Lombard has spent time training there, though his review wasn’t exactly positive.
Lombard, who is moving back up from welterweight after a steroid suspension and a knockout loss to Neil Magny in his return fight in March, has said Henderson and some of his gymmates didn’t make him feel welcome and he left after a few months.
He didn’t want to elaborate Thursday.
“He’s the one making all that (expletive) up,” Lombard said. “It has nothing to do with me. It’s just another fight. Simple. (This fight just) means a chance to beat him up. Apart from that, I’m cool. It’s not personal.”
Henderson has heard Lombard give his side of the story, but remembers his time at the gym differently.
“I have no problem with him,” Henderson said. “It wasn’t me that brought it up. All I can say is he trained with us for about three months, and I was in and out of town at the time, but when I’d get back into town, all my guys would basically just tell me how much they didn’t like him. Nobody at my gym liked him. That could be a reason he didn’t stay around.”
Lombard says he is in his new division for the long haul. The Olympic judoka for Cuba endured brutal weight cuts to get to 170 pounds and said the new IV-rehydration ban was more than enough reason to move back to middleweight.
He said he feels stronger and happier at the bigger weight and insists it will show up in his performance. It remains to be seen what it might do for his cardio, which always has been his biggest weakness.
Even at his advanced age, Henderson thinks he has an edge in that area.
“(I just have to make sure) I don’t get caught at the beginning of the fight, because that’s where he’s most dangerous and he’s real powerful,” Henderson said. “Some people are made to do different things. He’s made more like a sprinter.”
A win would be a nice addition to Henderson’s resume should it be the end of his career, but he’s not thinking in those terms just yet.
“I just know I’ve been fighting for a long time, and I have a lot of people that like to watch me fight,” he said. “I haven’t thought about the exact legacy at all. It’s really not a concern. I just go out there and do my best to make sure I’m entertaining and try to knock somebody out.”
The fight is part of a pay-per-view card that features two title bouts. Luke Rockhold will defend the middleweight belt against Michael Bisping, and Urijah Faber will challenge Dominick Cruz for the bantamweight title.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj
