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With UFC 157 right around the corner, the majority of the attention is centered on the females. Not only is Ronda Rousey versus Liz Carmouche the first woman’s bout in the promotions history, but it is also the first title female title fight in UFC history as well. The significance of such a landmark event goes without saying, but due to such attention on the main event, the co-main event has been somewhat lost in the shuffle. Especially considering that participating in the co-main event will be one of the heaviest hitters in the sport today: MMA legend Dan “Hendo” Henderson. He will be facing the extremely elusive and former UFC Light-heavyweight Champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. So let’s take a moment to reminisce and appreciate the legacy of one Dan Henderson.

When the time comes for Henderson to hang up the gloves, he’ll without a doubt be remembered for more than simply being blamed for the cancellation of UFC 151 late last year. He will instead be remembered for his long and illustrious career, competing all over the world for several different promotions and winning titles in different weight classes.

Boxing color commentator and analyst Teddy Atlas has said that in order to be great, you need longevity. If nothing else, Henderson’s career has exactly that. And I emphasize has, as Hendo is not only still strong and kicking in the sport today but he’s on the verge on earning yet another title shot. Like his former teammate Randy “The Natural” Couture, Henderson started his career in 1997. However, unlike Couture, Hendo was 27-years old at the time. And with only two fights and a year of “NHB” competition (what MMA was known as in the early days of the sport), Henderson entered the UFC 17 middleweight tournament in 1998. At the time, the middleweight division was what is now known as the light-heavyweight division. In one night, he defeated Carlos Newton and Allan Goes. He would then seek greener pastures and plied his trade in Japan, where he put on a repeat performance to win his second major MMA title, the Rings King of Kings 1999 tournament. There, he defeated fighters such as Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira before opting to stay in Japan and sign with the PRIDE Fighting Championship.

It was there in PRIDE where Henderson truly excelled – not necessarily in terms of his record with PRIDE, but in the fashion in which he handled his losses and came back from them. The loss column on his record is equally as impressive as the win column, with losses to Wanderlei Silva and Minotauro, just to name a few. After failing to get past the opening round of the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix, he opted to drop down a weight class and enter PRIDE’s Welterweight (183lbs) Grand Prix. Participating in one of the greatest mixed martial arts events in the sports history, Bushido 9, Henderson knocked out Ryo Chonan and Akihiro Gono with his patented right hand to earn his spot in the finals. There, he faced former UFC middleweight champ Murilo Bustamante. This bout was a rematch from a couple of years earlier where Henderson emerged victorious by controversial referee stoppage. Henderson once again came away with the victory, only this time it was a lot closer than before, winning by a split decision.

He would then experience mixed results, exchanging victories with Kazuo Misaki before returning to the middleweight (205lbs) division. When he did, PRIDE was nearing its end after it was revealed that the powers that be had close ties with the Yakuza. On their last leg, PRIDE came to the States to stage a couple of events in Las Vegas, where Henderson was granted a rematch with Silva for the PRIDE middleweight title. After two exciting rounds, Henderson showed the world the power he had in his left hand by knocking Silva out in the third round, making history as the first and only mixed martial artist to simultaneously hold titles in two different weight divisions.

After the collapse of PRIDE, Henderson made his way back to the UFC after ZUFFA purchased the Japanese promotion in 2007. When he arrived, he was immediately set up in championship bouts in both divisions, coming up short in both. After losing to Quinton Jackson and Anderson Silva, he continued his march to greatness in the UFC middleweight division. It was there that Henderson accomplished one of the most memorable and popular feats in his entire career, and oddly enough, it had nothing to do with winning another title. After an incredibly entertaining Season Nine of The Ultimate Fighter, where Henderson coached team USA and Michael Bisping coached team UK, Henderson and Bisping were signed to fight at the historic event UFC 100. In the second round, Henderson brutally knocked Bisping out cold – only to follow up with one more while Bisping was on the canvas and completely out. UFC 100 garnered 1.6 millions pay-per-view buys; if no one knew who Henderson was before this event, they did after.

