Having just cleared 42 years of age, former Strikeforce and two-division Pride FC champion Dan Henderson is expecting to end his career in the next couple of years.
Although he’ll be a good three years off from getting anywhere close to scratching the title of “Oldest Fighter to Win a UFC Fight”—a distinction held solely by UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture—Henderson tells Brazilian publication TATAME (via Google Translate) that he’ll most likely hang up his gloves at the end of 2014.
Counting his upcoming UFC 157 bout with former UFC champion Lyoto Machida, “Hendo” states he has four more fights left, with two apiece over the next 24 months.
“I have to fight a couple more years. I have at least two more fights ahead of me next year, so I guess that would make at least two more fights after that,” [Henderson] said in an exclusive interview to TATAME.
Hendo always said that one purpose of his trip was to win the UFC belt, it would be one of the few remaining for [his] collection. Today, however, he says the goal [has] changed a bit of focus and [he] will not get upset if [he has] to retire without the title.
Despite being considered one of the world’s top pound-for-pound MMA fighters with recent wins over Shogun Rua and Fedor Emelianenko, Henderson has never won a UFC championship due to extended careers in Pride, King of Kings and Strikeforce.
However, the Team Quest founder still carries a 6-2 record in the promotion dating back to 1998 with victories at five separate UFC pay-per-view events.
At UFC 157, Henderson will star in the co-main event slot against Machida, with newly-crowned women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey defending her belt against fellow Strikeforce veteran Liz Carmouche on Feb. 23 at Anaheim’s Honda Center.
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