Dan Henderson BJJ rank?

[aashmore]

With the submission match today I was wondering if hendo has a black belt? I've never heard them mention him as a black belt in BJJ but with how long he's been around you would think he has trained long enough to have one

 

[mattemate]

I remember several years ago Dean Lister saying he was top notch (before the Anderson fight). I'm not sure if he's ever worn a gi but I guess that makes him a black belt under Dean Lister

 

[Foppa21]

He's probably a rope lol. I doubt he's put on a gi beyond the odd photo op.

JJ earned his blue belt during his previous suspension.

These guys just operate on a different level.. I remember we used to discuss Matt Hughes in the same light

 

[miscend]

Probably black belt level in no gi. He been grappling for decades.

 

[Dana_is_your_GOD]

This is a pointless fight. Jones is in his prime and still probably using PED's, AND out weighing him by a huge amount. Meanwhile hendo is 50 years old, and has a sub par guard that many of us could pass.

 

[JustTheTip]

This is a pointless fight. Jones is in his prime and still probably using PED's, AND out weighing him by a huge amount. Meanwhile hendo is 50 years old, and has a sub par guard that many of us could pass.

I'd bet money that you couldn't beat Hendo in a Grappling match.Or pass his guard.

 

[Dana_is_your_GOD]

I'd bet money that you couldn't beat Hendo in a Grappling match.Or pass his guard.

I won't get into the personal game. But I know who some people are on the forum, and they may not take hendo down, but I know they would sweep him and pass his guard.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

I won't get into the personal game. But I know who some people are on the forum, and they may not take hendo down, but I know they would sweep him and pass his guard.

I wonder about sweeping him. A good wrestler with some BJJ knowledge can be very hard to sweep. Remember Couture vs Jacare grappling? Couture was able to stall Jacare fairly easily (and that's no small feat), and while Henderson is at Couture's level in wrestling, I doubt anyone on the forum is anywhere close to Jacare's level in BJJ.

Moreover, how often was Hendo swept in MMA, and against some grapplers who I suspect are considerably better than anyone on this forum. He beat Big Nog once, and Palhares - I don't recall the matches, but its hard to see how he could do that if he was easy to sweep. Its not enough to look at his technique, elite competitors have physical abilities that can surprise you - they can get away with technical mistakes that would sink most of us.

On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised at people being able to pass his guard; I don't recall him using it much.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

I wonder about sweeping him. A good wrestler with some BJJ knowledge can be very hard to sweep. Remember Couture vs Jacare grappling? Couture was able to stall Jacare fairly easily (and that's no small feat), and while Henderson is at Couture's level in wrestling, I doubt anyone on the forum is anywhere close to Jacare's level in BJJ.

Moreover, how often was Hendo swept in MMA, and against some grapplers who I suspect are considerably better than anyone on this forum. He beat Big Nog once, and Palhares - I don't recall the matches, but its hard to see how he could do that if he was easy to sweep. Its not enough to look at his technique, elite competitors have physical abilities that can surprise you - they can get away with technical mistakes that would sink most of us.

On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised at people being able to pass his guard; I don't recall him using it much.

you meant the match where couture pulled a shaub vs jacare? it wasnt as bad, but certanly some shaub level stalling was there.

 

[007]

Dan can careless what rank he is

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

you meant the match where couture pulled a shaub vs jacare? it wasnt as bad, but certanly some shaub level stalling was there.

As I'd said, Couture stalled. However, you have to be hard to sweep to stall successfully against Jacare - I doubt anyone on the forum could pull it off. Dana_is seems to be saying that after Dan took down some of the forum members they would sweep him. I'd bet fairly heavily that they wouldn't. Would Dan pass their guards? I don't know, in MMA he deals with the situation by sitting in guard and using ground and pound. In grappling he'd be likely to just sit there, shrug off their attempts to sweep, regain his feet, and take them down again. Guys like Jacare are good enough to keep him regaining his feet, I doubt anyone on here could.

If Dan was easy to sweep we'd see it being done all the time in MMA ... he competed against guys like Big Nog, Arona, Palhares, all of which have better sweeps than anyone on this forum. Given that Dan wasn't winning with striking, he clearly spent a lot of time on the ground against top level MMA grapplers. If he wasn't swept often by guys like that, I think its a stretch to think people on this forum could do it (unless Josh Barnett is still on the forum, or someone at that level). People underestimate just how good top level athletes are.

You see this in hockey and baseball forums. Guys will watch pro's being paid several million a year to play sport, see them make mistakes, and say they could play better than that. I think they're dreaming; yes top pro's sometimes have holes in their games. However, what they do well they tend to do very well, and it takes another top pro to make them pay for their mistakes.

 

[Uchi Mata]

I'd bet money that you couldn't beat Hendo in a Grappling match.Or pass his guard.

I don't know if I'd beat him in a grappling match (almost certainly not, the more I think about it), but I bet I could pass his guard. I've trained with plenty of wrestlers turned MMA fighters who you'd never be able to force to guard, but if you did or they chose to play it, it wouldn't be that hard to pass. I'd guess the vast majority of Dan's bottom training for MMA was focused on using wrestling to get back to his feet, not guard play.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

As I'd said, Couture stalled. However, you have to be hard to sweep to stall successfully against Jacare - I doubt anyone on the forum could pull it off. Dana_is seems to be saying that after Dan took down some of the forum members they would sweep him. I'd bet fairly heavily that they wouldn't. Would Dan pass their guards? I don't know, in MMA he deals with the situation by sitting in guard and using ground and pound. In grappling he'd be likely to just sit there, shrug off their attempts to sweep, regain his feet, and take them down again. Guys like Jacare are good enough to keep him regaining his feet, I doubt anyone on here could.

