Hendo: My back is not against the wall

Dan Henderson could be the greatest fighter in the history of mixed martial arts. When he first fought in the UFC, Jon Jones as nine years old and Ronda Rousey was ten. At 44 his skills have diminished some, and the fighters have gotten better. He goes into his fight on Saturday vs. Tim Boetsch having lost five of his last six.

But those numbers do not tell the whole story.

He lost split decisions to Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort in 2013. Then he was one of three fighters who fell to Vitor Belfort via head kick in a single year. Then he beat Shogun in a rematch; their first fight may have been the best fight in UFC history. Lately he lost to Cormier, but took it into the third; and he got taken out early by Gegard Mousasi.

There has been some speculation that a serious loss to Boetsch on Saturday could mean he gets The Talk from UFC president Dana White.

White is not certain.

“When guys have accomplished what Dan Henderson has accomplished, you have to respect that,” said White to Kevin Iole for Yahoo Sports. “And I would never do anything with a guy of that stature without sitting down and talking to him first,” White said. “And you have to look at who he’s been fighting. He’s been fighting absolute monsters.”

Henderson is certain he does not want to retire.

“This is a fight I definitely want to win and I’m doing everything I can to make sure I do,” he said. “But at the same time, I don’t feel my back is against the wall. I realize I’m coming off of a couple of losses, but I don’t feel like there’s anything there. I feel I should beat him. I feel I’m a better fighter than Tim Boetsch and I have to go out there and make it happen on Saturday.”

“People could be doubting me because of my age, but that’s up to them. I feel good. I feel capable of going out there and beating this guy and being impressive. I just feel like the last couple of years, I’ve had a bit of bad luck and it didn’t help in terms of me winning fights.

“I think I’ve learned from my mistakes, my losses, and I feel like I’m going to come back stronger and better.”