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By Jason Comack  December 7, 2009, at 8:57 pm  Back in September I wrote this:
Dan Henderson currently has no UFC contract and is technically a free agent. No wonder Henderson has been able to be so selective about what fights he will take. His refusal to fight anyone other then Silva or Machida makes a lot more sense now. Now in the story Henderson indicates he’d like to say with the UFC because of the top level of competition and says he’s working on a new deal. However, if I’m Strikeforce right now I see an opportunity. Henderson is a big name and draw and stealing him away from the UFC would be a coup for Strikeforce. So what could Strikeforce offer Hendo that the UFC couldn’t?
Fedor.
That’s right I said it. Let’s be honest Strikeforce has no real fighters to challenge Fedor. Despite Henderson’s size he would be a legitimate threat to Fedor…well at least as legitimate a threat when your talking about someone fighting Fedor. So there you have it Strikeforce. Continue to make your presence known and steal away one of the UFC’s top fighters.
Now that prophecy has come true with the announcement today that Dan Henderson has signed with Strike Force. Henderson outlined his reasons for jumping ship as well as dropped a hint as to who he would fight next in an interview with Sherdog.com’s Loretta Hunt:
Sherdog.com: The critics of this move might say you’re leaving the elite of the sport to go fight lesser competition. How would you respond to that?
Henderson: It’s questionable. Where is (Gegard) Mousasi ranked in there? He might be the guy to beat Anderson Silva up. And obviously Fedor (Emelianenko) is unscathed and has proven that he is probably the top heavyweight in the world. Jake Shields has never fought in the UFC. I think that Strikeforce has a lot of great matchups for me. I’m in this sport not just for the money, but I love the challenge of it. Those three guys are great challenges for me and Strikeforce has quite a few guys that are really top at 185 and above. Their roster is growing rapidly with top guys, not just lower-level guys.
Henderson’s case is unique but in fact there just might be more opportunities for him with Strike Force then with the UFC.
- At 185 pounds Henderson is clearly at his best. He’s a big, strong Greco-Roman wrestler with a devastating right hand. After watching the Shields/Mayhem fight is there any doubt that Henderson would be a big favorite to beat Shields in a potential title fight? Mayhem was able to out muscle and take Shields down. Mayhem isn’t even in Henderson’s league in terms of strength and wrestling.
- At 205 pounds Henderson would find another tantalizing match up against Gegard Mousasi. As good as Gegard has been he’s never fought anyone like Dan Henderson. Gegard has an obvious advantage in terms of striking but the question would be who could win the clinch game. Would Gegards Sambo skills be able to counter Hendersons Greco skills? If Gegard brings the same game he brought to the table against Sokodujo he might find himself in a world of trouble.
In terms of his legacy how cool would it be for Henderson to be the one time; Pride Middleweight and Light Heavyweight champ as well as the Strike Force Middleweight and Light Heavyweight champ. That would be an impressive feat.
The other obvious fight for Henderson would be against Fedor. If Fedor can get through his next two opponents (Overeem/Werdum) it could set up a Super Fight between him and Henderson. Now of course Henderson would be fighting out of his weight class but if he walks around at say 215 that’s only 10-15 pounds lighter then Fedor. It’s enough where it would most likely be a negligible differene.
Of course Fedor has destroyed every type of fighter, including Matt Lindland who is very simialr in style to Henderson. But go back and watch the Lindland fight again.
Lindland right away lands an overhand right, sound famillar, that clearly dazes and cuts Fedor. Lindland immediately gets a body lock and is about to slam Fedor down but, Fedor reverses the position. Watch this part again carefully and you’ll clearly see Fedor grab the robes as he is being slammed. Now I’m not here to say Fedor would have lost that fight had he not grabbed the ropes but it certainly swung the momentum.
Other then Lindland, Fedor has never had to fight a guy who uses the clinch as effectively as Henderson. As for Henderson he’s fought bigger oppoenents before. He beat Big ‘Nog once and fought a hell of a fight the second time before sucumbing to an Arm-Bar.
Could he beat Fedor? Who knows…anything is possible in MMA.
Maybe Henderson wasn’t one of the UFC’s top draws, but he still was one of the best pound for pound fighters they had. Dana White won’t admit it but the UFC is going to miss him.
By Anthony De Franco December 7, 2009, at 2:58 pm If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that this was a WEC.
The only people on this card that got paid anything were the established stars. All of the TUF guys received the same 8+8 deal, except for Kimbo slice, who we already knew was getting a bigger deal than anyone else. He received 25,000 flat for his victory over Houston Alexander.
The days top earner is Frankie “The Answer” Edgar, who made 46,000, and then made an additional 25,000 grand for fight of the night, adding up a grand total of 71,000.
Here is the full list, courtesy of MMA Weekly:
MAIN EVENT FIGHTERS
-Roy Nelson: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Brendan Schaub: $8,000
-Matt Hamill: $46,000 (includes $23,000 win bonus) def. Jon Jones: $20,000
MAIN CARD FIGHTERS
-Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson: $25,000 (no win bonus) def. Houston Alexander: $13,000
-Frankie Edgar: $46,000 (includes $23,000 win bonus) def. Matt Veach: $5,000
-Matt Mitrione: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Marcus Jones: $8,000
PRELIMINARY CARD FIGHTERS
-James McSweeney: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Darrill Schoonover: $8,000
-Jonathan Madsen: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Justin Wren: $8,000
-Brian Stann: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Rodney Wallace: $6,000
-John Howard: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus) def. Dennis Hallman: $15,000
-Mark Bocek: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Joe Brammer: $5,000
ULTIMATE FIGHTER 10 FINALE DISCLOSED FIGHTER PAYROLL: $351,000
ULTIMATE FIGHTER 10 AWARDS & BONUSES
(Each fighter was awarded $25,000 per award, which is in addition to his disclosed salary.)
