Dan Henderson has his date with destiny, or doom, depending on how you feel his upcoming fight against 205-pound champion Jon Jones on Labor Day weekend 2012 will turn out.
The former Pride FC and Strikeforce champion will attempt to do what no other former mixed martial arts (MMA) champion has been able to do to date, which is beat "Bones" in Denver, Colo., on Sept. 1, 2012. Mauricio Rua, Lyoto Machida, Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans have all tried, but all have failed.
"Suga" was the only one of the bunch who took Jones the distance in their recent fight at UFC 145. And while he may have had more success than his predecessors, Henderson feels Evans -- who boasts perhaps the most dominating MMA wrestling today -- played right into the hands of his former training partner.
Check it out:
"The most surprising thing was what Rashad Evans didn't do, not what Jon Jones did do. It was more about what Rashad didn't attempt. In the first round he kind of mixed it up a little but, but he still didn't get offensive with his wrestling at all, didn't try to set it up, didn't try and control the fight with his wrestling.... With Jones trying to hit you in the face so much, there were definitely some opening where he could have capitalized, but Rashad didn't really try to. He fought Jon Jones' fight."
Henderson is an Olympic-level Greco Roman wrestler; however, he rarely applies his dominant trade in MMA fights. He certainly uses it in tie ups and along the cage, but Henderson shooting for takedowns or attempting throws just doesn't happen very often.
Perhaps that will change in the "Mile High City."
In addition to his upcoming fight with Jones, Henderson offers a UFC on Fuel TV 3 breakdown, UFC 146 thoughts, including the growth of Alistair Overeem, the origin of the "H-Bomb" and a whole lote more in this extensive conversation.
Check out part two of the extensive interview with Dan Henderson after the jump:
For more on the UFC 151 main event between Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson be sure to check out our complete fight archive right here.
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