After that fight, Henderson would pack up once more and seek his fortunes elsewhere, this time under the Strikeforce banner, where he was granted an immediate title shot at then-middleweight champion Jake Shields. Henderson would lose a unanimous decision after nearly finishing Shields in the first round. Henderson seemed to have severely gassed out midway in the bout and was unjustly criticized for that performance.  He would again move up to light-heavyweight, where he currently competes at, and , again found success, winning the Strikeforce light-heavyweight title by defeating Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante by knockout, showing he still had one hell of  right hand. He then followed that up by handing Fedor Emelienenko his one true knockout loss by KO’ing him in the first round of their bout.

After ZUFFA purchased Strikeforce in 2011, Henderson would again call the Octagon his home. In his first bout since returning with the UFC, he faced Mauricio “Shogun”Rua, in what would earn Fight of the Night honors along with being named the Fight of Year. Henderson would win that bout with Rua by unanimous decision in an all out scrap that saw both fighters hit the canvas. With that win, Henderson took another step forward towards another light-heavyweight title shot, this time against Jon “Bones” Jones. That title shot will greatly depend on how his bout with Machida plays out this weekend in Anahiem.

Cut from the same cloth as former teammate Couture, Henderson’s career is nearing its sixteenth year as he approaches the age of 43. No one is sure how much longer Henderson can continue to be successful in MMA, or at least successful at an elite level. But the legacy he’ll leave behind when his career is all said and done will be nothing short of legendary, making history on several occasions and being one of the true bad asses in the sport at the same time. Winning titles in different promotions, some in different divisions, and facing a who’s who of MMA greats, means Henderson will go down in history as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of our generation, maybe even of all time. And for all we know, he may not even be done quite yet.

While there has been some discussion concerning females taking the headline billing for UFC 157, the male fighters competing at the card on Saturday night appear to be all for it.

During the pre-fight press conference on Thursday, four of those fighters were asked their thoughts on females joining the ranks of the UFC.

Dan Henderson

“I think it’s great. I have women that train in my gym all the time that are hoping to get where these women have got. I am excited I get to watch the last fight.”

Lyoto Machida

“I believed there would come a time the UFC would open the doors to women fighting. I am happy to be on this card with women headlining.”

Josh Koscheck

“I think it’s a good thing for our sport. It is bringing in a lot of new attention to the sport, new media. Hopefully, they can build a good enough group of girls that can come in and compete at the top level.”

Robbie Lawler

“I think it’s awesome. These girls have trained hard. They go out there, bang it out and are doing everything that everybody else is doing.”

While, Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche have been promoted in The UFC special ‘Primetime’, They enjoy another round of exposure in The UFC’s more typical promotional material in the form of ‘UFC Countdown’. This one also focuses on Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida’s bout and also looks into Urijah Faber and Ivan Menjivar’s rematch.

Dan Henderson believes that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is being very careful in selecting his opponents as he winds down his career.

Henderson, who faces Lyoto Machida this Saturday night at UFC 157, recently told MMA Interviews that he hasn’t been all that impressed by “The Spider” in recent years.

“I think Anderson, for the last five years, tried to pick and choose who he fights and manipulates the UFC a little bit. He kind of tries to stay away from guys that are dangerous or have a dangerous style for him, especially because he’s looking toward the end of his career and he wants to retire without losing again.”

Henderson lost to Silva back in 2008 via second round submission. It was rumored that he might face him again last year, but “Hendo” selected a bout with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones instead.

Before he could face Jones, though, Henderson went down with a knee injury. This upcoming fight with Machida will be his first since November 2011.

Photo credit: MMA Weekly

UFC president Dana White has switched stances on the use of testosterone replacement therapy among his fighters in the UFC.

Does that mean he is getting rid of TRT completely? Of course not, as White really has no way of doing that unless he wanted to fire each fighter who requests the use.

