This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Dan Henderson Turns 50

Dan Henderson hollowed out quite a space for himself in the MMA history books. The Team Quest co-founder will celebrate his 50th birthday on Aug. 24.

The first mixed martial artist to simultaneously hold major championships in two divisions, Henderson retired in 2016 and did so with one of the sport’s most robust resumes. The Downey, California, native wrestled collegiately at Cal State Fullerton and Arizona State University, representing the United States at the Summer Olympics in 1992 and 1996. Henderson made his MMA debut in 1997, won tournaments in Brazil Open Fight, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Rings, captured titles in Pride Fighting Championships—he held the 185- and 205-pound belts simultaneously in the Japan-based organization—and Strikeforce to establish himself as a true all-time great. He closed out his remarkable career with a 32-15 record, with 15 of his victories coming at the expense of former Bellator MMA, Pride, UFC and Strikeforce champions. Henderson defeated Mauricio Rua (twice), Renato Sobral (twice), Murilo Bustamante (twice), Hector Lombard, Fedor Emelianenko, Rafael Cavalcante, Michael Bisping, Rich Franklin, Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Carlos Newton.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of August:

AUG. 1

Kaleo Kwan, 47
Kevin Asplund, 45
Jason Von Flue, 45
Dominic Clark, 35
Gegard Mousasi, 35
Jenel Lausa, 32
Aurel Pirtea, 32
David Zawada, 30
David Mundell, 29
Ricardo Ramos, 25

AUG. 2

Glyan Alves, 1992-2020
Krzysztof Soszynski, 43
Jeff Hougland, 42
Aleksander Emelianenko, 39
Nick Diaz, 37
Zak Cummings, 36
Ashley Cummins, 33
Magomed Mustafaev, 32
Tanner Boser, 29
Jose Torres, 28

AUG. 3

Eric Esch, 54
Johnny Eduardo, 42
Jared Combs, 41
Carey Vanier, 39
Aleksandar Radosavljevic, 37
Neil Magny, 33
Amanda Bell, 32
Khusein Khaliev, 32
Ben Nguyen, 32
Trent Girdham, 23

AUG. 4

Art Jimmerson, 57
Dhafir Harris, 43
Duane Ludwig, 42
Iuri Alcantara, 40
Bryan Caraway, 36
Jared Rosholt, 34
Oluwale Bamgbose, 33
Jonathan Meunier, 33
Paul Sass, 32
Ray Borg, 27

AUG. 5

Tokimitsu Ishizawa, 52
Sean Sherk, 47
Peter Graham, 45
Daniel Roberts, 40
Dmitry Smoliakov, 38
Lissette Neri, 33
Dustin Pague, 33
Ian Heinisch, 32
Mladen Kujundzic, 31
Nathaniel Wood, 27

AUG. 6

Igor Vovchanchyn, 47
Patrick Mikesz, 46
Tracy Hess, 43
Charles McCarthy, 40
Chris Beal, 35
Daniel Pineda, 35
Minoru Takeuchi, 35
Dan Ige, 29
Trevin Giles, 28
Pedro Carvalho, 25

AUG. 7

Johil de Oliveira, 51
Brian Gassaway, 48
Edwin Dewees, 38
Henry Martinez, 37
Demi Deeds, 36
Martin Begley, 35
Aaron Webb, 34
John Ott, 33
Ante Delija, 30
Diego Barbosa, 26

AUG. 8

Mike Budnik, 46
Yusuke Imamura, 44
Shayna Baszler, 40
Benny Madrid, 40
Alberto Emiliano Pereira, 36
Damir Hadzovic, 34
Danny Mitchell, 34
Damon Jackson, 32
Mairbek Taisumov, 32
Armando Villarreal, 31

AUG. 9

Jarrod Bunch, 52
Hugo Duarte, 52
Kerry Schall, 49
Matt Hamilton, 47
Kyle Watson, 41
Cary Bullos, 37
Attila Vegh, 35
C.J. Keith, 34
Shamil Gamzatov, 30
Alexa Grasso, 27

AUG. 10

Kevin Randleman, 1971-2016
Robin Black, 51
C.B. Dollaway, 37
Chi Lewis-Parry, 37
Randa Markos, 35
Joe Proctor, 35
Oliver Enkamp, 29
Tyler Hill, 29
Azam Gaforov, 27
John Douma, 24

AUG. 11

Joe Rogan, 53
Chase Gormley, 37
Abdul Razak Alhassan, 35
Henry Corrales, 34
Alex Huddleston, 34
Artem Lobov, 34
Ev Ting, 31
Emmanuel Sanchez, 30
Rolando Dy, 29
Alex Gorgees, 25

AUG. 12

Koji Kitao, 57
Frankie Saenz, 40
Pearl Gonzalez, 34
Tadahiro Harada, 34
Norma Rueda Center, 33
Stephanie Egger, 32
Baysangur Vakhitov, 29
Changxin Fu, 28
Mike Hamel, 28
Rasul Edilov, 21

AUG. 13

Solomon Hutcherson, 48
Nik Lentz, 36
Jonathan Brookins, 35
Russell Doane, 34
Kate Jackson, 34
Demetrious Johnson, 34
Ronys Torres, 34
Weili Zhang, 31
Kyle Estrada, 30
Joe Gigliotti, 27

AUG. 14

Takahiro Oba, 44
Derrick Noble, 42
Ricardo Funch, 40
Moyses Gabin, 40
Joseph Henle, 37
Brylan Van Artsdalen, 36
Mark Holst, 35
Yahir Reyes, 35
Colton Smith, 33
Kay Hansen, 21

