Dan Henderson’s UFC 199 showdown with Hector Lombard will be the final one on his current contract. Will he hang up the gloves after June 4th? According to Hendo, it’s down to the resulting contract negotiations.
On the main card of UFC 199, Dan Henderson will face Hector Lombard in what stands as the final fight on the 45-year-old MMA legend’s current UFC contract. Hendo has lost 6 of his last 8 fights, including the only 3 knockout defeats of his career, plus a woefully one-sided beatdown dished out by Daniel Cormier.
In an interview with MMAjunkie radio, Henderson admitted that he is just about ready to hang up the gloves, but contract negotiations with the UFC after the Lombard fight could change things.
“I’m definitely capable of keeping on and still competing at a high level, but I’m almost ready to retire, and depending on how things play out after this fight with negotiations, yeah, it could be my last,” Henderson said. “Or maybe I’ll still fight. I don’t know yet. I’m at that point where I’m about ready, but definitely, I know in my heart I’m still capable of doing it and if I do decide to keep going on I’ll make sure I do it well.”
Henderson was supposed to rematch Lyoto Machida last month, but Machida’s admitted use of the banned 7-keto-DHEA substance resulted in the cancellation of the bout, as well as Henderson’s outright removal from the event. Not too long after the bout was scrapped, the UFC booked him to fight Lombard, who is returning to middleweight after losing to Neil Magny in March. Henderson assessed the new matchup as quite different than if he were to face Machida again.
“Instead of fighting a guy that runs all the time I got a guy that runs at you the whole time – at least for the first few minutes,” Henderson said. “It’s a totally different style, just a completely different fighter I’m training for. It is what it is I think it’s – the fight with Hector Lombard is definitely something the fans will enjoy more than watching Machida run around the whole time.”
UFC 199 takes place at The Forum in Inglewood, California on Saturday, June 4th. The main event is a middleweight title fight between champion Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping, with the co-main featuring a bantamweight title bout between champ Dominick Cruz and bitter rival Urijah Faber.