Cash Only! ‘Stripper’ Dan Wanted Full PRIDE Career

Dan Henderson had quite a memorable career in mixed martial arts (MMA).

Of all the incredible success throughout his 47-fight-19-year career, Henderson was eluded by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) gold despite challenging for it at Middleweight once per his two stints with the company. “Hendo” first arrived in UFC in 2007 fresh off the heels of a PRIDE Fighting Championship Middleweight title win over Wanderlei Silva.

Had UFC never bought out PRIDE and absorbed its roster, the UFC Hall of Famer, Henderson, reveals he likely never would have parted ways with the Japan-based MMA giant.

“I probably would have done my whole career in PRIDE if UFC didn’t buy them,” Henderson said on the JAXXSON PODCAST. “Then I was back there. I left the UFC just because that was a money thing. I asked them for a certain amount and they said no, and I said, ‘Okay, thanks,’ and then went to Strikeforce and asked them for the same amount. They said, ‘Okay.’

“That’s why I say I relate myself to a stripper because when I first started fighting in PRIDE, I was only going to do it for a year,” he continued. “I had just finished wrestling and I was going to go to chiropractic school actually. I was accepted then put it off for four years but then I started fighting. So then I was like, well, I’ll fight and make some money for about a year. That was when I first got to PRIDE, they paid you in cash and I’m like, ‘Man, that cash is kind of hard to walk away from.’”

Henderson’s four-fight stint with Strikeforce from 2010 to 2011 was a fruitful one as he went 3-1 (32-15 overall) and captured the Light Heavyweight title. The legend fought 11 more times upon his return to UFC after knocking out Fedor Emelianenko at Heavyweight in July 2011. At age 46, Henderson (53 now) became the oldest fighter to ever challenge for UFC gold as he retired after his unanimous decision loss to Michael Bisping in their rematch at UFC 204 in October 2016.

“I’m like a stripper that thinks she’s only going to it for a year and she’s still doing it when she’s 46, that was me,” Henderson said.