JRE MMA Show #149 with Dan Henderson

1. 0:00 – 0:54

   Catching up in Temecula: coaching, gym ownership, and a brewery build-out

   1. DHDan Henderson0:00

      (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) Hello, Dan Henderson. What the fuck's happening?

   3. DHDan Henderson0:15

      (laughs) How's it going, Joe?

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      Good to see you, bro.

   5. DHDan Henderson0:16

      Good to see you too.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      Man, um, what have you been up to? Other than coaching? You're coaching a lot, I know that.

   7. DHDan Henderson0:22

      Uh...

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:22

      I watch a lot of your, uh, videos.

   9. DHDan Henderson0:23

      Yeah, I mean, I'm coaching a little bit. Got, got some decent up-and-comers, but other than that, I've been, I've been working on (laughs) a project where my gy- I own the building my gym's in, and I'm putting a brewery distillery restaurant in.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:36

       Oh, nice.

   11. DHDan Henderson0:36

       Part of it'll overlook there. So we're in mid-construction right now, so it's been, it's been... We started construction, it got put on hold when COVID happened-

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:46

       Hmm.

   13. DHDan Henderson0:46

       ... so it's been a, almost the biggest fight of my life trying to get this thing done. But yeah, it's finally, finally gonna be done, hopefully end of the year.

2. 0:54 – 2:58

   California vs Texas living: sanity, freedom, and heat acclimation

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:54

      You're down in, uh, you still down, like, Temecula area?

   2. DHDan Henderson0:57

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:57

      Yeah.

   4. DHDan Henderson0:58

      In Temecula, yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:59

      That's a good area.

   6. DHDan Henderson1:00

      No, I love it there, man.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:01

      Last time I saw you was at that casino. That's a fun little casino down there.

   8. DHDan Henderson1:04

      Oh, at Pechanga?

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:05

      Yeah.

   10. DHDan Henderson1:05

       Yeah. Yeah, no, I love it out there. If, I, I was born and raised in California, so it, you know, it'd be hard to leave. I got so many roots there, but, you know-

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:16

       Yeah.

   12. DHDan Henderson1:16

       ... living in Temecula, I feel like I'm in one of the best spots in California. (laughs)

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:20

       Yeah, it's one of the be- it's most sane.

   14. DHDan Henderson1:23

       Yeah, no, I agree.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:24

       It's pretty sane.

   16. DHDan Henderson1:25

       Yeah, pretty-

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:26

       Lot of ranches, and it's like normal people.

   18. DHDan Henderson1:28

       Not a lot of craziness going on.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:30

       Yeah. You're getting closer to Los Angeles, it just gets polluted.

   20. DHDan Henderson1:33

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:34

       Just toxic fucking thinking and-

   22. DHDan Henderson1:35

       Where did you live up there?

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:37

       I lived in Bell Canyon, which was like, uh, a half hour outside of LA, which was nice. Like I had land, and a lot of coyotes, and-

   24. DHDan Henderson1:45

       Right.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:45

       ... a lot of owls and hawks and shit, and mountain lions. It's good. It's good.

   26. DHDan Henderson1:50

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:51

       It's, it was good, like, juxtaposition. It was a nice relief from Hollywood. I get there and it's quiet.

   28. DHDan Henderson1:56

       And how is the little community, though? The area?

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:58

       It's fine.

   30. DHDan Henderson1:59

       Yeah?
3. 2:58 – 5:30

   Bowhunting stories: practice distances, close-range elk, and shot selection

   1. DHDan Henderson2:58

      What are you doing out in the yard?

   2. JRJoe Rogan3:00

      Just shooting.

   3. DHDan Henderson3:01

      Okay.

   4. JRJoe Rogan3:01

      Just shooting, you know, getting ready, so I, I had to practice.

   5. DHDan Henderson3:05

      (laughs)

   6. JRJoe Rogan3:05

      So it's like, there's only one place I can practice is 100 yards.

   7. DHDan Henderson3:08

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan3:09

      It's in the yard, so I was out there practicing every day.