AUG. 15

Larry Parker, 57
Jason Black, 48
Katsuhisa Fujii, 48
Marcus Jones, 47
Amir Khillah, 41
Valmir Lazaro, 35
Rodrigo Vargas, 35
Justin Rader, 34
Ava Knight, 32
Andy Enz, 29

AUG. 16

Rulon Gardner, 49
Hiroya Takada, 43
Ron Faircloth, 41
Byron Bloodworth, 37
Mickael Lebout, 33
Tecia Torres, 31
Nick Barnes, 30
Joe Madrid, 30
Alex Morono, 30
Patrick Mix, 27

AUG. 17

Masaaki Satake, 55
Carlos Newton, 44
Valentijn Overeem, 44
Leslie Smith, 38
Philipe Lins, 35
Hector Aldana, 32
Kirill Sidelnikov, 32
Andrew Leone, 31
Richie Smullen, 29
Jamie Mullarkey, 26

AUG. 18

Chris Lytle, 46
Chad Robichaux, 45
Sergei Kharitonov, 40
Geronimo dos Santos, 40
Josh Tyler, 37
Gian Villante, 35
Miesha Tate, 34
Joanna Jedrzejczyk, 33
Sergio Pettis, 27
Ismail Naurdiev, 24

AUG. 19

Ricco Rodriguez, 43
Kyle Bradley, 38
Stipe Miocic, 38
Brian Kelleher, 34
Jon delos Reyes, 33
Priscila Cachoeira, 32
Krzysztof Jotko, 31
Julianna Pena, 31
Mizuki Inoue, 26
Jake Matthews, 26

AUG. 20

Dorian Price, 43
Sonny Luque, 39
Tom Speer, 36
Sheldon Westcott, 36
Billy Giovanella, 35
Elizabeth Phillips, 34
Emil Meek, 32
Jon Neal, 32
Gleristone Santos, 32
Justin Vargas, 31

AUG. 21

Nathan Jones, 50
Alex Reid, 45
Dave Jansen, 41
Daniel Sarafian, 38
Zachary Micklewright, 34
Shoko Sato, 33
Alexandre Almeida, 32
Kana Watanabe, 32
Leah Letson, 28
Luis Henrique Barbosa de Oliveira, 27

AUG. 22

Hideo Tokoro, 43
Pat Runez, 41
Ryan Janes, 39
Justin Buchholz, 37
Magomed Bibulatov, 32
Niklas Backstrom, 31
Mayra Bueno Silva, 29
Dillon Danis, 27
Joseph Morales, 26
Nasrat Haqparast, 25

AUG. 23

Brock Larson, 43
Damien Trites, 41
Scott McAfee, 37
Josh Huber, 35
Moshe Rand, 33
Bryan Billiot, 32
Robert Watley, 31
Andrey Koreshkov, 30
Bea Malecki, 29
Miguel Baeza, 28

AUG. 24

James Toney, 52
Dan Henderson, 50
Trevor Prangley, 48
Dong Sik Yoon, 48
Marcus Davis, 47
Hayato Sakurai, 45
Francisco Trinaldo, 42
Charles Rosa, 34
Jake Heun, 33
Ryan Spann, 29

AUG. 25

Allen Berube, 46
Jeremy Horn, 45
Enrique Watson, 42
Danny Castillo, 41
Mark Holata, 38
Piotr Hallmann, 33
Giga Chikadze, 32
Ryan Benoit, 31
Tsogookhuu Amarsanaa, 30
Leon Edwards, 29

AUG. 26

Hermes Franca, 46
Denis Sobolev, 45
Erik Apple, 43
Steve Byrnes, 41
Paul Barrow, 35
Josenaldo Silva, 34
Lance Benoist, 32
Ketlen Vieira, 29
Amanda Ribas, 27
Canaan Kawaihae, 23

AUG. 27

Ryuichi Murata, 44
Kamal Shalorus, 43
Gavin Sterritt, 41
Amir Sadollah, 40
Lew Polley, 39
Akira Corassani, 38
Ryan Couture, 38
Shahbulat Shamhalaev, 37
Manny Lara, 33
Joe Solecki, 27

AUG. 28

Deividas Taurosevicius, 43
Jesse Bongfeldt, 40
Anthony Ferguson, 40
Karo Parisyan, 38
Louis Gaudinot, 36
Rick Story, 36
Jon Tuck, 36
Pat Schilling, 32
Geoff Neal, 30
Carls John de Tomas, 24

AUG. 29

George Kleber, 43
Gabe Ruediger, 43
Tyrone Glover, 41
Vinicius Kappke de Queiroz, 37
Kelly Anundson, 36
Robert Neal, 36
Jonathan Nunez, 35
Kassius Kayne, 34
Motonobu Tezuka, 33
Donnie Bell, 30

AUG. 30

Rambaa Somdet, 46
Eric Prindle, 44
Justin Haskins, 41
Barb Honchak, 41
Neil Seery, 41
Cole Escovedo, 39
Joe Brammer, 37
Jim Miller, 37
Josh Quayhagen, 34
Kyle Prepolec, 31

AUG. 31

Sami Aziz, 48
Herbert Goodman, 43
Ido Pariente, 42
Lionel Lanham, 40
Will Martinez, 40
Daniel Omielanczuk, 38
Pat Curran, 33
Alexis Dufresne, 30
Ricky Simon, 28
Mark De La Rosa, 26