Daniel Cormier recently gave a surprising first answer when naming the toughest hitter he ever faced.
Having fought the likes of Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson and the UFC’s knockout record holder, Derrick Lewis, ‘DC’ is not any stranger to dangerous strikers.
While Stipe Miocic stands out as the only fighter that has a stoppage win over Cormier on his record, the previous UFC heavyweight champion wasn’t the name that got here to mind.
In an episode of ESPN MMA’s ‘Good Guy / Bad Guy’, Cormier spoke concerning the insane impact that Dan Henderson landed with after they met at UFC 173.
Cormier’s co-host on the show, Chael Sonnen, wasn’t the one former fighter that seconded this opinion based on his first-hand experience.
Chris Leben shares details of the injuries he withstood when training with Dan Henderson
With 17 of his 32 wins coming via knockout, Dan Henderson is some of the dangerous punchers we’ve ever seen contained in the Octagon.
His infamous ‘H-Bomb’ left lots of his opponents dazed and confused, though his training partners were also unfortunately on the tip of considered one of MMA’s deadliest weapons.
Chael Sonnen backed up Daniel Cormier’s comments in the course of the episode of ‘Good Guy / Bad Guy’ by referencing a time where he couldn’t even respond after being hit by his training partner.
After Sonnen reposted a clip from the episode on Instagram, one other considered one of Henderson’s former training partners shared the same story.
Having competed within the UFC from 2005 to 2013, Chris Leben was a staple of the middleweight division who was a member of Team Quest alongside ‘Hendo’.
Leben wrote in a comment under Sonnen’s Instagram post about his experiences of coaching alongside the previous two-weight PRIDE champion and the damage he took from the American’s power.
“100%. I’ve been on the receiving end of that punch. No fun. Broke my nose, black and each my eyes in practice lol.”
Dan Henderson’s most iconic knockout win took place just over 16 years ago to the day
Dan Henderson has a remarkable highlight reel, as you’d expect from a fighter who is thought for being considered one of the heaviest hitters of all time.
While his win over Wanderlei Silva in PRIDE could have seen him make history within the promotion as the primary two-weight champion, there’s one other finish that involves mind while you look back on the devastating impact of the ‘H-Bomb’.
At UFC 100 on July 11 of 2009, Henderson met Michael Bisping in a heated grudge match following their time as rival coaches on the ninth season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’.
Henderson famously detonated an enormous right hand within the second round to knock Bisping out with one shot, before landing a brutal follow-up shot on his downed opponent.
Henderson would later challenge Bisping for the middleweight title seven years later at UFC 204 where, after losing a contentious unanimous decision, ‘Hendo’ announced his retirement.