Chael Sonnen: Dan Henderson is greatest P4P fighter of all time
Posted on August 21, 2012, 10:03 AM by Anton Gurevich
Two-time UFC Middleweight title contender, Chael Sonnen, shared his prediction for UFC 151 main event clash between Dan Henderson and the reigning champ Jon "Bones" Jones.
Sonnen unsurprisingly stated that Dan Henderson has what it takes to hand Jones the first clean defeat in his Mixed Martial Arts career, adding that September 1st winner would become the greatest 205'er in MMA history (via official UFC press release):
"I believe in Hendo - and so should you,” Sonnen said. “If you look at Jon Jones and think of a man who can beat him, you would think of someone with great KO power, the best chin in the sport because – with his reach – Jones is going to hit you, great wrestling and a relentlessly aggressive style. That man already exists – and his name is Dan Henderson.
This fight on September 1 is a fight to determine who’s the greatest ever light heavyweight is. I give Jon Jones his due as a great fighter. He’s beaten some outstanding fighters already and looked impressive each time. He’s already accomplished so much in the sport - just not as much as Dan Henderson."
In just three days, Dan Henderson will celebrate his 42nd birthday. Hendo is 17 years older than Jon Jones, which alone makes his fight at UFC 151 nothing but monumental. But according to Sonnen, not only that Dan Henderson is a sports phenomenon at his age, he's also the greatest P4P fighter of all time:
"Everyone talks about pound-for-pound champions and pound-for-pound achievements. But if you look at what pound-for-pound should mean – who has the ability to beat small fast guys, the ability to knockout big, strong guys, to move through the divisions with your skill-set and win - the only conclusion a rational person would make is Dan Henderson is the pound-for-pound greatest of all time.
Dan beat the 170lbs champion in Carlos Newton, he’s won the PRIDE 183lbs title, the PRIDE 205lbs title, the STRIKEFORCE 205lbs title, and he’s won the two great tournaments in our sport, the UFC tournament back in the day and the PRIDE Grand Prix. All in all he’s beaten 11 world champions in his career. The man is the best of all time. That is who Jon Jones is facing."
Chael Sonnen will make his Light Heavyweight debut on December 29th against Forrest Griffin, with sights on making an immediate title shot statement. It will be interesting to see whether Sonnen stands by his statements in regards to teammates fighting teammates, if he gets on a collision course with his Team Quest mentor - Dan Henderson.
Comments
Shut up chael
Unfortunately @Highkick12, Chael makes a number of good points and you didn't make any.
I'm not convinced Hendo will win but Sonnen's argument KO'd yours.
Omg he told him to shutup!!! get ém nuthuggers\!
I was just about to say for the 1rst time since chael realized his mouth could get him to titles he says a smart thing. I don't think he'll beat Jones either nor do I think Hendo is p4p best since he lost to the p4p best Anderson The Spiderrr Silvaaaaaaaaaa, but it wasn't just talking nonsense, he made an argument for Hendo with good points and he didn't disrespect Jones in anyway. I'm proud of him lol
He also tried to convince everyone that he would be the next MW Champ & failed twice. On 9/1 the best man will win, but in the mean time you Dan fans & Bone haters get your shooting star wishing, rabbit foot wearing & four leaf clover collecting On.
Go ahead Entity & verbally abuse me until you feel better about yourself & your loneliness...give it to me lil daddy
when talking about wanderlei he wouldn't acknowledged his achievements back in pride. pride wins wouldn't be legit. now though, he uses dan's pride days to claim he's the greatest lh ever?
I like Chael,
but he is Dans friend. He did make some good points, however there are other guys with great knockout power like Rampage but couldnt do nothing- too slow..
Dan is not any faster and defintiely not going to win with his wrestling and I will be very surprised if he even gets a takedown...but doubt it..
Dan has the same problem Machida encountered..that is rushing in and swinging for the fences. with someone with a 11inch reach advantage.....Jon will time and calculate his reach...guarantee Hendo with get tagged just enough to get taken down..then he will get finished by either a great cut and or submission.
I didnt waste time making any argument, if you really think Dan is the best fighter of all time then no logic will get through to you...
C'mon guys, I'm almost to 100!