Fight of the Night:
-Frankie Edgar vs. Matt Veach
Knockout of the Night:
-Roy Nelson
Submission of the Night:
-Mark Bocek
By Anthony De Franco December 7, 2009, at 12:27 pm Ladies and Gentlemen, the first UFC fighter has chose to leave the MMA paradise of the Zuffa companies and fight for Strikeforce. Former PRIDE champion Dan Henderson has signed with the San Jose based company, according to Ariel Helwani of AOL Fanhouse:
After months of speculation, Dan Henderson has finally agreed to sign with Strikeforce. FanHouse has learned that the 12-year veteran, who was last seen knocking out Michael Bisping at UFC 100 in July, recently came to terms with the San Jose-based organization on a multi-fight agreement.
At this time, it is unknown when and where Henderson will make his debut for Strikeforce.
Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole first reported the possibility of Henderson signing with Strikeforce in October, but at Strikeforce’s CBS event in Chicago last month, the former PRIDE middleweight and light heavyweight champion told FanHouse that he had not come to terms with the organization yet.
Henderson returned to the UFC in September 2007 following Zuffa’s purchase of PRIDE. He lost a light heavyweight title unification bout against Rampage Jackson at UFC 75 and then a middleweight unification match with Anderson Silva at UFC 82. Following those back-to-back losses, he would go on to win his next three UFC fights against Rousimar Palhares, Rich Franklin and Bisping.
Recently, Henderson had publicly talked about being frustrated with the fact that he didn’t receive a middleweight title shot following his victory over Bisping and that he was hoping for a bump in salary.
Henderson really doesn’t have much to complain about in the money department. For his fight against Bisping at UFC 100, he made 100,000 dollars in addition to another 150,000 in bonuses. How many UFC fighters can walk away from any one event saying that they made 250,000 dollars? Not a whole lot of them that’s for sure.
As far as what this means for the MMA landscape, It’s really nothing but good things. Right now, we are in the teenage years of the sport, and the UFC has dominated those awkward, growing years. However, that doesn’t mean that some legit competition won’t make Dana and the boys all that much better.
As for Strikeforce, I’m happy it exists because it is another place besides the highly politicized UFC for fighters to make money. This signing really makes their explosion onto the UFC’s level. Remember the key thing here is that this isn’t a guy that the UFC didn’t want. Hendo chose to sign with Strikeforce. He turned down an offer from the UFC in order to do so.
Will this lead to an exodus of fighters from the UFC? Probably not. However, it’s good for fighters to know that there is somewhere that they can go even if Dana doesn’t want them.
Possible opponents for Henderson include Gegard Mousasi, Jake Shields, and of course, Fedor. All three of those are good fights, and we’ll breaking them all down coming later today.
One thing is for sure: I wouldn’t want to be working in the UFC headquarters today.
By Anthony De Franco December 7, 2009, at 10:38 am I’ve been busy in my morning class today, huh? Last few days. Trying to kill myself.
Anyway, while searching the inter-web, I found this video from The Fight Network, which puts up some nice videos of interviews with fighters and the such. Really underrated.
It’s the director of The Striking Truth, which is a documentary about UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, and former UFC middleweight David Loiseau. Check it out.
Ladies and Gents, I think we finally found a reason to love Canada.
By Anthony De Franco December 7, 2009, at 10:14 am Preach on, Justin. Preach on.
For those who don’t live in New York or Dallas, and are uninitiated with this story, here is a quick video, complete with Adams pushing Tuck from behind during yesterday’s game.
So, if you are a Cowboy fan, how do you defend this guy? So far, he’s tripped Tuck after getting his ass beat in week two, and yesterday he pushed him from behind only to draw the ire of the entire Giants squad.
Moreover, did you notice that it took a while for most of the Cowboys to come over and defend their guy? If I can count, There was six or seven Giants there before a single ‘Boy sauntered over and started pulling anyone off.
I think that says something about what his teammates think about Flozell Adams.
By Anthony De Franco December 7, 2009, at 9:53 am Diego Sanchez is one of the more polarizing figures in Mixed Martial Arts. Ever since the original The Ultimate Fighter people have known that Diego Sanchez is insane. He walks to the ring chanting “yes” due to his obsession with the teachings of motivational speaker Tony Robbins. He runs to the center of the cage and attempts to just murder his opponents. He is a one of the more interesting people in interviews because he is never shy about telling you how good he is.
There are people who love him, and people who hate him. If you are one that loves him, show it with this T-Shirt:
Bad Boy is famous for making some of the tamer shirts in the game for their athletes. It always features the eyes logo, and normally a couple of logos that the fighter chooses. For Diego, it’s just the logo and a cross on the back. That’s it.
MMA Warehouse has this one for 39.99.
Want more UFC 107 gear? It’s in The 3rd String Store.
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