Sherdog’s Top 10: Burglars

Dan Henderson was once known not so affectionately as “Decision Dan.” | Photo: D. Mandel/Sherdog.com

8. Dan Henderson

It is easy to forget these days, given his recent history of success as a devastating puncher and the late-career run that cemented his status as one of the sport’s all-time greats, but Henderson was once known as much for his penchant for taking close decisions as for his ridiculous right hand. “Decision Dan” more than earned that moniker, taking dubious scorecards against such fighters as Allan Goes, Yuki Kondo, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Renato Sobral, Murilo Rua, Murilo Bustamante and Rich Franklin.

The sheer length of Henderson’s career all but guarantees that some dodgy decisions would go in his direction, but especially early in his epic campaign, he had a real gift for convincing the judges that he deserved to win. His strong control in the clinch and effective takedowns were certainly part of this appeal, but so, too, was the visual impressiveness of his winging right hands.

From the beginning of his career to his second stint in the UFC, Henderson went 10-3 in fights that went to a decision, and a substantial portion of those could easily have been scored for his opponent. On the other hand, he has lost several competitive decisions in the recent past. During his latest run in the UFC, his third stretch with the promotion, razor-thin fights with Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans might have gone his way given a little luck.

In some ways, Henderson’s long career demonstrates the effect of pure variance: Over a large enough sample, you win some and you lose some.

Number 7 » While the Frenchman has reached neither the career peaks nor the notoriety of the other contestants on this list, the former top-10 middleweight does hold the unfortunate distinction of owing his entire rise to prominence to judging decisions that ranged from puzzling to downright awful.