Dan Henderson

Dan Henderson, nicknamed "Dangerous Hendo" was born on August 24, 1970 in Apple Valley, California.  He weighs 185 lbs and stands 6' 1" tall. He masters the Greco Roman Style of Wrestling.  Dan is the current Welterweight champion of PRIDE Fighting Championships.

Pan America Silver Medallist Jeff Funicello was the training partner for Dangerous Hendo.  He gained enough expertise in the Greco-Roman wrestling style that allowed him to move on to the International circuit and the US fighting arena in 1996.His debut match was against Crezio DeSouza in the Brazil Open 1997.  In a match that saw the crowd cheering the local boy, Crezio, Dan overcame all the odds and defeated him.
He started his MMA training with the Brazil Open tournament was won by him, and after one year he won the UFC 17: Redemption with victories over Allan Goes and Carlos Newton.

These victories saw Dan moving to Japan in the need of more money.  Dan fought for the RINGS promotion in Japan and later for the PRIDE Championships.  He won the 1999 tournament by defeating Renato Sobral.

Dan won three fights almost at a stretch over couple of days to win the hard fought tournament.  Dan qualifies to be a welterweight fighter and many of his lost battles against some of the heavyweight champions are still talked about.  The most memorable battles are the ones he fought against Wanderlei Silva, Antonio Nogueira and Kazuo Misaki.

Dan admits that his first fight with Wanderlei in PRIDE 12: Cold Fury was the toughest one that he has ever fought.

He later fought with top fighters like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. Though most of these fights resulted in a loss for Dan, he could still lift his head high as these opponents were at least 40 lbs heavier than him. 

PRIDE Bushido shows have been completely dominated by Dan with victories over Ryo Chonan, Akihiro Gono, Kazuo Misaki.  The victory over Kazuo in 2006 won him the PRIDE Welterweight championship.  A loss against Kazuo in PRIDE Bushido 12 did not dent his confidence and he won his match against Wanderlei Silva to get the PRIDE Middleweight Championship.  Dan feels that this day was very memorable for him as he overpowered Silva in his own game.

Dan has a Win loss record of 22-6, with most of his 6 losses coming against heavier opponents.  10 of those wins have come by means of Knockouts and only 1 of them by submission.  The only submission victory came against Eric Smith early in his career.  As a fighter, Dan is extremely susceptible to the armbar submissions.  Two of Dan's defeats came by means of armbar submissions employed by Wanderlei Silva.

His last fight against Quinton Jackson at the UFC 75 ended in a loss for Dan.  Dan still is the PRIDE Middleweight Champion and with his attacking prowess, he is sure to mount a serious challenge to a lot of his opponents this season.  After all, not many fighters know much about the traditional Greco-Roman Style of fighting.