Does Dan Henderson deserve to be ranked amongst the all time greats in MMA?

For longevity he gets a big tick. He slots in somewhere between 8 to 15 all time list for me.

Not top 5 but under top 20 for sure

 

He's a pioneer in the sport of MMA. Enough said!

 

Hendo is a legend of mma. Without a doubt one of the greatest of all time imo. Just look at who he has beaten over the years.

 

If you had to rank him by number mate where would you say he slots in?

I'd have the following at least in front of him based on pure performances:
GSP
Jon Jones
Silva
Hughes

After that it gets a bit tricky, I'd have Hendo between 8-15

 

Imo Hendo has to be in the top 10 at least.

 

Prime he was a nightmare guy. Like the Looney Tunes Tasmanian Devil with those short legs and swinging arms.

 

Definitely. He's a bit of a Holyfield type character who fought everybody and therefore has a lot of losses on his resume. But his resume is staggeringly deep. He has the win over some big, big names. His fight with Shogun was incredible. He beat a (faded) Fedor. He has a win over prime Silva. He's right up there with the greats.

 

Yea of course they way he fights is amazing

 

Wanderlei wasn't in his prime when Henderson beat him in their 2nd fight and neither was Shogun. Still good wins but they should be looked at in proper context.

 

He may have been slightly past prime but don't forget he is younger than Hendo

 

I would've liked to have seen Hendo v Liddell in their primes go at it.

 

A fighter's age and their prime aren't the same thing. It depends on how much damage they take combined with other factors. Crocop ended Wanderlei's prime with a brutal one sided beating, Jon Jones done the same to Shogun.

 

I think he is.

It would actually be tough to credibly argue against Hendo being an MMA great.

 

That's a fair point. I think the Chute Boxe "sparring" sessions clocked up a lot of mileage on those fighters. Nevertheless, Silva was still pretty close to prime, Shogun maybe nowehere near. Henderson, to his credit, has aged incredibly well for an all-in fighter. The Cro Cop fight that you mentioned goes to show how brilliant a striker Cro Cop actually was when he was on song. I expected Wandy to really take it to him ... boy was I wrong. What a clinical performance from Filipovic.