   9. DHDan Henderson3:13

      Have you taken a 100-yard shot?

   10. JRJoe Rogan3:15

       No way. Never. Never.

   11. DHDan Henderson3:17

       (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan3:17

       I would never do that. Never.

   13. DHDan Henderson3:19

       But you practiced it?

   14. JRJoe Rogan3:19

       But when you take a 100-yard shot every day, 50-yard shots look like a chip shot.

   15. DHDan Henderson3:24

       Right.

   16. JRJoe Rogan3:24

       Like, I shot my elk last week at 50, and it was easy. It was perfect. It was perfect distance, you know?

   17. DHDan Henderson3:29

       That's awesome, yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan3:30

       I knew I was gonna hit it.

   19. DHDan Henderson3:31

       Yeah, I've gotten a couple at 50. One, I think one at 60 was my long- longest shot, but yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan3:36

       My friend Cam shot one at two yards.

   21. DHDan Henderson3:39

       (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan3:39

       He shot at two yards, a frontal shot at two yards, he made it, just made a video of it. It's fucking crazy. This elk hadn't, he was on his knees and the elk was coming up the trail, and the elk had no idea he was there. He was just standing there at full draw, and then the elk looked down and saw him there, and whup, and, and it caught him right in the chest, went right through his heart.

   23. DHDan Henderson3:57

       Wow.

   24. JRJoe Rogan3:59

       Yeah, thi- this is the video.

   25. DHDan Henderson4:00

       Oh.

   26. NANarrator4:02

       That one? Okay.

   27. JRJoe Rogan4:02

       This is a, a real clip of it. So he's moving up this trail, and this is the elk. We- well, you'll, you'll see the sho- well, it's very hard to see. You'll see it on his YouTube channel, it's much better, but that's how close he was. He was two yards from it.

   28. DHDan Henderson4:14

       (laughs) That's funny. Yeah, my first elk I ever shot was with a bow, but it was at, like, 10 feet. So-

   29. JRJoe Rogan4:20

       Whoa. (laughs)

   30. DHDan Henderson4:21

       ... three and a half yard... But yeah, it was in a burn area, so there was a lot of, like, new growth going up.
4. 5:30 – 7:20

   Eating the whole animal & why hunting appeals to fighters

   1. JRJoe Rogan5:30

      It's a great, uh, it's a great discipline for fighters. A lot of guys who, they leave fighting, and the excitement and the intensity of fighting, nothing can match that. And so the only thing that comes close for a lot of them is bow hunting.

   2. DHDan Henderson5:44

      Yeah. No, I can see that, for sure. I mean, I've done it. I was doing it when I was fighting too, but yeah, I mean, I've been... I grew up hunting, but never really started shooting animals till I'm getting a little bit older and getting a little better at it, but...

   3. JRJoe Rogan6:00

      ... it's hard.

   4. DHDan Henderson6:01

      I need to get out and bow hunt a little more. That's my favorite hunt is a bow, archery elk hunt.

   5. JRJoe Rogan6:06

      Yeah. No, it's the most exciting. It's also the most crazy. There's screaming-

   6. DHDan Henderson6:10

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan6:10

      ... and there's so much chaos, and you gotta duck those cows and sneak around. It's, it's fun. I love it. It's, to me, it's like the best, it's the best way to get meat, first of all, and then it's also the best way for me to decompress.

   8. DHDan Henderson6:24

      Right.

   9. JRJoe Rogan6:24

      You know?

   10. DHDan Henderson6:25

       And it's really good meat.

   11. JRJoe Rogan6:26

       Oh, it's the best meat, the best meat.

   12. DHDan Henderson6:28

       No, I get, yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan6:29

       I ate h- the heart last night.

   14. DHDan Henderson6:30

       Oh. I don't know if I could do that.

   15. JRJoe Rogan6:32

       You don't eat the heart?

   16. DHDan Henderson6:33

       No.

   17. JRJoe Rogan6:34

       It's, it's good, man. You just, just fry it up. I just put salt, pepper, and garlic on it-

   18. DHDan Henderson6:39

       (laughs)

   19. JRJoe Rogan6:39

       ... and butter, fry it in butter.

