Artwork by Gian Galang

Dan Henderson has a single victory to his name since 2013 and he hasn't beaten anyone not named Mauricio Rua since July of 2011.

Yes, it's been almost half a decade since Hendo knocked out a wild Fedor Emelianenko, since he caught Rafael Cavalcante with a shot which spun him around and left him face down on the mat, and since his terrific first bout with Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua.

I don't think I'll surprise anyone by stating outright that writing about Dan Henderson is not particularly fun anymore. Largely because his results hinge entirely on whether his opponent has the discipline to stick to the rudiments of ringcraft. Consequently, Henderson's fights read like the world's worst choose your own adventure book. It's three pages long and the first page reads:

You charge towards your opponent, hunched over, and throw a short inside low kick. As your foot comes down you throw your entire being into one earth-shatteringly powerful right hand.

If it lands, turn to page 2.

If it misses, turn to page 3.

And page three simply reads:

Turn back to page 1.

And don't take this to be me disparaging the looping right. I am not a purist who believes in only straight hitting, in fact I'm not sure how they can even exist anymore. Henderson's right is like a beautiful classic car, one which is meticulously taken care of and in perfect condition for any occasion it might be seen. Except it has no wheels. It sits in the garage, only visible to those who will oblige Henderson by poking their head in through the door. Leaving the metaphor, if you oblige Henderson in a swinging match, I'm confident that even at 45 years old, he'll chin you.

The problem is, there's absolutely nothing to make a professional fighter stand and trade with Henderson except that, like Roy Nelson, he'll complain about them not being there to fight afterwards.

Any fighter who actually understands how to use distance and circle out as Henderson charges them has been able to with relative ease. He will trot past them and quickly wind up exhausting himself. And really this comes down to the one sided threat of Henderson. If Henderson had a killer left hook which he could throw off the bat, circling out wouldn't be nearly so easy.

Henderson's remarkably side-on stance allows him to duck down behind his lead shoulder, and to squat on his rear leg and drive onto his lead leg to generate huge power on right hands. But it also means it is exceptionally hard to throw a left hook straight off the bat. Evans only needed to move slightly off line and he was past Henderson's lead hand.



Jon Jones-esque.

The difference between the first and second fight with Shogun? Shogun actually remembered to circle out from the charges and use everything except trading right-for-right.

If Henderson's opponent circles away from the right hand, he rarely uses his left to punish them. But the issue isn't just a lack of weapons, it's a lack of positioning. Henderson gives up reach to almost everyone he fights and so has to get across the floor. This normally involves that burst of energy to charge in—the problem is that there's nothing to stop an opponent just skipping straight back as Lyoto Machida did numerous times.

What would hold a fighter in place while you move in on him? The fence. Dan Henderson doesn't ring cut, he sets himself up on one side of the Octagon and runs straight across it. If Henderson moved his opponent even to the rough vicinity of the fence each time before he charged in, he would have considerably more success.

Now that's a lot to ask against Lyoto Machida—the only guy who has cut him off well is Chris Weidman, the best ring cutter in the sport. But against Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua? Even a slight focus on ring positioning before attacking would have massively increased Henderson's success against both.

What's more the straight charges leave Henderson only one method to avoid getting hit: ducking his head in. He'll often lunge in behind his head and throw himself off balance and lately it's been getting him into trouble a great deal.



Belfort met Henderson with an uppercut



Mousasi threw a downward right straight as Henderson ducked in, and slipped the expected Henderson right immediately afterwards. Different strokes, same result.

And so where does that leave us now that Henderson is stepping in against Tim Boetsch? Well, it's a much more interesting match. Boetsch won't have a weight, strength, and wrestling advantage on Henderson as Daniel Cormier did—and he's known as a hard-nosed brawler. Boetsch has made a career of dragging fighters who seem to be leagues better than him into scraps and making them look bad—he's the definition of a spoiler. But then, one would think that the best kind of fight for Dan Henderson is an all out scrap. One where his man isn't going to be thinking about denying the right hand or taking him down.

And we'll watch for perhaps a sneaker right out of the clinch, or a right hand in the trades, for the chance that Hendo pulls off a knockout at the incredible age of 45.



The sneaker out of the clinch, a beautiful fight-saver.

I've said it a hundred times—no one ages gracefully in this game. Anyone who does hold back the tide of age instantly becomes a hero, for good reason, but ultimately pushes themselves too far and winds up leaving too late. Get back here Monday for the breakdown.

Pick up Jack Slack's ebooks at his blog Fights Gone By. Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

See more of the Gian Galang's amazing art on his website.

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