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Will Dan Henderson’s Legend Be Questioned If He Doesn’t Earn UFC Gold?

The legacies of professional athletes are defined by championships. Many athletes have stellar careers, but have never been a world champion for their sport.Dan Henderson falls into this category.Technically speaking, Hendo was a UFC champion. He …

The legacies of professional athletes are defined by championships. Many athletes have stellar careers, but have never been a world champion for their sport.

Dan Henderson falls into this category.

Technically speaking, Hendo was a UFC champion. He defeated Carlos Newton to win the middleweight tournament at UFC 17. He has not been a “modern day” UFC champion, however.

Henderson became the Pride welterweight champion in 2005. Two years later he beat Wanderlei Silva to become the Pride middleweight champion. For good measure, Hendo added a Strikeforce light heavyweight championship in 2011.

But he has not been what many consider to be a world champion MMA fighter. He has not won in the most prestigious promotion, the UFC.

Fans would be hard pressed to find a more impressive career. Over the course of a 15-year professional career, Hendo has racked up 29 wins (13 by knockout), and earned four titles in three different weight classes.

In 37 career fights, Henderson has never been knocked out, and of his eight losses only three have not gone to a decision.

At 41 years old, most would expect Hendo to have a couple of fights left in the tank and wrap up what should be a Hall of Fame UFC career. Or is it?

The glaring achievement missing from Dan Henderson’s legendary career is a UFC championship belt. Furthermore, while he has an outstanding career, his record in the Octagon is only 6-2.

Hendo’s victories in the UFC have come against Allan Goes, Carlos Newton, Rousimar Palhares, Rich Franklin, Michael Bisping and Shogun Rua.

The two losses have come against Rampage Jackson and Anderson Silva. Those two losses were also his chances of winning a UFC belt.

It would be unfair to say Hendo can’t win when the title is on the line. He has shown throughout his career he can rise to the occasion with the championship in reach. Unfortunately, he hasn’t come through in a UFC title fight.

From all accounts, it appears Henderson is going to hand pick his next opponent. He doesn’t want to fight anybody but the best, and he wants to go out on top with a UFC belt.

Should Dan Henderson retire without earning UFC gold, it would not diminish anything he has accomplished as a professional fighter. It would, however, put him in the undesirable club of the best UFC fighters never to hold a title.

Hendo deserves better than that.

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Strikeforce: Why Ronda Rousey Is the New Face of Women’s MMA

Less than three weeks ago, I wrote about Ronda Rousey and how I felt she was going to become the face of Women’s MMA. Now, let’s be honest, that wasn’t really a wild prediction that was going to cause a lot of controversy amongst MMA fans. However, the…

Less than three weeks ago, I wrote about Ronda Rousey and how I felt she was going to become the face of Women’s MMA.

Now, let’s be honest, that wasn’t really a wild prediction that was going to cause a lot of controversy amongst MMA fans. However, there were quite a few people who believed if Rousey did win the fight over Miesha Tate it would do more harm than good for WMMA because it would magnify how weak the talent is there.

There were also people who actually believed Tate was going to be able to stop Rousey’s takedown attempts and win the fight…I was one of them.

So why the conflicting articles? Why write about Rousey being the face of WMMA, and then just two weeks later publish something stating Tate was going to come away with the win?

Quite frankly, I didn’t think Rousey’s time was going to come so fast. I knew she was going to beat Tate, eventually. I thought I would be writing this article later this year or early next year.

I was wrong. Ronda and “Rowdy Nation” are ready to propel the sport of WMMA now, and who is going to stop them?

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Lavar Johnson’s Difficult Road to the UFC

I will be the first to admit that many of my predictions don’t turn out very well. Before I put together a column or slideshow on how I think a fight card will turn out I like to read up on not only the statistics, but also find out who these less…

Shortly before Lavar Johnson’s UFC debut I looked up his professional record. I saw he was 15-5 with 13 of those wins coming via knockout. He was coming off of two consecutive losses and faced a hungry fighter in Joey Beltran, who had never been knocked out.

After dissecting the facts and reading about Johnson, I came to the conclusion that Joey Beltran would suffer his first KO loss and be cut from the UFC.