On the only site allowed in American asylums doesn't mean much Michael.
Every post you make has "hater hater hater" it gets old fast.All I stated is quit talking "haters" in every fking post you make.
Its fine to cheer for Dan or Jones, dont give a shiiit, just quit carrying on the fighting BS about Dan and Jones. I guess you'll get all upset about this post as well and say I'm abusing you
TRUE>>>>>
Just to let my haterade shine through for today:
"Dan beat the 170lbs champion in Carlos Newton" (a fight in which many thought was a flat out robbery, and where the nickname "Decision Dan" originated). "he’s won the PRIDE 183lbs title" (then got beat by Kazuo Misaki in the last 183 lbs tournament). "the PRIDE 205lbs title" (against the third best guy in the division at the time, right after he was KO'd into next year by Cro Cop). "the STRIKEFORCE 205lbs title" (two fights after being dominated by Jake Shields).
Even though Chael is right and the accomplishments stand, sometimes as you have pointed out, it's not as simple as stating the good points to sell an argument.
yea, but you'll bash Dan every chance you get, so I usually just dont reply.
Yeah thats some haterade right there,
nitpicking facts to fit your point of view, in order to diminish a fighters accomplishments. Titles are titles, belts are belts, Dan has been CHAMP in multiple divisions, that speaks for itself and no amount of subjective spin can change that.
Decision Dan? are you serious with that? His career is a highlight reel of k.o's dude. (That title would better fit GSP i think)
Hughes won his title vs Newton too in a very strange fashion, they were both k.o but Hughes got the decision. Was his reign as champ not legit because of that? Did edgar beat Penn in their first fight? I dunno, the stats say he didn't.
Shields pulled out a gutsy win, but i think he almost died in the 1st round after recieving that H-bomb.
seriously how do go from losing to jake shields to beating fedor and shogun???
AJY: "Decision Dan" - It's always fun when new fans come along, as they say certain things that are easy to spot. I didn't make up that moniker. "Decision Dan" is a nickname Dan has had for a very long time. It was circulated for him for his record in close decisions (along with once having a propensity for them). It hasn't been as accurate as of late as he has started to finish a lot more (which coincidentally coincides with his beginning of TRT).
i dont care how much yall respect dan trt is selling out and cheating i find it quite pussy
Right back at you. Dont care what you think.
Say that when you're 42 and fighting against kids in their 20s.
I don't like dan henderson, i thought his decision against franklin was complete cheating BS, but if it takes TRT to bring him up to par against people half his age so that we can actually see a good fight, i'm for it.
I don't really like seeing a guy get beaten just because he wasn't at his best.
Evan your one arrogant bastage you know that? Attacking new members who make sence? You'll argue 10 pages and 12 paragraphs to save your ego, chill.
I've been a fan for a few years now, havnt missed a major card in a long time.
I'm not implying that you made up that nickname, but how rediculous it is in retrospect after his many finishes. And that you would dig it up is....equally rediculous. It's like saying ," they used to call Larry Bird "Air Larry" for his crazy dunks before he got to the nba"
Bust out the trt list too btw, lets see how many ppl are NOT on that list. I'll wager a guess of 3/100 : ) I'll actually forgive Dan for being on that list too the guy is 40 ffs.
actually I thought I read a while ago that Hendo has been using TRT for quite some time now? I thought he was 1 of the longest known using fighters? which means it isn't when he started finishing people
He had plenty of knockouts before his 2007 fight with Wanderlei Silva (his first documented use). However, the frequency and the weight he knocked people out at changed since the use started. Even the amount of knockdowns he's had has jumped an incredible amount.
"Bust out the trt list too btw, lets see how many ppl are NOT on that list."
C'mon really? I'll give you there's probably plenty of guys doping under the radar, but the list of guys not on TRT is pretty damn big. Although I do like where you were going with it. Dan's the longest tenured member of the club too (first documented use by Josh Gross points to 2007).
Air Larry would have been much better than Birdman. You win strictly by creating that awesome name.
The moniker was used as recently as 2009 and after for his fight against Franklin which many thought he lost (then joked about a little bit on the UG and Sherdog that he could have taken the decision against Shields after their fight). I didn't think I was digging too far back with it, but if I was I apologize.