   20. DHDan Henderson6:40

       I feel like it would have a different texture.

   21. JRJoe Rogan6:42

       It does. It's ch- it's chewy, but it's good. It tastes good.

   22. DHDan Henderson6:46

       I'm, I'm not a fan of liver either.

   23. JRJoe Rogan6:48

       I eat the liver too. Yeah (laughs) .

   24. DHDan Henderson6:50

       (laughs) I can't do it.

   25. JRJoe Rogan6:52

       It's good for you. I mean, it's the best meat for you.

   26. DHDan Henderson6:54

       Well, it might be good for you, but...

   27. JRJoe Rogan6:56

       It's rough.

   28. DHDan Henderson6:58

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan6:58

       I don't eat too much. I eat a couple ounces in the morning with eggs, you know? I just slice it up and vacuum seal it and freeze it and then thaw it out for, for breakfast. It's a good breakfast. Gets you going.

   30. DHDan Henderson7:11

       Yeah. No, I'm not-
5. 7:20 – 13:55

   Retirement mindset: no itch to return, but intrigued by new combat formats

   1. JRJoe Rogan7:20

      So, uh, how have you adapted to retirement?

   2. DHDan Henderson7:23

      Uh, I feel like I'm pretty we- pretty good. It's not like I have the itch to get in there and do it again.

   3. JRJoe Rogan7:29

      Well, that's-

   4. DHDan Henderson7:29

      Occasionally, when I see some of these guys and, and with, with a little bit different style, I, I feel like, "Oh, it'd have been fun to match up or see how I do against them." You know, I'd do it in, in practice, not-

   5. JRJoe Rogan7:40

      Right.

   6. DHDan Henderson7:41

      ... with no cameras. That'd be f- you know, just to see-

   7. JRJoe Rogan7:44

      Right.

   8. DHDan Henderson7:44

      ... how it would be, not, not for any type of title or money. It'd be fun, but...

   9. JRJoe Rogan7:49

      For a lot of guys, it's so hard to not, just re- resist that urge to come back.

   10. DHDan Henderson7:55

       Yeah. I mean, I, I started wrestling, I was five years old, and two Olympic teams and then, and then I started fighting for, and I fought for 20 years, so I feel like I did enough.

   11. JRJoe Rogan8:09

       You definitely did enough. You did (laughs) you did a lot.

   12. DHDan Henderson8:12

       So I... So, a lot more than most-

   13. JRJoe Rogan8:14

       Yeah.

   14. DHDan Henderson8:15

       ... over, over that span of time than, than most guys compete at, at that level, and, you know, I felt like, uh, I was ready when I retired. I was... You know, honestly, my body felt okay. It w- I hadn't really had too many big injuries at all for, for a while, and I just was sle- spending too much time on the couch after practice, just tired, too tired to do anything else during training camp.

   15. JRJoe Rogan8:44

       Yeah.

   16. DHDan Henderson8:44

       So family life was kinda... You know, with w- the kids and not spending time doing stuff like that was taking a toll, so I was like, "You know, it's time."

   17. JRJoe Rogan8:55

       Yeah. Well, you did it at the right time. It's like... And, and it's good that you didn't come back. It's just like, so many guys come back and y- you kind of wish they didn't and-

   18. DHDan Henderson9:03

       Right.

   19. JRJoe Rogan9:04

       ... you know?

   20. DHDan Henderson9:05

       Well, I wouldn't be one of those guys. If I did come back, I would, it would be, I would be... I s- I still feel really good, so.

   21. JRJoe Rogan9:13

       When-

   22. DHDan Henderson9:13

       But I, I don't plan on it. Uh, but nobody's offered me enough money to get off the couch anyway, so.

   23. JRJoe Rogan9:17

       Well, what I'm, what I'm interested in seeing is, like, there's so many different options now with guys, you know? Like, e- bare knuckle boxing-

   24. DHDan Henderson9:25

       Right.

