Pro MMA Radio interview – Dan Henderson

UFC middleweight and light heavyweight contender Dan Henderson stopped by Pro MMA Radio on Monday night to speak with host, Larry Pepe.

Here are some highlights from their discussion:

Henderson fought a very tough three round decision victory against Rousimar Palhares at UFC 88 in September.

He caught Palhares with some big shots and the guy would just not go away; the toughness of the Brazilian’s chin was a surprise to Henderson.

Henderson was able to clarify, his height is really 5’11” and not 6’1″ which most stats show.

Rich Franklin will be fighting Dan Henderson’s at UFC 93. The fight will be at light heavyweight (205 pounds) and Henderson will still clock in at 5 foot 11 inches for that fight as well.

Dan is happy about fighting Rich at 205lbs. as opposed to 185lbs. Both men can fight at either weight but Dan feels comfortable meeting Franklin at light heavyweight and doesn’t think he will be overpowered.

Although he has no official gameplan yet in place, Dan sees his upcoming fight with Rich Franklin being all over the place; standing, in the clinch, and on the ground.

Dan Henderson has not been told that the winner of his fight with Rich Franklin would get a rematch with Anderson Silva for the title at 185lbs.

Dan said although a possibility the winner of his fight with Franklin would be a coach (opposite Michael Bisping) on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, he could not confirm it.

He does like the idea of U.K. vs. U.S. teams for the next TUF season. He does occasionally watch the show.

Prior to his fight with Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson had not cut weight in about a year and a half. He says that could possibly be one reason he did not perform as well as he could have.

The conversation gets really interesting when Pep asks Dan if he saw Anderson Silva fight Patrick Cote. What were your feelings about the fight and Silva’s performance? “He seemed like he didn’t respect Cote at all. He was just out there clowning around the whole time.”

“It was really unfortunate that’s the way he fought [Silva]. A lot of people were expecting to go out there and actually try to finish the fight and not clown around the whole time. Just the way that it ended on top of that made it worse.”

Henderson goes on to say, “I don’t think he would be clowning around with me. I wish he would have come into my fight like that. Put it that way. I just don’t think he respected him.”

Of course Anderson Silva said the reason he fought like he did against Cote is because he respected his power. But Henderson does not see it that way. He says, “He was doing a lot of goofy sh…stuff that if you respected someone and worried about their power, you wouldn’t be doing.”

Dan Henderson literally does NO weight cut to fight at 205 lbs.

Prior to his fight with Rampage in the UFC, Dan Henderson had not fought in a cage in ten years.

Henderson chalks fellow Team Quest member, Sokoudjou’s problems in the UFC up to a lack of experience.

Talking on the subject of CroCop, Dan thinks that the Croation “just doesn’t want to fight anymore.”

Dan Henderson was on the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Team so he brings a unique perspective when analyzing the upcoming Lesnar vs. Couture fight.

He thinks the fight will go at least to the third round and possibly the distance. “Randy will have to be patient and wear Brock our a little bit. Brock will be worn out a lot more trying to take Randy down than he has for example against Frank Mir or Heath Herring cause those guys have no takedown defense and Randy does.”

He says Randy will probably get taken down but not get too far out of position where Brock can beat him up. Dan finalizes it with this, “Eventually Randy will get Brock down, beat him up and submit him.”

Randy’s experience will be the deciding factor according to Dan.

However, Dan sees Brock having a very bright career in MMA. When asked if he thought Brock would have long term success in the sport, Dan responds, “Absolutely. Look at him…as soon as he learns and gets some experience in MMA, he just gonna be unstoppable. All it is is a matter of technique.”

Dan says his toughest fight was against Wanderlei Silva the first time. He also thinks Wandy hits the hardest out of all his opponents.

Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, B.J. Penn, George St. Pierre are Dan Henderson’s picks for the top pound for pound fighters in the world.

Dan Henderson’s clothing line is Clinch Gear which can be found at www.clinchgear.com and www.danhenderson.com

To hear this entire interview and all of their free archives go to Pro MMA Radio at www.prommaradio.com.
Pro MMA Radio with host Larry Pepe airs every Monday evening at 6pm PT / 9pm ET.