Was Dan Henderson Ever All That Great?

Dan Henderson is probably a first ballot UFC/MMA Hall of Famer, but there’s no actual standard when it comes to entering the UFC/MMA Hall of Fame, so I don’t know how much stock one can actually put into that. Dan Henderson is arguably legend, but that’s only if you like throwing around the term “legend” without any context and enjoy losing arguments. Dan Henderson provided highlight reel moments and fights, but Dan Henderson was never all that great.

He was never a great fighter, technically speaking. He got by almost exclusively on power and a chin. His overall wrestling was very overrated, he had no offensive grappling (his defensive grappling was good), and a very limited gas tank. He was very good but to call him “great” and praise the longevity of his career would be admitting that you’re ok with cheating in MMA and applauding a guy who had a chemical advantage over his opponents.

Dan Henderson started using testosterone replacement therapy in 2007.

Prior to 2007, Henderson was known as “Decision Dan” for his uneventful decisions that he usually ended up on the right side of. He was a solid fighter and picked up some good, but questionable, wins over the likes of “Ninja” Rua, Rodrigo Nogueira, Murilo Bustamante, and Carlos Newton. He was 36-years-old at the start of 2007, and it looked like his career was closer to the end than the beginning.

Henderson started TRT leading up to his showdown with Wanderlei Silva in February 2007. At the time, TRT was unsafe, but not illegal. It was designed for male’s who didn’t produce enough testosterone and suffered from hypogonadism. Henderson didn’t appear to have a medical condition that would force him to be on TRT, he just started using it. Fighters would use TRT if they were steroid or painkiller abusers, or had a history of concussions. In 2011, Henderson told ESPN.com, “My levels were so low they were off the charts. I was always tired and getting sick a lot. All I know is that I’m not as tired and I don’t get as sick as I used to.”

“Being tired and getting sick a lot” doesn’t exactly sound like the greatest excuse in the world for needing a testosterone boost. It sounds like a man who is 36-years-old and has been traveling all over the world and getting punched in the head for a living.

Nonetheless, Henderson started using TRT, and his career took off. He knocked out Wanderlei Silva, Michael Bisping, Renato Sobral, Rafael Cavalcante, and Fedor Emelianenko. He had epic fights with Quinton Jackson and “Shogun” Rua. And he did it all with a chemical advantage.

In the same ESPN interview, Henderson says, “I couldn’t even tell you [how to abuse it]. I’ve never gone above normal ranges.” That’s fair, but he also said that he was never monitored by the commissions during that time, nor was he randomly drug tested. Maybe Henderson is a beacon of truth and never went above “normal” levels while he was training. I just have a tough time believing that Henderson is squeaky clean given the fact that every TRT user has a failed drug test on their record except him.

In 2014, TRT was banned, and all of a sudden Henderson wasn’t the same fighter. In fairness, he was now 43-years-old and had lost three straight prior to the TRT ban. Following the ban on TRT, Henderson went on to finish “Shogun” Rua (he received a TRT exemption for the fight), Tim Boetsch, and Hector Lombard while losing to Daniel Cormier, Gegard Mousasi, and Vitor Belfort.

This past Saturday, Henderson challenged Michael Bisping for the UFC Middleweight Title. It was an undeserved title shot, but billed as a grudge match, a revenge fight for Bisping, and Henderson’s final MMA bout. Bisping won the decision, but Henderson performed well given the fact that he’s 46-years-old with a lot of milage on his body.

So, if Henderson, at 46, could push the UFC Middleweight Champion to the limit and come within seconds of winning the bout without the use of TRT, why did he need it almost ten years ago? What changed between then and now? Did the years of usage suddenly encourage his body to produce more testosterone? If his levels were so low and he was getting so sick and tired at 36, why wasn’t he in worse condition after ten more years of physical abuse? It’s tough to believe “Henderson needed TRT all of those years” when the past few years has proven that he didn’t.

Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen were labeled “cheaters” when they went on TRT because they had previously failed a drug test for steroids. The same goes for Antonio Silva, who actually needed TRT, and was forced to undergo major surgery to remove a cyst underneath his brain following the TRT ban. People questioned why Forrest Griffin would use TRT if he had nothing to hide. Griffin told the Boston Herald in 2014, “I mean, I knew what I was doing. I knew that what I was doing is bad for my body in the long run, potentially, and I was doing what the doctor gave me, so it wasn’t crazy. But to me, being a better fighter was worth it. It was worth even shortening your lifespan to be good at something.”

But Griffin’s best line came when he said, “The best guys in any sport don’t use drugs. It’s the guys on the second tier trying to get to the first tier that use drugs.”

Henderson gave fans amazing performances inside the the cage/ring. The Bisping knockout at UFC 100 is an all-time great moment. The fight with “Shogun” Rua might be the greatest fight of all-time. Those moments and fights can’t be taken away from him or fans. But let’s not lose sight of how and why those moments were provided. Henderson was a second tier guy on the downside of his career. TRT extended his career and got him to that first tier.