Henderson rules out retirement even in case of defeat to Mousasi

Henderson (photo) still wants the UFC title. Photo: Disclosure/UFC

Many consider that the veteran's career Dan Henderson is going through a very delicate moment. The oldest active UFC fighter at 44 years old, the American is not going through a good time, having lost four of his last five fights. Even so, “Hendo” still doesn't envision his retirement – ​​quite the opposite: he emphasizes that his goal is to win the Ultimate belt, one of the few titles still missing from his successful career.

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This Saturday (24), Henderson faces Gegard Mousasi in the co-main fight of UFC on FOX 14. In an interview with the North American websites “Bleacher Report” and “MMA Junkie”, he states that, even in the event of a defeat, he hopes to be able to fulfill his entire contract.

"I'm not going anywhere. We will see. At the moment, I'm focused on getting through these four fights that I have in my contract, and then I'll see what I do. My goal is and always has been to win the UFC title. It's the last belt I need to win, and I still feel capable of doing it. This will cost me a lot of effort, but I need to go out there and show that I deserve it”, declared the veteran.

The fight against Mousasi will mark Henderson's first participation in the middleweight division since 2010. According to him, the desire to drop in weight was something old. “I told Dana [White, UFC president] after my second fight against [Maurício] Shogun that I wanted to move down to middleweight. He asked me to fight with Daniel Cormier. I fought. I thought I could beat him, but he knocked me down and used his size against me. That reaffirmed to me that I should move down to middleweight,” he explained.

Five years ago, Henderson decided to return to light heavyweight because he felt very worn out by the weight cut. Now, however, he guarantees that the situation is different. “I'm capable of making middleweight weight without any problem. It's a better category for me. In my last fight, I weighed 90 kg (the light heavyweight limit is 93 kg) and this happened without me having stopped eating or drinking fluids before the weigh-in. I'm not big. It’s hard for me to stay the size of a light heavyweight,” he explained.

The main fight of UFC on FOX 14 will be between Alexander Gustafson e Anthony Johnson:

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