   25. JRJoe Rogan9:25

       ... is nice. You know, a lot of guys going into that, and I felt like that would be a thing that you would acce- excel at.

   26. DHDan Henderson9:30

       Yeah. I, I hadn't really watched it until I watched Chad Mendes' fight last year.

   27. JRJoe Rogan9:34

       Mm-hmm.

   28. DHDan Henderson9:34

       And I'm like, "Man, I like those rules." That'd be-

   29. JRJoe Rogan9:37

       Yeah.

   30. DHDan Henderson9:37

       ... right up my alley. Not... Like, I don't think I'd, would, I would do okay at boxing, straight boxing, but not that great. I, I would do a lot better at the bare knuckle rules with the dirty boxing. You can-
6. 13:55 – 20:32

   Early MMA origins: Randy Couture’s call, tournaments, and fighting without sparring

   1. JRJoe Rogan13:55

      Who talked you into doing MMA in the first place?

   2. DHDan Henderson13:58

      Well, y- you know, Randy and I were training partners forever for wrestling, and, uh, you know, we'd always watched it on TV and said, you know, "That'd be fun," but I don't know if I'd wanna get in there with some of those three or 400-pounders, you know, and-

   3. JRJoe Rogan14:13

      Right.

   4. DHDan Henderson14:13

      ... those big fuckers, and-

   5. JRJoe Rogan14:14

      (laughs)

   6. DHDan Henderson14:16

      ... Randy called me up one day and said, "Hey, I'm doing this tournament down in Brazil at heavyweight," and they got a lightweight tournament. And this is, like, two weeks before. And, uh, "You wanna go do the lightweight tournament?" Which is, like ... It was, like, 176 or something. And I was like, "Well, okay." And I was wrestling 180 and a half at the time, so it was an extra five pounds, but ... You know, I, I, I went down and did it. But in the meantime, I guess he ... Randy had already put an application into the UFC, and they d- they said no, and, uh ... Which I didn't know he had put in the application, but then he got a call, somebody got hurt, so he didn't go down to Brazil. He went to the UFC instead. It was, like, within a wee- a week before or week after that fight. No, not that one, but the one I ... down in Brazil, which was ... I think it was UFC 13, was his first one.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:08

      Hmm.

   8. DHDan Henderson15:10

      And, uh, he-

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:11

      Yeah, I was there for that too.

   10. DHDan Henderson15:12

       And he had a, a tournament against the, like, two big heavyweights.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:16

       Yeah. He fought some big, muscular guy the first fight-

   12. DHDan Henderson15:19

       Right.

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:19

       ... who had a lot of hype on him. I don't remember who he fought in his second fight. I don't remember. But that was, like, when we first started seeing elite wrestlers.

   14. DHDan Henderson15:29

       Right.

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:30

       First started seeing a guy ... Royce Alger, you know, Coleman, all those o- o-

   16. DHDan Henderson15:34

       Didn't ... Did Kenny Monday fight in the UFC, or did he-

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:38

       Yes.

   18. DHDan Henderson15:39

       Yeah?

   19. JRJoe Rogan15:39

       Yeah. Kenny Mon ... No. Was it Kevin Jackson?

   20. DHDan Henderson15:42

       Kevin Jackson.

   21. JRJoe Rogan15:42

       Kenny, Kenny Monday fought, uh ... He fought submission. I remember Matt Hume submitted him.

   22. DHDan Henderson15:50

       Oh, yeah, yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan15:50

       Remember that?

   24. DHDan Henderson15:51

       That was ... I, I think I s- I wrestled with, uh, Frank Shamrock there.

   25. JRJoe Rogan15:54

       That's right. Yeah.

   26. DHDan Henderson15:55

       And I had, I had a screwed up ankle from I'd rolled it, uh, right before the world championships a month before that, and ... So I went in there wearing wrestling shoes so I could hide the tape that I had on my ankle. (laughs) Frank's pretty good at ankle locks, so ... (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:11

       Yeah.

   28. DHDan Henderson16:11

       That was me not knowing anything about it.

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:13

       Well, Frank was really one of the first guys that had, like, a full overall MMA game.

