UFC’s Dan Henderson plans to retire with middleweight title

The 46-year-old Californian will challenge Michael Bisping for the middleweight belt in the main event of UFC 204 in Manchester, England, on Saturday and has said he will retire after the fight regardless of the outcome.

“Eventually I’ve got to say I’m done and there could be no better ending than finishing on top,” he said after a workout at the UFC Gym in Torrance, California, last week. “I’ve definitely put my work in. After 20 years, haven’t you seen enough of me already?”

Bisping’s first title defense will headline a pay-per-view event at 7 p.m. Saturday that also includes a middleweight contender bout between Vitor Belfort and Gegard Mousasi.

Henderson said when he started in the sport his goal was to retire undefeated. That dream died when he lost to Wanderlei Silva in 2000 after winning his first nine bouts.

But Henderson says winning titles in Pride and Strikeforce, along with beating several legends of the sport has left him with just the goal of wearing the UFC belt that he could win on Saturday.

He can accomplish that by duplicating his performance from 2009, when he knocked Bisping out in the first round of their bout at UFC 200.

Henderson is more interested in looking ahead to the rematch than reflecting on the past, but he’s certainly not getting emotional about his impending retirement.

“I probably should give more thought to it being my last fight than I do,” he said. “But really the only time I think of is when I have to do my cardio and I think about how I won’t ever have to do that again. But honestly I’m not emotional about it at all. It’s just another fight and I think about what I have to do to win.”

Should he do that and walk away with a title, Henderson insists he will be content. When pressed, however, he conceded there is always a possibility he could return.

“Everybody has a price,” he laughed. “I’m not even going to entertain it right now, though. It’s one of those things that if they really, really have to have me back, I’m not sure why they would, but if they really did, I’m sure they could make me smile somehow.”

SAMMAN’S MOTHER SPEAKS OUT — There are still far more questions than answers when it comes to the events that culminated in UFC middleweight Josh Samman being hospitalized and his friend Troy Kirkingburg dead.

Samman’s mother made sure to dispel at least one theory, however, about her son’s hospitalization in Florida.

“Josh is still in a coma, and more tests are being done,” his mother said in a statement local reporter Christopher Rothstein provided to Fox Sports. “That is the latest update on my son’s condition. In spite of speculation, there was no heroin found in Josh’s system whatsoever. No matter what people are posting on social media.

“The reason I am making this statement is, because Josh touched so many lives, and loved inspiring others, especially young people. I don’t want them to lose faith in him, and whatever he brought out in them, because of the lies. He would want them to “never give up.”

According to a statement by the Hollywood, Florida, police department, Samman was found breathing and with a pulse in his home, but unresponsive with Kirkingburg dead nearby. They were found by a friend and police were called with a report of a possible drug overdose.

The fighter detailed his history of drug abuse and struggles dealing with the 2013 death of his girlfriend in a car accident in his autobiography that was recently published called, “The Housekeeper: Love, Death and Prizefighting.”

Samman was scheduled to fight on the UFC Fight Night 102 card in Albany, New York, on Dec. 9.

DOGS BARKING — All four underdogs on the main card of UFC on Fox 96 in Portland, Oregon, came out victorious on Saturday night.

John Lineker, a plus-110 underdog, took a unanimous decision over John Dodson in the bantamweight main event.

Brandon Moreno was the biggest longshot of the group. He submitted Louis Smolka as a plus-405 choice in a flyweight bout.

Alex Oliveira (plus-250) knocked out lightweight Will Brooks and Zak Ottow (plus-210) earned a split decision over veteran welterweight Josh Burkman.

A $100 parlay wager on all four underdogs would have returned more than $11,500.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj