DAN HENDERSON WILL finally bring the curtain down on his decorated career after he takes on reigning champion Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title.
That’s according to the mixed martial arts legend himself, who is expected to face Bisping for the organisation’s 185lbs championship strap in Manchester in October.
Bisping caused a huge upset last month when he knocked Luke Rockhold out to win the belt, and although the likes of Rockhold, Chris Weidman, ‘Jacare’ Souza and Yoel Romero are all vying to lead a long queue of challengers, Henderson has seemingly overtaken them all after being called out by the new champion.
Henderson knocked Bisping out in the second round of their bout at UFC 100 back in July 2009. Bisping hasn’t been slow to express his desire to exact revenge for the defeat, and he looks set to get that opportunity in his inaugural title defence.
Should Henderson — who turns 46 in August — emerge victorious, he’ll overtake Randy Couture as the oldest UFC champion in history. Regardless of the result, the Californian intends to call it a day after the fight.
“Yeah, absolutely. Win or lose, that is my plan. I’m ready mentally to retire,” Henderson said in an interview with the Talking Brawls Podcast on SevereMMA.com.
“My body could probably still go [for] another two or three years, but I’ve put it through enough and I’m ready to kind of take it a little bit easier but still be involved in mixed martial arts, doing something a little bit different than fighting.”
Many have questioned whether Henderson should still be fighting, let alone receiving a title shot, but the MMA icon — who has a professional record of 32-14 — is still going despite losing six of his last nine fights, including three knockout defeats in the last two-and-a-half years.
Henderson, whose most recent outing saw him stop Hector Lombard via second-round KO in June, has been a champion at both welterweight and middleweight with Pride, and with Strikeforce at light-heavyweight.
He was a middleweight tournament winner at UFC 17 back in 1998, but his attempts to become a UFC champion ended with losses against ‘Rampage’ Jackson (light-heavyweight) in September 2007 and Anderson Silva (middleweight) in March 2008.
