Five Ounces of Pain: An interview with Dan Henderson

DH: Due to various injuries, I had to cut back a little bit on certain things I was doing. I listened to my body and I was pretty smart about not pushing through if I was hurting, trying to recover a little bit but still getting in my conditioning for the fight. As far specifics technically for him, I worked on a lot more ground and pound and a little more on my takedowns, which I was working on when I had fought Vitor (Belfort) as well so I just continued that, doing more takedowns and more ground and pound than normal and that definitely mixed it up and helped in the fight.

Q: There are reports that Silva was suffering from strep throat. Do you feel like that made the difference in the outcome of the fight?

DH: I highly doubt it. I had issues for this fight as well. I've been sick for fights before in the past, and it didn't seem to matter. It is what it was. The fight happened and I knocked him out, and if he didn't have strep throat he probably would have still got knocked by that punch. Regardless of how sick he was, a punch is still going to knock you out.

Q: You landed a pretty nice spinning back fist on Silva. When did you add that to the playbook?

DH: I've done that before in fights. Not very often but when I fought Misaki the first time, I did it a couple of times. I do it all the time in practice over the course of the past few years. It's not something I look to do specifically in a fight because it's not one of the basic things that land all the time, but it definitely fit at the time and I went with it, and it landed nicely.

Q: You've fought on both Pride cards in the U.S. What are some of the big differences between the U.S. and Japanese crowds?

DH: The booing that is there in the U.S. isn't there in Japan. That's probably the biggest difference. That, and the crowd is just much more louder in the U.S. the whole fight rather than just when action happens. In Japan, they're pretty quiet until something happens and then they all go, "Ohhh" and "Ahhh" at the same time. It's pretty neat, but they both have their likes and dislikes about the crowds but overall, I think the fans around the world are pretty adamant about the sport and they like the sport. I'd fight anywhere for the MMA fans.

Q: Do you have a preference?

DH: Well, obviously I'd rather fight in the U.S. because it's close to my house, all my friends and family can come, and more of my team can be there. It's definitely better for me to fight in the U.S., but if I was only to fight in the U.S. for the rest of my career, then I'd miss the Japanese fans as well.

Q: How long would you like to keep fighting?

DH: I think a couple of years, we'll see.

Q: There had been a lot of speculation of an eventual inter-promotion matchup between Silva and Chuck Liddell. Would you be willing to step in for Silva against Liddell?

DH: Well, I wouldn't be stepping in for him. It would be champ vs. champ, which is what they were trying to do. I would be more than happy to do that fight.

Q: How would you see a bout with Liddell playing out if you were to get in a cage or ring with him?

DH: It would be a great fight as well. He's well known for his knockouts, same as Wanderlei was. Chuck also has a good chin and good takedown defense so it would be a tough fight for anybody. But I'm a tough fight for anyone as well, and I got a pretty good chin, so I'd love to have an opportunity to test myself against somebody like him.

Q: Can you address rumors that the UFC is interested in bringing you back?

DH: I haven't had any talks with them about coming back, and I've never been offered a deal with them for a long time. I know that they've always like watching me fight, but a while ago, a couple of years ago, it didn't make sense for them to bring me back because of how much I was being paid. They weren't bringing in a lot of money back then, but now that they're starting to make some money and there's a lot more people watching the UFC than in the past, now would make sense for them to bring me there. Who knows what's going to happen? I'm just happy to be in the sport at this time with it growing so much, and to be where I am in the sport.

Q: What's your current contract situation with Pride?

DH: My current contract situation is that I'm obligated for a couple more fights probably through the end of this year with them.

Sam Caplan is a Philadelphia-based sports talk show host and freelance sportswriter. He's also an amateur mixed martial artist (and we do mean amateur) who trains out of the Mixed Martial Arts Academy of Philadelphia. Sam can be reached via e-mail at SCaplan8@comcast.net or you can check out his blog at: http://www.FiveOuncesOfPain.com