How am I arrogant? Because I called him out on a fact that he had no idea about? How does him not knowing what "Decision Dan" came from make me an "arrogant bastage"? Explain that one.
Yes, that would be why I preambled my post with the haterade comment.
It breaks my heart that you don't usually reply though.
? Shields on his best night and Hendo on his worst. Went to decision. Wow.
I can start, but you take up too much page space as it is.
Rather than you who leaves one liners everywhere so he doesn't ever have to explain anything?
Thats where we are soooo different Evan. I dont have to explain anything or change anyone's mind like you feel driven to do.
Post us a filibuster
I do. If somebody provides an opinion on something that directly contradicts my own I will converse with them until our differences on the subject are hashed out.
So that's all it was Hendo on his worst and SHields on his best? Or was it the fact that Hendo can't defend off his back to save his life, and SHields figured out that using a single leg was the easiest way to get him there from the end of the first round on (Something Shogun figured out at the end of the third).
Shields is a sick grappler anyway.
He is certainly one of the best fighters of all time and one of the most accomplished (he will be most accomplished if he gets the UFC belt) but it's hard to put him in at the top of a P4P list, especially an all time
one.
Each of those 3 greats have had years of dominance and looked unbeatable in their primes.
The thing which takes Dan away from the top of the list IMO is his lack of dominance and consistency - Hendo has been on a strong streak numerous times in his career, including now, but the fact is he hasn't won more than 4 in a row in over 12 years.
Apart from the dominance aspect, you have to excel in every area of MMA to be considered a top P4P and while Hendo does have excellent areas he also has problems in others, specifically submissions.
Don't get me wrong Hendo is one of the best fighters to ever live, definitely in the top 5 for my books but I wouldn't consider him that high on an all time P4P list.
IMO guys like Silva, Fedor, GSP, Aldo, Penn, Rutten, Jones and a couple others are greater on a P4P scale.
*Those 3 greats being Silva, Fedor and GSP
KFC Double Shot
Besides the H-Bomb, this link below will demonstrate Dan's other option at winning the fight against Jon Jones.
At 00:18 we have Chael Sonnen getting Dan ready for the fight.
And between 04:00 - 04:12 Dan works his magic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxiV9nLp7-A&list=FLUvXoq642kIM-STj-9LqJMQ&index=2&feature=plpp_video
I hope this video was helpful. Good Luck, Dan.
You like the Jets, enough said.
Don't let the JETS preseason games fool you, though.
preseason aside your a mess offensively and at QB hope you like 3rd in your division ;-)
Says the Patriots fan lol. All kidding aside, you're right, my JETS are in trouble big time. They have one average QB and a mediocre one at best in Tim Tebow, but things may change once the season starts.
It's cool man, I'm a heartbroken Cowboys fan. Time and time again since 1995, I am let down. I was jk with you, all fun and games. Romo #2 all time passer rating?!?!? More like #1 all time choke artist in post season. I think my team has a much better shot at doing well this year though, compared to the Jets.
look on the bright side all 3 of us hate the Giants
Die Giants Die
I'm from upstate New York and am a huge Giants fan! But that also means I hate them as much as you guys do. It's the burden of being a true fan. Oh.... And Eff the Cowboys and Jerry Jones aka the new Al Davis. And I can't pick on the Jets it's just too easy.... ;-)
Jerry Jones isn't so bad, he does tons of money and does tons of stuff for the Dallas Ft Worth community. He is a dictator though.
fml "donates tons"
Chael wasnt being an azz or anything. I'd be proud my teammate stood up for me like that.
Would can one say? You just can't say it better than Chael. There is little dispute that his points are indeed correct, let's not latch onto "the greatest P4P" statement and become distracted from the underlying truth here.
My favorite fighters Hendo and Fedor..Great atitude,sportmanship,great champions..I hope Hendo get it via H bomb
keep hopin it not gona happend
Matt Serra knocked out GSP in round 1 after basically coming out of a retirement to do TUF. Anything can happen in MMA. Dan Henderson has a little bit more power if you ask me to be able to do something similar.
I bet the jones-hendo fight goes the same way the silva-hendo fight went...