   30. DHDan Henderson16:19

       Right. No, I agree.
7. 20:32 – 27:49

   Natural power and the sport’s evolution: pitching mechanics, cardio as a weapon, and ‘pioneers’

   1. JRJoe Rogan20:32

      When did you realize that you had that kinda crazy power? 'Cause it's kind of funny that a guy who started out grappling and didn't do any sparring at all for his first four-

   2. DHDan Henderson20:46

      (laughs)

   3. JRJoe Rogan20:46

      ... MMA fights was one of the most dangerous strikers in the sport.

   4. DHDan Henderson20:50

      Um, I don't know. I mean, I grew up playing baseball and threw really hard.

   5. JRJoe Rogan20:54

      Hmm.

   6. DHDan Henderson20:55

      And then, you know, when I, when I started, uh, not sparring, started MMA, you know, I'd hit the pad or, you know, focus mitts, and, and everybody'd say, "Oh, shit, you hit hard."

   7. JRJoe Rogan21:07

      It's just natural.

   8. DHDan Henderson21:08

      But yeah, so I guess it just took me a while to figure out where to put it.

   9. JRJoe Rogan21:13

      There's a few guys... I think Gomi, I think Takanori Gomi started out as a pitcher.

   10. DHDan Henderson21:17

       Hmm.

   11. JRJoe Rogan21:17

       Which makes sense. You see the way that guy throws punches, he just fucking whips his whole body into it-

   12. DHDan Henderson21:22

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan21:22

       ... like a fastball.

   14. DHDan Henderson21:22

       Put a lot of weight into it.

   15. JRJoe Rogan21:23

       Yeah. It's, uh, that's a v-... actually probably a great thing to start out with, just to learn how to put a lot of force behind your arm.

   16. DHDan Henderson21:31

       Driving with the legs-

   17. JRJoe Rogan21:33

       Yeah.

   18. DHDan Henderson21:33

       ... and everything.

   19. JRJoe Rogan21:33

       Yeah, it completely makes sense, if you think about it.

   20. DHDan Henderson21:36

       With your hips. Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan21:36

       'Cause you think about how many guys practice with medicine balls now, you know? Where they whip medicine balls against the wall to advance your punching power. I mean-

   22. DHDan Henderson21:44

       Yeah. It's hard to teach. I mean-

   23. JRJoe Rogan21:46

       Yeah, you either have power or you don't have power.

   24. DHDan Henderson21:48

       Yeah, I mean, you can definitely get better at, at mechanics to make it harder.

   25. JRJoe Rogan21:54

       Mm-hmm.

   26. DHDan Henderson21:54

       But not, not like what a lot of guys have naturally.

   27. JRJoe Rogan21:58

       Right. Isn't it wild? That's a crazy thing, because you can't really tell sometimes by looking at guys. Like, there's guys that just look-

   28. DHDan Henderson22:06

       Like me. (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan22:06

       Well, you look pretty strong. But there's some guys, like, uh, they just don't look like they carry that much power, but they have crazy power.

   30. DHDan Henderson22:14

       Right.
8. 27:49 – 33:37

   PRIDE short-notice chaos: ACL surgery, hunting trips, and battered thumbs

   1. JRJoe Rogan27:49

      Did you ever have to take a fight like that on 10 days notice? 'Cause that's what's crazy about it-

   2. DHDan Henderson27:53

      Uh...

   3. JRJoe Rogan27:53

      ... that you took it so short notice.

   4. DHDan Henderson27:55

      Yeah, a number of times, especially in PRIDE. That was pretty common.

   5. JRJoe Rogan27:59

      Yeah, PRIDE, they would just call you up, like, a week before-

   6. DHDan Henderson28:01

      I fought-

   7. JRJoe Rogan28:02

      ... the fight, right?

   8. DHDan Henderson28:02

      I fought Big Nog for... He was heavyweight champ at the time on 10 days notice.

   9. JRJoe Rogan28:09

      Jesus.