Instead, the UFC boss made a promise recently: every fighter using an exemption for TRT will be tested, and tested frequently.

If you asked me three months ago, it’s legal. It’s sports science, but everybody figures out a way to take a great thing and cheat and make it bad. What guys are doing, I believe guys are doing, is jacking up this stuff through the roof through their entire training camp then getting back down to normal levels right before the fight, which is cheating.

I hate it. I don’t like it. I’m going to fight it. And if you are using TRT in the UFC, we’re going to start testing the [expletive] out of you through your entire camp. I truly believe guys are cheating on it, and I don’t like to see a natural gifted athlete go in and fight against a guy who has been jacked up on TRT for three months.

As White himself stated, he was previously for the use. Fighters such as Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Frank Mir and Dan Henderson have all been granted exemptions for it and competed. In fact, Belfort, Sonnen and Mir all fought for UFC gold, and Henderson was scheduled to until he was injured.

Belfort’s case has caused a stir because “The Phenom” previously tested positive for steroids in his career.

Fighters much be within the legal limit set before them by the commission for testosterone in their system when they are tested. Nate Marquardt, another UFC fighter who used TRT, failed to do so and was not allowed to compete. The UFC released him, he went on to fight for Strikeforce, and is expected to compete later this year inside the Octagon again.

We’re regulated by the government. Testosterone replacement therapy is legal. “Well, I think we should test guys all the way up until their fight to make sure that the entire training camp their limits are where they’re supposed to be, they’re at the legal limits their whole camp. When you sit down and you start talking about it, it’s not fair. It’s not fair. And if your testosterone level isn’t high enough, maybe you’re too old to fight.

I personally feel that the use of TRT is such a fine-line that fighters are likely taking advantage of it. If White holds up to his word, and makes the fighters test more frequently, it might work.

It might, but that’s doubtful, especially considering how long pro athletes have been getting away with using illegal drugs and performance enhancers.

Dan Henderson suggests a win over Lyoto Machida may not secure him a crack at UFC Champion Jon Jones’ title. Given the odd situations Henderson has been put in twice now, I think The UFC would have to give it to him in a measure to maintain its integrity, but we’ll see. Crazier things have happened.

Lyoto Machida takes time out of his preparations for Dan Henderson to answer a few media questions. He calls this fight camp “special”, and he makes no question about the fact that Dan’s wrestling threatens him. Machida also agrees with Henderson in that a 5 round fight favors Machida, and a 3 rounder favors Henderson.

Lyoto Machida has taken note of the UFC’s first set of official rankings.

Machida, who will face Dan Henderson in the co-main event of UFC 157 next week, stated during a recent conference call that he feels the winner of his match should be the next contender to Jon Jones’ title belt.

“We are ranked No. 1 and 2,” Machida said. “I believe the winner of this fight should be next in line for the title.”

Jones will face Chael Sonnen this April for the belt. “Bones” has defeated Machida once before, and was scheduled to face Henderson before “Hendo” suffered a knee injury.

Machida was originally asked to step in and meet Jones last September, but declined the opportunity.

“I wanted the title (shot), but I didn’t have enough time (to prepare),” Machida said. “Everything happens for a reason.”

Henderson, a former PRIDE and Strikeforce champion, is ranked No. 1 by the UFC, while Machida – a former UFC light heavyweight champ – is second. Alexander Gustafsson, who many feel is the rightful top contender, is third.

Photo credit: Esther Lin/MMA Fighting

Lyoto Machida prepares for his UFC 157 match with Dan Henderson. Machida plans to get back into championship form, but he must get past Dan Henderson first. The two will be the co-main event for UFC 157 which takes place on February 23rd, and it’s only on pay-per-view.

UFC 157 Takes place on February 23rd from The Honda Center from Anaheim, California. Lyoto Machida, Dan Henderson, Liz Carmouche, and Champion Ronda Rousey take the helm and answer the media’s questions.