Being a champion at anything takes hard work, dedication and focus. Doing it across both Olympic wrestling and mixed martial arts is another level entirely. Dan “Hendo” Henderson has been there, done that.
A two-time U.S. Olympian who became one of MMA’s most accomplished fighters, Henderson now spends more of his time running businesses, supporting the Hendo Foundation and pursuing his love of hunting and fishing.
In an exclusive interview with Hook & Barrel, Hendo talks about his journey from wrestling to MMA, elk hunting and life after fighting.
Dan Henderson: Timeline of Achievements
- 1987: Finished second at the California State Wrestling Championships and was part of Victor Valley High School’s state championship wrestling team.
- 1988: Finished fifth at the California State Wrestling Championships and became a national junior champion in both Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling.
- 1991: Won a university national championship in Greco-Roman wrestling.
- 1992: Made his first U.S. Olympic team and competed at the Barcelona Olympics.
- 1993: Qualified for the NCAA Championships and won university and senior-level national titles in Greco-Roman wrestling.
- 1994: Won another university and senior-level national championship and competed at the World Wrestling Championships.
- 1995: Earned bronze at the Pan American Games.
- 1996: Represented the United States at his second Olympics in Atlanta.
- 1997: Won another senior national wrestling title and became the Brazil Open ’97 Tournament Champion as his MMA career gathered momentum.
- 2000: Won gold at the Pan American Championships.
- MMA career: Went on to become UFC 17 Middleweight Tournament Champion, Rings: King of Kings 1999 Tournament Champion and Pride Welterweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion.
Dan Henderson’s Early Life and Wrestling Roots
Hendo was born in Downey, California, and grew up on a ranch in Apple Valley, located in the Victor Valley region of San Bernardino County. Like most ranch kids, there was a lot of work to get done, and only a little time to do it.
“Growing up, we had all sorts of animals that we had to take care of: horses, sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens and turkeys,” he said. “So, I didn’t have much time to do a whole lot, mostly just normal kid things like hanging out with friends.”
One thing Hendo did find time for was wrestling, which he started at a very early age and quickly came to love.
“I guess you can call it fairly normal childhood,” Hendo told Hook & Barrel. “My dad was a wrestler and was a school teacher. When I was 5 years old, he started taking my brother and me to wrestling. He eventually became our coach. He coached us with the wrestling club coaches, and then, once we got a little older, we got into a pretty good club and he coached us there, also.”
Another thing Hendo had time for was to do a little hunting with his dad. However, he didn’t do much of the actual shooting himself.
“My dad would go deer hunting up in the mountains kind of close, in the Big Bear area, and he’d always take us along,” he said. “My brother and I would be the ones who would scare out the deer, and he’d shoot them.”
In other words, Hendo and his brother were putting on deer drives for his dad.
Dan Henderson’s Olympic Wrestling Career
Wrestling soon became a very big part of Hendo’s life. While he competed in freestyle wrestling, he is much better known for his achievements in Greco-Roman wrestling.
In high school, he placed second at the 1987 California State Wrestling Championships and fifth in the championships in 1988. He was a member of the 1987 Victor Valley High School wrestling team state champions. Later in 1988, Hendo became a national junior champion in both Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling.
He later wrestled for a season at Cal State Fullerton and at Arizona State University, and qualified for the NCAA championships in 1993. In Greco-Roman wrestling, Hendo became the university national champion in 1991, 1993 and 1994. He was also the national champion at the senior level in 1993, 1994 and 1997.
Henderson competed at the World Wrestling Championships in 1994 and 1997, placing twelfth and seventh, respectively. Other major accomplishments include a bronze medal at the 1995 Pan American Games and a gold medal in the 2000 Pan American Championships.
His most notable wrestling achievements, however, came on the world stage. He made the 1992 U.S. Olympic team when he was 21 years of age.
“I was in Barcelona,” he said. “We competed there, and I didn’t medal. But it was a great experience. It definitely made me more patriotic than I already was, just by representing my country in that way.”
Four years later, Hendo made the Olympic team again and competed in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
“Those were both among my top wrestling experiences,” he said. “In both Olympics, I experienced some bad refereeing, so I got to see how the world really is.”
How Dan Henderson Went From Wrestling to MMA
According to Hendo, he didn’t intentionally set out to become a mixed martial arts fighter. However, that’s exactly what happened after meeting Randy Couture while training for the ’92 Olympics and becoming his wrestling training partner.
“One day, Randy called me up and said he was going to fight in a tournament in Brazil, a heavyweight tournament, and they had a lightweight tournament and asked me if I wanted to do it,” Hendo said.