   10. DHDan Henderson28:10

       Um, yeah. I mean, there was, there was a couple other... There was... I fought, uh, Bustamante on probably a week's notice. And-

   11. JRJoe Rogan28:19

       So when, during the PRIDE days-

   12. DHDan Henderson28:21

       Two and a half months after a knee surgery, a new ACL surgery.

   13. JRJoe Rogan28:25

       No way.

   14. DHDan Henderson28:27

       They called me up, and I was hunting out in Colorado, and they tracked me down on my buddy's cell phone up in the mountains and said, "Hey, you need to..." A- and I didn't have a contract at the time, and I went and had knee surgery 'cause I tore my knee, and, and, uh, he was like, "Well, if you don't take the fight, we don't know what'll happen with any future contracts." Uh, so I'm like, "All right. I'll do it, but you're paying me win or lose, you know, the, the win bonus also." And so I, I took the fight. Luckily, I, I knocked him out real quick with that knee.

   15. JRJoe Rogan29:03

       (imitates air whooshing)

   16. DHDan Henderson29:05

       So, yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan29:06

       And who was that against?

   18. DHDan Henderson29:08

       Ma- uh, Bustamante.

   19. JRJoe Rogan29:09

       Bustamante. I don't remember that fight. I'm trying to remember that fight.

   20. DHDan Henderson29:12

       It was after he left the, uh... After he was UFC champ and then left.

   21. JRJoe Rogan29:15

       That is crazy that you fought two and a half months after ACL reconstruction.

   22. DHDan Henderson29:20

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan29:20

       That basically means your ACL was useless.

   24. DHDan Henderson29:23

       Well, I mean... Yeah. I mean, it was f- like a minute into the fight.

   25. JRJoe Rogan29:28

       How... Right. What... Okay, now I'm remembering that fight. See if you can find that fight. You got it?

   26. DHDan Henderson29:34

       And I, I just-

   27. JRJoe Rogan29:34

       Here it is right here.

   28. DHDan Henderson29:35

       (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan29:37

       Now, this was, uh, which way did they do it? Did they do a cadaver? Did they do a patella tendon graph?

   30. DHDan Henderson29:41

       I di- I did the cadaver 'cause it was a quicker recovery, they said.
9. 33:37 – 50:41

   Rule sets and pacing: PRIDE’s 10-minute first rounds and ideas for modern MMA formats

   1. DHDan Henderson33:37

      And PRIDE had... PRIDE had... When I first got to PRIDE, it was two 10s.

   2. JRJoe Rogan33:42

      And then they'd turn into 10, and two 5s, right?

   3. DHDan Henderson33:44

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan33:45

      D- do you like that? I think the 10-minute round was a good idea.

   5. DHDan Henderson33:48

      I- I- I liked it because it... I thought it separated the men from the boys, really. I mean, about seven, eight, nine minutes in, you s- you know, guys start breaking.

   6. JRJoe Rogan33:58

      Hmm. Well also, if you're a grappler and you take a guy down with four minutes into the round, and you know, you've got six minutes to go now instead of one minute.

   7. DHDan Henderson34:08

      (sniffs) Right.

   8. JRJoe Rogan34:09

      You know, if you're... You see in the UFC guys struggle so hard to get a take down, then they finally get a take down, and then boom, round's over.

   9. DHDan Henderson34:16

      Right.

   10. JRJoe Rogan34:16

       Whereas like, I just feel like in that situation, maybe the right move is to start him in the next round exactly where you left him off.

   11. DHDan Henderson34:25

       (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan34:25

       You know what I mean?

   13. DHDan Henderson34:25

       Yeah. No, that would... That... I would like that.

   14. JRJoe Rogan34:27

       Because you think about the advantage that it is for an elite striker, like a Alex Pereira or something like that. If you take that guy down and- and dominate him in the first round, and then the second round starts and he has to go right back to side control, or wherever, wherever you had him.

   15. DHDan Henderson34:40

       Or just do three eight-minute rounds or something. (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan34:42

       Something like that, yeah.

   17. DHDan Henderson34:43

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan34:43

       Three eight-minute rounds for a championship round. That- that... For a championship fight. That... I like that.