However, can you imagine if the jones/hendo fight went like the bisping-hendo fight....Damn that would be sweet!
im seeing the same thing 2nd round rear nakaed except jones aint gettin taken down in the first
chael made p4p into a competiton of who fights at the biggest variety of weight claSSES....but most ppl consider the undefeated and most impressive fighter in the ufc to be the best and that is Anderson
yall dont think anderson is #1 p4p dan had 3 chances to wina belt anderson rampage and now losing to jones
Chael's comments can't be right...us "lowkickers" have Hendo voted 8th!!!
Also, isn't Chael the guy who said that people who argue about who the P4P best is, are the same people who argue the possible integers about who would win b/w Superman and Batman?
Chael...*sigh*
He's also said on multiple occasions that Pride was fake. I highly doubt he actually believes that, but none the less it just provides for more contradictory BS in his later rants...
gonna b great but hendos tapping in under 3 rounds just like he did with AS or has everyone forgot that dismemberment, great fighter total legend but defo tapping out
Once the H-Bomb lands, the laws of physics will be so ****ed.
Chael likes Amercian Wresttlers ****.
You can't even spell American or wrestlers why should anyone listen to anything you say?
Brasil, I'm afraid Entity has a point there, especially since even if you are a native Portuguese speaker LowKick spell check for you.
I would rather read the grammatically incorrect ramblings of Brasil than anything you write judging on what I have read so far Enshity.
Having said that if Hendo beats the unbeatable younger freak of nature in Jon Jones at age 42 after beating Shogun and Fedor I would call for a rematch with Silva....if that ever happens that would be the most legendary fight of all time and a GOAT belt should be handed to the winner....Hendo is already the best American figther ever even if he loses to Jon.
P4P lists are great for sparking debate and conversation. That's where the positives stop though.
Chael also said Okami was going to destroy anderson. He also said HE was going to destroy Anderson. As entertaining as he is he's not very good at picking fights.
Does Chael ever shut up>? you are not fighting until December moron,stfu for a day or two,no one cares what you think!!!!!
Wait, so you read the article and then read 27 linear feet of comments to get down here and type that?
Oh my, that comment was pure greatness doc.
I didn't read the article you TURD! I don't care what that scum thinks or says,nor do I care what you think or write,WEAK MY COMMENTS! F$%^&* LOVE THAT SHIT! :)
I think if you make dumb comments like the one above you're not allowed to have a profile pic.
Also anyone who "sharps" themselves gets an automatic, "weak." IMO
Yeah, I know who Spider beat in LHW. 1 of them being a once champ.
Chances are the pic was to big try resizing in
I would love to see how good Entity's Portiguese is...also why the **** should I care about how good my English is, we are not in the 80s anymore and by a lot....i think I should learn Chinese...if Entity is American there is a 79% chance he is over weight,30% he is obese,9% he is unemployed, over 10% hes house is being forclosed,almost 20% he is leaving in food stamps and over 30% he cant find Africa on a simple map...but at least he can continue to leave in the past...peace out.
awesome^^^ thats funny shit
The biggest social challenge for the Brazilian government and society is the lack of education, housing, health care and nutrition for the homeless children. Thousands live on the streets, abandoned by parents unable to afford to raise them. These children often abuse drugs, commit crimes and resort to prostitution to survive. The government has developed programs through the Ministry of Social Assistance to combat the poverty and starvation of these homeless children. WE SUPPORT YOU!!
Homie: Mandarin...
I can find Africa! dont take this country thing to far guys
You got me there Bro, My Portuguese sucks. The point still remains - if you want to communicate effectively use the spell checker. Up above Evan talked about Haterade. I think he meant Hatred but for most of the day I thought he meant a new drink by the Gatorade people for haters.
And a 0.0066% chance he will be a murder victim of gun crime in any given year.
Btw I love the US but just hate pricks like the one above.
So that whole bit about the percentages was love?
What p4p "should" mean? Well, we all know how good Chael is at keeping it real...
Chael Sonnen says a lot of things...It's Chael being Chael just enjoy the his banter..
Well, there you go. If Chael said it, it must be true. I believe he also said Yushin Okami would take Silva's belt. Interesting similarity in statements.