UFC legend Dan Henderson was 46 years old when he officially hung up his gloves and ran away from the sport.
Former UFC star Dan Henderson is generally considered one of the most undervalued hunters in the UFC history, who set up a number of spectacular shows during his career, but never won a UFC title.
'Hendo' beat some of the best hunters of his era, including Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, Shogun Rua and others, but it was his rivalry with Michael Bisping who was perhaps the most memorable.
The two each other for the first time in the Octagon in 2009 on UFC 100, and Henderson scored a thunderous knockout over the Brit and won knockout of the night.
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Dan Henderson reveals why he retired after Rematch against Bisping
After his victory over Bisping, Henderson returned to Strikeforce in 2010, where he scored a very surprising knockout about Fedor Emelianenko, before returning to the UFC in 2011.
His third Stint in the promotion did not go as well as expected, because after 10 fights he had collected only four wins and was ready four times and lost two split decisions.
Despite that, in 2016, Henderson came from an impressive victory over Hector Lombard, a middleweight title fight against his former enemy, Bisping received.
The fight was quite controversial in many ways, because a large majority of the fan base believed that 'Hendo' did not earn the title shot, given his run at the time, but he set up a show.
To this day, many fans believe that Henderson won the fight, but because it was in the Bisping birthplace, he did not get the benefit of the doubt and he was still unable to claim UFC Gold.
That marked the last fight of Henderson in the promotion and he retired shortly thereafter at the age of 46. However, the UFC legend recently spoke about the current UFC star Paddy Pimblett, has admitted that it was not exactly because of his age that he retired.
When Henderson started his professional career for the first time, he fought in Pride, who took over two rounds of 10 minutes. 'Hendo' has revealed that after switching to the more regular size of five, five minutes rounds for title fights, his body simply could not recover properly.
“It was definitely something you had to get used to, I didn't have to be better in shape, you just had to go a little different, knowing that you had to go on. When I was the five five, I was a lot older, so that's the reason I was retiring, I just didn't recover enough,” Henderson Paddy Pimblett said.
Henderson then buried Jon Jones after UFC pension
The UFC Hall of Famer also admitted that he wanted the UFC to take on the damage that first scored when he fought against Bisping, because he knew for sure that he had won.
Although he withdrew from the UFC, Henderson Jon Jones went on recording in a wrestling game just a few months later, in the first round lost through a triangular choke.