As soon as Johnson dropped Beltran I leaped off the couch (I didn’t dance on it like Tom Cruise). I was ecstatic. My beer dropped, the dog was barking, and my wife was doing her normal roll of the eyes. I wasn’t overly excited because I finally nailed a prediction, but rather I was happy for a man who has overcome such a tough road to be where he is today.

Johnson is scheduled to face Pat Barry on the main card at UFC on FOX 3 in May. While this is a milestone in his eight-year professional career, it pales in comparison to what he accomplished on July 5, 2009.

On that tragic day, Johnson earned his greatest victory by staying alive.

He was in Bakersfield, California attending a family reunion that coincided with the Fourth of July holiday. The party carried into the early morning hours of the next day when according to Bakersfield police, three teens walked past the residence. One of the teens pulled out a firearm and started shooting.

Johnson was struck by three bullets. He was hit in the hip, forearm, and abdomen. In a 2010 interview with Bleacher Report, Johnson said, “I was awake the whole time. I just tried to stay calm and save my energy.”

Just 10 months removed from being shot three times, Johnson returned to the cage and beat Lolohea Mahe by TKO in the second round of a Strikeforce Challengers event.

Johnson now finds himself in the spotlight. He is going to be on national television facing a respected opponent in Pat Barry. Barry and Johnson are going to put on a good old fashioned slug fest for the FOX audience.

Should Johnson beat Barry it would propel him into the top 15 of the division. A loss, however, could very well put the brakes on his UFC career.

It is no secret that Johnson most likely only has one chance to launch himself up the heavyweight rankings. He will be 35 years old this year, and that does not leave much room for error.

Age is certainly just a number for Johnson. He is a motivated individual who does not take a single day for granted.

I certainly wouldn’t pick against him.

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MMA: 5 UFC Fighters Fans Obsess Over

We’ve all had conversations with other fans regarding our favorite sports teams. Within the first couple of minutes you can tell if the person you are talking to is a fan, or a rabid freak who is so obsessed with his or her team that they would jump in…

The UFC has fighters on their roster whom fans treat the same way. There are rational people like you and me (you are rational, right?) that enjoy talking about the fighters we pull for each time they fight.

Then there are those who get so defensive about their favorite fighter that they turn a good conversation into a shouting match.

These are the fighters UFC fans obsess over the most.

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UFC 144 Results: What’s Next for Joe Lauzon

When Joe Lauzon fights, the fans are watching. Whether he wins or loses, he is always in the bonus mix.In fact, seven of Lauzon’s last eight fights have earned him or his opponent “Fight of the Night”, “Submission of the Night”, or “Knockout of the Nig…

When Joe Lauzon fights, the fans are watching. Whether he wins or loses, he is always in the bonus mix.

In fact, seven of Lauzon’s last eight fights have earned him or his opponent “Fight of the Night”, “Submission of the Night”, or “Knockout of the Night” bonuses.

Lauzon now has 12 career UFC fights. His record is still an admirable 8-4, but he is having a hard time climbing into title contention.

At 27 years of age, the time is now for Lauzon to make a run if he is ever going to do so. Unfortunately for him, the UFC Lightweight division has become arguably the most stacked division of the promotion. In addition, the list of names above him in the rankings grew exponentially with his loss to Anthony Pettis.

Lauzon is going to need to take a fight to get his momentum going again, and a fight with Donald Cerrone makes sense and would be a predicted favorite for “Fight of the Night”. Cerrone needs to get the buzz for his career going after the lopsided loss to Nate Diaz. If it is going to be Cerrone, Lauzon will have to have a longer than usual layoff in between fights as “Cowboy” is scheduled to face Jeremy Stephens in May.

It may turn out that Lauzon will never make a serious run for a title. The talent pool in his division is only getting deeper with each passing month, and while he has 21 professional victories, he can’t seem to string enough wins together to gain the notoriety needed to challenge for a championship.

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UFC 144: Questions We Have About Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will make his 11th appearance in the UFC Octagon at UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson. Jackson will take on Ryan Bader at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, which will mark the first UFC event in Japan since 2000. Although …

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will make his 11th appearance in the UFC Octagon at UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson.

Jackson will take on Ryan Bader at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, which will mark the first UFC event in Japan since 2000.

Although Rampage holds a UFC record of 7-3, his wins as of late have not been impressive and he has looked like an old fighter in his losses.

There are plenty of questions surrounding Rampage Jackson. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

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