If Dan was easy to sweep we'd see it being done all the time in MMA ... he competed against guys like Big Nog, Arona, Palhares, all of which have better sweeps than anyone on this forum. Given that Dan wasn't winning with striking, he clearly spent a lot of time on the ground against top level MMA grapplers. If he wasn't swept often by guys like that, I think its a stretch to think people on this forum could do it (unless Josh Barnett is still on the forum, or someone at that level). People underestimate just how good top level athletes are.

You see this in hockey and baseball forums. Guys will watch pro's being paid several million a year to play sport, see them make mistakes, and say they could play better than that. I think they're dreaming; yes top pro's sometimes have holes in their games. However, what they do well they tend to do very well, and it takes another top pro to make them pay for their mistakes.

I was just making a reference on that post, I agree with your sentiment...

 

[JustTheTip]

I won't get into the personal game. But I know who some people are on the forum, and they may not take hendo down, but I know they would sweep him and pass his guard.

I'm not talking about "some people". I'm talking about you. You are the one being disrespectful and completely dismissing his abilities. I've trained with quite a few really good wrestlers and its hell passing and stabilizing.None of them have half the credentials as Hendo.

 

[JustTheTip]

I don't know if I'd beat him in a grappling match (almost certainly not, the more I think about it), but I bet I could pass his guard. I've trained with plenty of wrestlers turned MMA fighters who you'd never be able to force to guard, but if you did or they chose to play it, it wouldn't be that hard to pass. I'd guess the vast majority of Dan's bottom training for MMA was focused on using wrestling to get back to his feet, not guard play.

What is the highest level wrestler that you passed and stabilized on? How long did they train any other form of grappling? Sure, he might not sweep or submit you from his guard, but Hendo is a gold medalist and has been in MMA for close to two decades.And has trained with some great BBs. You think you can pass and stabilize before he gets to his feet? I'd like to see it.

 

[Uchi Mata]

What is the highest level wrestler that you passed and stabilized on? How long did they train any other form of grappling? Sure, he might not sweep or submit you from his guard, but Hendo is a gold medalist and has been in MMA for close to two decades.And has trained with some great BBs. You think you can pass and stabilize before he gets to his feet? I'd like to see it.

So there's the rub. If he is just getting to his feet, I doubt I could stop him. But that's not really passing guard, is it? If he plays guard, I think I could pass. If he just wants to stand up, he'd do it. That's in line with my saying I could never put him on his back to begin with. He's a pro fighter and a decorated wrestler, I'm not naive about how a grappling match between us would go.

Though for the record, the highest level wrestler I've trained with (and passed his guard) was a Greco-Roman Olympian, albeit one with not a whole lot of BJJ experience. And he was working on guard, not just trying to stand up. That's a whole different meta game.

 

[JustTheTip]

See we aren't talking about an elite wrestler that doesn't even know the basics of BJJ. We are talking about an elite wrestler that has fought MMA longer than most of us has trained. Much of that time had to be some grappling. He probably doesn't have a sick DLR/Spider/Xguard etc but im sure he has trained getting to his feet from all positions and escapes. I trained with a guy that was a really good Community College Wrestler.This dude was one of the best athletes i've seen on a mat.At the time I trained multiple times a day and competed and won regularly. That said, after 6 months of training, this guy destroyed me and rolled evenly with the Black Belts.I couldn't hold side mount on him long enough to get points for a pass.This guy ended up getting double gold (all submissions) in a stacked Blue belt division at Pans.I don't recall anyone scoring a point on him either.After around 6 months of training. Dan Henderson has far better wrestling credentials,much stronger and been training grappling for 2 decades. I think you guys are severely underestimating his abilities.
Jon Jones might be a white belt in BJJ but he is legit.
He recently tapped a team mate of mine that is easily Brown belt level nogi.

 

[Dirty Holt]

I am a black belt and I train at Dan's (Checkmat) every day. I have rolled with Dan lots of times. He is at the level of a black belt for sure. However, our coach would never promote someone who doesnt roll in the gi, and Dan has never practiced one time in the gi. Our coach is a 2nd degree BB, world finalist, and Dan gives him everything he can handle. One thing people dont realize, is that Dan has fucking legit leg locks. He is extremely technical. That being said, he is 46. Jones beating him is no shame.

 

[DanaWhitesButler]

I never understood why Dan didn't use his grappling more in the second half of his career. I guess he was addicted to getting KOs with that big overhand right. I know he was an olympic level wrestler back in the day.

 

[randomg1t]

I am a black belt and I train at Dan's (Checkmat) every day. I have rolled with Dan lots of times. He is at the level of a black belt for sure. However, our coach would never promote someone who doesnt roll in the gi, and Dan has never practiced one time in the gi. Our coach is a 2nd degree BB, world finalist, and Dan gives him everything he can handle. One thing people dont realize, is that Dan has fucking legit leg locks. He is extremely technical. That being said, he is 46. Jones beating him is no shame.

thread pretty much closed.

but do tell us more about dan, if you don't mind. is he as chill as he appears to be?

is he strong as shit? i always got the impression rolling with hendo would be kinda like trying to wrestle a rhino.

how is his mobility nowadays? the videos of him that i've seen all seem to suggest he can barely turn his head... or chooses not to, for some reason. he just looks to me like he can barely move anymore.

why do you think he never goes for leglocks in any of his fights?