For better or worse, fan favorite Dan Henderson is going down swinging

In the pre-dawn hours Sunday morning in Stockholm, Dan Henderson made his future intentions clear.

“I want to fight right now,” Henderson said.

Of course that’s what Henderson would say. That’s what Henderson does. This is a guy who has been around so long, he actually won an old-school, one-night UFC tournament, winning what was called the middleweight tournament at UFC 17.

The former Olympic wrestler from Southern California is one of mixed martial arts’ most decorated fighters. He remains the only fighter ever to simultaneously hold world titles in two weight classes, winning PRIDE’s 205- and 183-pound titles. He was also the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion.

Fans love Henderson because he represents so much of what they love about the sport. He’s a hard-nosed, no-nonsense, humble competitor who has never backed down from a fight, conducts himself with dignity, and gives the fans his best every time out.

The problem is, time is finally catching up to the legend of the sport. Henderson is 44 years old, turns 45 in August, and has been fighting as a professional since 1997.

As Henderson stated his desire to get right back into the Octagon, he was wearing an eye patch. He mentioned during the UFC on Fox 14 post-fight news conference that he was going to have to stay an extra day in Sweden to get the eye stitched up.

“I’ve never had that kind of injury before,” Henderson said. “I’d imagine it would heal like any other stitches. I’m completely fine other than that.”

It actually could have been worse. The eye injury came courtesy of a fellow former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ, Gegard Mousasi, his opponent in Stockholm. Mousasi clocked Henderson in the eye and caused him to stumble back into the cage. Mousasi essentially had a free shot at Henderson, but held off, seeing the injury and expecting the referee to wave off the fight.

With no stoppage coming, Mousasi appeared to briefly put Henderson out with a shot to the jaw. Finally, the referee stopped the fight.

The carnage took all of 70 seconds. Henderson protested the stoppage, but the only people who bought it were color commentator Joe Rogan, who had a brutal night on the mic, and those who mindlessly parrot his opinions.

Sure, a quick, one-sided loss can happen to any fighter. But this was Henderson’s fifth loss in his past six fights. The stretch started off reasonably enough, as he dropped split decisions to Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans, both former UFC light heavyweight champs, which could have gone either way.

Since then, the fights have gotten progressively ugly. He lost a head-kick knockout to Vitor Belfort. He scored a come-from-behind win over Mauricio Rua for his only win of the stretch, but took a beating for two rounds before doing it. Daniel Cormier ragdolled Henderson for the better part of three rounds, including a slam which will be in the UFC’s highlight reels for years to come, before submitting him.

After getting thrown around by Cormier, Henderson dropped down to middleweight. Then came the fast loss to Mousasi.

No one’s taking any joy in this. Henderson is one of the sport’s most well-respected fighters. But this is getting tough to watch.

“[Saturday night] I felt fine the whole time,” Henderson said. “It was just one of those things. I’m real careful in practice and train smart. I feel good. It was just an unfortunate thing … . I feel completely fine and healthy.”

In another era, an aging fighter with a high price tag who piled up a string of losses would find himself getting his Zuffa walking papers. But Nov. 15, 2014, changed everything.

That was the night that Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar, two UFC Hall of Famers who had been retired, fought in a Bellator main event that drew a huge basic cable rating. That card went head-to-head with UFC 180 on pay-per-view, and by all accounts the Ortiz-Bonnar fight did a number on UFC buys.

Since then, it’s been a feeding frenzy for both veterans and non-traditional competitors, as Bellator continues to look for fighters who can draw a rating and the UFC seeks to keep them away from their competitor. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson jumped from Bellator back to the UFC. UFC signed pro wrestler CM Punk, despite the lack of any professional or amateur fighting experience. Bellator signed Kimbo Slice. UFC brought legendary heavyweight Mirko Cro Cop out of retirement.

Henderson has proven remarkably adaptable over the years. When PRIDE went under, he leveraged his title belts into a pair of UFC main events. When Showtime wanted big names for the Strikeforce banner, he jumped with no hesitation. When UFC bought Strikeforce, he went with the flow.

Now, in the latter days of his career, fortune favors him once again. It has never been a better time to be a legend in this sport. So Henderson will keep on keeping on.

“I felt good [Saturday night],” Henderson said. “My body felt great. I felt fine. I just had an unfortunate thing happen and that’s the way it goes.”

Let’s hope, for Henderson’s sake, he stops fighting elite guys in their primes and starts fighting his returning contemporaries – lest we see, to use Henderson's words, more "unfortunate things."

Follow Dave Doyle on Twitter: @DaveDoyleMMA

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