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#8: Dan Henderson
Dan Henderson – who retired in 2016 at the ripe old age of 46 – was always going to garner the respect of the UFC fans for his crazy accomplishments over a career that lasted over 20 years. A former Olympic wrestler, Henderson won the UFC 17 Middleweight tournament and held both the PRIDE Welterweight and Middleweight titles. Sure, he didn’t have the gaudiest record – 32-15 – but he fought basically a who’s who of MMA legends, all the way up to Heavyweight.
What made Henderson so popular though was his fighting style. Admittedly, sometimes – mainly when he chose to use his wrestling – he was involved in dull fights, but for the most part, Henderson simply went into the cage to go to war. His big right hand was known for doing as much damage as any other strike in the sport’s history, and his wars with the likes of Mauricio Rua, Hector Lombard and in PRIDE, Wanderlei Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira guaranteed his status as a beloved fighter.
Of course, any talk of Henderson has to mention the knockout that made him arguably the most popular fighter in the UFC for a time in 2009 – in the US, at least. At UFC 100 – after a heated rivalry built around the 9th season of The Ultimate Fighter, Henderson viciously knocked out loudmouth Brit Michael Bisping – who was happy to play the villain – in one of the UFC’s all-time greatest highlight reel moments. It cemented his reputation as one of the hardest hitters in the sport – and cemented his reputation as an American hero, too.