   19. DHDan Henderson34:47

       Or for any fight.

   20. JRJoe Rogan34:48

       Yeah. Well, it's just... I think... You know, Chael Sonnen has said this. It's just like no one can really fight all out for 25 minutes.

   21. DHDan Henderson34:57

       No.

   22. JRJoe Rogan34:57

       You gotta kind of pace yourself.

   23. DHDan Henderson34:58

       No. Uh, yeah, and like I said, I said, coming from wrestling to MMA I kind of learned how to pace myself and then... You know, sometimes like my- my fight against Shogun, which was five rounds, but I got tired because I tried to finish him like in the third round and just fucking shot my wad.

   24. JRJoe Rogan35:18

       Yeah.

   25. DHDan Henderson35:19

       You know, and...

   26. JRJoe Rogan35:20

       That fight was fucking crazy. That was a crazy one.

   27. DHDan Henderson35:24

       It was probably more crazy to everybody else watching than it was to me.

   28. JRJoe Rogan35:28

       Really? Was that?

   29. DHDan Henderson35:29

       Because... I don't know, I felt like I dominated him the first three mou- rounds.

   30. JRJoe Rogan35:34

       Yeah.
10. 50:41 – 1:01:48

    Tournament war stories: five fights, blown MCL, and $200K on the line

    1. JRJoe Rogan50:41

       Yeah, yeah. What do you think was your toughest fight?

    2. DHDan Henderson50:44

       (laughs) I don't know.

    3. JRJoe Rogan50:44

       Do you have a toughest fight?

    4. DHDan Henderson50:46

       I have a toughest night of fighting. That was when I did that tournament, the Rings Tournament, the 32-man unlimited weight class terminite, tournament.

    5. JRJoe Rogan50:55

       Oh, yeah. I forgot about that one. How many times did you fight that night?

    6. DHDan Henderson50:59

       Well, I ... The first event I fought twice, and then I came back and fought three times in a night.

    7. JRJoe Rogan51:06

       (sighs)

    8. DHDan Henderson51:07

       For the, for the-

    9. JRJoe Rogan51:08

       How much of a gap-

    10. DHDan Henderson51:09

        ... four, four ...

    11. JRJoe Rogan51:09

        ... between the first two fights and the s-

    12. DHDan Henderson51:11

        So, uh, I fought Gilbert Yvel.

    13. JRJoe Rogan51:14

        Right.

    14. DHDan Henderson51:15

        Yvel, whatever his name is-

    15. JRJoe Rogan51:16

        Yeah.

    16. DHDan Henderson51:16

        ... uh, the first fight that night, and, and had about an hour, probably, which is pretty good, 45 minutes to an hour. And then I fought Big Nog, and he, uh, fucked my knee up. He ... We were in the clinch and he jumps to guard, and his ass landed on my leg, and just popped my a- MCL. So my leg really hurt, my knee did. I made it through that fight, beat him, and then I had about 20 minutes, 25 minutes. There was one fight in between.

    17. JRJoe Rogan51:50

        Oh, Jesus.

    18. DHDan Henderson51:51

        And then I had to fight Bobbie Lou in the finals. And Randy was in my corner, and, and, uh, Ryan Parsons, and, and they're ... I, I found out afterwards, they're like, "Oh, there's no fucking way he was gonna f- be able to fight." He was just ... I was just a bucket of shit out there i- in the locker room. It hurt. And then, uh ... You know, but that fight, I had never made that much money. I- it was kind of, it was ... This was in the year 2000, so I think the most I had, uh, ever made from wrestling, you know, and with everything combined, was when I fought in the UFC the, the year before that and made like 20 grand. This final fight was worth 200 grand.

    19. JRJoe Rogan52:34

        Wow.

    20. DHDan Henderson52:35

        Just, uh, win or lose, it was a $200,000 difference, so-

    21. JRJoe Rogan52:39

        Just the one fight?

    22. DHDan Henderson52:40

        Yeah, the finals. The champ got everything. It was basically winner take all type of thing. If I would have taken second place, I would have had five fights for about 30 grand total.

