Dan Henderson is considered by many a pioneer and a legend of MMA. Yet, he doesn’t have an individual spot in the UFC’s Hall of Fame.
Henderson is technically in the UFC’s HOF but under the “Fight Wing,” – which is a sector dedicated to recognizing the greatest fights in company history. His 2011 all-out war with Mauricio Rua got him inducted in 2018. However, Henderson alone is not in the UFC’s Hall of Fame.
With names like Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin, Antonio Nogueira, and most recently Wanderlei Silva in the “Pioneer Wing,” all guys who Henderson fought, many expected to see the former Pride FC champion join his former rivals.
Even though that has yet to come to fruition, eight years after his retirement from MMA, Henderson is completely unbothered by it.
“I don’t lose sleep over it,” Henderson told MMA Junkie Radio.
Henderson wouldn’t mind getting the recognition, but he’s also fine without it. Entering the HOF was never in his must-do for his MMA career.
“Everybody asks me that, but I never fought to one day be in the Hall of Fame,” Henderson explained. “I fought to try to challenge myself and set goals and try to achieve them and be the best fighter out there in the world, you know.
“It’s up to everybody else to feel if I did enough to be in the (UFC) Hall of Fame, and honestly, it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other. I don’t really think about it hardly ever. Even if Wanderlei got inducted, I think he should get inducted. He’s a great ambassador for MMA for a long time.”
Henderson, who represented the U.S. in two Olympic cycles in Greco-Roman wrestling, challenged for UFC titles in two different weight classes: middleweight and light heavyweight.
He also competed as early as UFC 17, where he fought twice in one night and won the UFC 17 middleweight tournament. He’s a former two-division Pride FC champion who fought and defeated tons of notable talent, including Silva, Nogueira, Franklin, Vitor Belfort, Renzo Grazie, Michael Bisping, Fedor Emelianenko, ‘Shogun,’ Hector Lombard, and many others.
