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WALKER: 41 is the New 25 - Dan Henderson's Second Coming in the UFC
Mar 16, 2012 - 1:05:58 PM WALKER: 41 is the New 25 - Dan Henderson's Second Coming in the UFC

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By: Brad Walker, MMATorch Contributor

We all saw the fight of the year in 2011 between Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Dan Henderson. That five rounds of brutality and war showed us all that without question these two fighters were warriors above and beyond most. Shogun is 30 years old, and has been fighting professionally since he was 20, Hendo on the other hand is 41, and has been fighting professionally since he was 26. Nowadays a fighter getting started at 26 is far behind where most would be getting into the game, but back in 1997 when Henderson began, that was just about normal.

On the other side of that coin, right now Dan is 41 years old, and he is fighting better than ever before – and it's almost like a Cinderella story. Not too long ago Hendo lost consecutive fights to Anderson Silva and Rampage Jackson, which unified the Pride and UFC titles, and suddenly people thought age was catching up with him.

He went on after those two losses to win three straight, including his infamous and extremely violent knockout of Michael Bisping – then in an unusual move he decided to pack his bags and move over to Strikeforce. He was welcomed with a middleweight title shot against Jake Shields, which he lost in a five round decision, and looked helpless for most of the fight. Since then, Hendo has come out with a renewed vigor and ability to pick apart every fighter placed in the cage along with him; and he has made it look easy. He knocked out Renato Sobral, which earned him a shot at the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Title, then he knocked out Rafeal Cavalcante to bring home his third title in MMA competition. How could he prove he was even better than he looked at that point in time, what could he do to further make his case for being at his best?

How about a fight with a man who is arguably the best heavyweight MMA fighter of all time, Fedor Emilianenko? It looked like a great fight on paper, the hype was amazing, and everyone was ready for Hendo to take home a big loss in the fight; but they would be disappointed. Fedor, who has never been knocked out in his career, was rendered briefly unconscious by Dan Henderson in the very first round, putting an end to Fedor in Strikeforce, and starting the era of Hendo. It was perhaps one of the most unlikely knockouts in MMA history, and it certainly got people buzzing about the potential that Henderson had if he returned to UFC. That is exactly what happened – Henderson made his way back to the UFC in his prime, at the age of 40.

We can go all the way back to the start of Henderson's professional career in 1997, but we need not look so far back to realize the greatness he has had since the beginning. He held championships in two separate weight classes, and has held belts in two separate organizations, and let's not forget his gold medal at the pan am games in 2000. He has defeated nearly every elite fighter he has faced, and he looks to continue doing the same as long as his body will let him. Next up for him is presumably Jon Jones, and I will say one thing for sure; his right hand is more likely to beat Jones than any other fighter's entire body. The future is bright for Hendo, even at the age of 41 - he's in great shape, he's as good a fighter as he's ever been - and he is still in his prime.

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[Dan Henderson art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]