    23. JRJoe Rogan52:51

        (sighs)

    24. DHDan Henderson52:52

        And, and I made 230 grand instead.

    25. JRJoe Rogan52:54

        Isn't that nuts?

    26. DHDan Henderson52:56

        Yeah, n- ... I'll tell you what, when I w- went out there and they, they played the national anthem beforehand, that got me pumped up, ready to go. And the thought of $200,000.

    27. JRJoe Rogan53:05

        Did you tape your knee up or anything?

    28. DHDan Henderson53:07

        Uh, no. R- ... I mean, there wasn't really much time, and I just went out there and fought, kind of defended take-downs, and l- ... And this tournament was, uh, l- ... They had a little bit different rules. It was, it was, p- two fives, and, uh, the ... kind of like The Ultimate Fighter and a possibility of another five if it's-

    29. JRJoe Rogan53:29

        Mm-hmm.

    30. DHDan Henderson53:30

        ... if it's a draw.
11. 1:01:48 – 1:16:02

    From MMA to politics: Trump-era nostalgia, war fears, and distrust in media

    1. DHDan Henderson1:01:48

       It would've been nice for ... I think Trump was getting ready to be involved as a, uh ... He was at the event to watch, or he was at the previous event to watch and I think they were kinda grooming him to be an investor.

    2. JRJoe Rogan1:02:01

       Interesting. That would've been interesting.

    3. DHDan Henderson1:02:03

       Yeah. But, yeah, it, it-

    4. JRJoe Rogan1:02:04

       That was back when everybody loved Trump.

    5. DHDan Henderson1:02:06

       Yeah. (laughs)

    6. JRJoe Rogan1:02:08

       (laughs) Isn't that crazy?

    7. DHDan Henderson1:02:09

       Mm-hmm.

    8. JRJoe Rogan1:02:10

       Boy, boy did fucking things change.

    9. DHDan Henderson1:02:12

       Yeah.

    10. JRJoe Rogan1:02:12

        He was in all the rap songs. Rappers would always talk about Trump.

    11. DHDan Henderson1:02:15

        (laughs)

    12. JRJoe Rogan1:02:16

        Everybody loved Trump. It was like this wheelin' dealin' billionaire character that everybody enjoyed.

    13. DHDan Henderson1:02:22

        Yeah. I felt like he done a decent job.

    14. JRJoe Rogan1:02:27

        As president?

    15. DHDan Henderson1:02:27

        Yeah.

    16. JRJoe Rogan1:02:27

        When you look at his regulations, it c- it certainly helped the economy.

    17. DHDan Henderson1:02:31

        Oh, for sure.

    18. JRJoe Rogan1:02:31

        I mean, that, that guy who was the head of-

    19. DHDan Henderson1:02:32

        I feel like we were in a lot better spot then than now, for sure.

    20. JRJoe Rogan1:02:35

        Without a doubt. Well, there was a lot of shit happened. COVID and the world.

    21. DHDan Henderson1:02:39

        Right.

    22. JRJoe Rogan1:02:39

        The world's f- the world scares the shit out of me right now. Right now, I'm like, "F- boy, this is not good."

    23. DHDan Henderson1:02:45

        Yeah.

    24. JRJoe Rogan1:02:45

        None of this, this-

    25. DHDan Henderson1:02:46

        Ukraine blowing up, blowing up a ammo.

    26. JRJoe Rogan1:02:48

        ... Ukraine thing, not good. Yeah. Everything not good. Everything scares the shit out of me. I'm looking at all of it going, "Fuck." Like there's no good solutions to the Middle East.

    27. DHDan Henderson1:02:57

        No.

    28. JRJoe Rogan1:02:57

        All of it looks terrible. And the Ukraine thing looks terrible. It just, it just scares the shit out of me because it's just like all it takes is one person to fucking launch a nuke and the world changes forever.

    29. DHDan Henderson1:03:10

        Right.

    30. JRJoe Rogan1:03:11

        And I've never felt like that was a possibility in my lifetime until now.

Episode duration: 1:54:24