“I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ Randy ended up getting called by the UFC because someone got hurt and they wanted him to fill in in a heavyweight tournament, so, he ended up not going to Brazil, but fought in the UFC within a week of when I fought the first time.”
Hendo quickly learned that things were somewhat different in the fight game than in wrestling. For one thing, he got hit and kicked a lot—not something he’d experienced much in the past.
“Before those first two tournaments—one in Brazil and one in the UFC—I had never sparred before,” he said. “I started sparring after that, which helped drastically.”
The rest, as they say, is history. Hendo was the Brazil Open ‘97 Tournament Champion, the UFC 17 Middleweight Tournament Champion, the Rings: King of Kings 1999 Tournament Champion and the Pride Welterweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion. He also challenged for the UFC Middleweight Championship twice, the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship.
Hendo was also the first mixed martial artist to hold two titles in two different weight classes concurrently in a major MMA promotion. He is ranked by Fight Matrix as the 16th greatest mixed martial artist of all time, pound for pound.
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Dan Henderson on Elk Hunting, Waterfowl and the Outdoors
Like many top fighters, Hendo is also a big fan of the outdoor sports, particularly hunting and fishing.
“I had friends I went to high school with that were living out in the New Mexico, Colorado area, and I’d go out and hunt with them,” Hendo recalled. “We hunted in Colorado in the Durango area, and it was so much fun.”
When he moved to Oregon to train with Couture before the 2000 Olympic trials, Hendo got into hunting even more.
“We went hunting together quite a bit up there,” he said. “I love being outdoors. Archery elk hunting is probably my favorite, since it’s a little bit more interactive, having to call them in close. Being able to get close enough to shoot them with an arrow is a lot more challenging, and that’s probably why I love it the most.”
While Hendo also loves waterfowl hunting and hunts a time or two a year with waterfowl caller extraordinaire Chad Belding, one of his favorite hunting memories came on a mountain near Salt Lake City, Utah.
“It was an elk hunt, and I probably saw 2,000 to 3,000 elk in four or five days,” he recalled. “It was a bow hunt, and I was sitting out there waiting with an elk just staring at me so I couldn’t draw my bow. In the background, two other bulls were fighting, and four or five other bulls were bugling within 100 yards of us. It was just crazy.
“Right after that, a tree fell down and made a bunch of noise, kind of spooking a couple of herds, and they all blended together. It was crazy how loud it was, with all the cows calling for their babies.”
To top it off, Hendo did get his elk—a nice bull with a 50-yard shot.
Life After Fighting: Hendo’s Barrel House and the Hendo Foundation
You might think that now that Hendo is retired from the fight game, he would have more time to traipse over the mountains in pursuit of elk or head offshore for giant tuna. That might be the case if it weren’t for Hendo’s Barrel House and the Hendo Foundation.
“I opened a brewery/distiller/restaurant, kind of like a sports bar, steakhouse, country bar 15 minutes away from my house in the same building my gym is in,” he said. “Living in Temecula, a bunch of wineries and breweries started popping up. I was going to maybe open a brewery. I own the building that my gym is in and had a bunch of extra space. So, I thought maybe I’d put a brewery in there, and then it turned into a brewery, distillery and a restaurant.
“We’ve been open just over a year, and it’s slowly getting to be known a little more. We’ve got some great food and some great drinks, distilling our own alcohol and brewing our beer.”
As for the Hendo Foundation, that’s the former fight champion’s way of giving back to those in need.
“For a long time—like 20-some years—I’ve had a pig roast every year, and it’s a big party,” Hendo said. “I decided a few years ago to turn it into a charity event and then open a foundation at the same time. For that event, I added a golf tournament.”
With the proceeds, the Hendo Foundation typically supports a veteran charity, and for the last two years has supported efforts to fight child trafficking. They also provide the opportunity for veterans who don’t have the funds and at-risk kids from the community to work out at Hendo’s gym.
What’s Next for Dan Henderson?
From Olympic wrestler to mixed martial arts champion to entrepreneur and philanthropist, Hendo has lived a life that many would envy. Ultimately, his goals for the future nearly all involve helping others.
“I didn’t start Hendo’s Barrel House just for me to make money, but to be more able to help others,” Hendo concluded.
“I’m hoping to get it to where it’s cranking pretty good and then be able to do a lot more with my foundation helping kids, helping veterans and just being more part of the community. My goal with the restaurant is to have it support more of those kinds of things.”
Hopefully, that’ll also give Hendo a little more time to spend in the mountains chasing elk and enjoying the outdoor lifestyle we all love.
