He deserves a shot at the title, not a shot at the Spider
By Yehia El Behery on Oct 18, 2009
We all here at mmaopinion.com are big fans of Dan Henderson. After rumors about signing with Strikeforce, Curtis Clontz said it’s not a surprise. Josh Stein said the move is not that bad for Henderson. So I thought I would add my thoughts on the subject too.
While the UFC didn’t do right by Henderson promising him with a shot after shot at Silva only to break their promise each time. What they did wrong was the promising itself not the fact that they didn’t give him the title shot.
Not that he is not the most middleweight deserving a title shot, he is (confused? it confused me for a second when I read it too). But you see, Silva (specially after his fight with Griffin) has tons of great potential match-ups and only three fights left in his contract (one of them already wasted booked with Vitor Belfort at UFC 108 ). A bout with Henderson certainly isn’t one of those great match-ups (neither a bout with Belfort for that matter but at least it is Belfort’s first shot).
I say Henderson should wait for Silva to vacate his title or retire and then fight for the title. He already knocked out a Silva, he doesn’t have to knockout all the people in the world named Silva.
Originally posted on my blog MMAStaredown.com
Filed Under: MMA
Comments (5)
Get 1 Now
Get Free Gear
I don’t get that line of reasoning at all. He deserves a title shot because he knocked out Wanderlei Silva two years ago?
The argument for a second fight with Anderson is simple: Dan Henderson put on the best performance of any fighter Anderson has faced. He has the potential to beat Anderson if he executes the gameplan he used in the first.
Still, I care more about Dan vs. Jacare or Mousasi than I would about Dan vs. Silva II.
Saying that Hendo put on the best performance so far in the UFC against the Spider is not saying much. He lasted a bit longer than Travis Lutter, and was about as competitive. He’s had two chances to win a title and came up short. If he wants to leave the UFC, then so be it. He’s getting older anyway and his skills will only decline.
josh. your not interested in hendo vs marquardt? thats a doozy of a fight. and freds right, lutter had him (silva) in the most trouble with that full mount . plus he hasn’t even been made an offer from strikeforce, so the rumors that he is on the “verge” of signing with them are being greatly exagerrated. there are great matchups for hendo with both orgs imo, but i doubt SF can afford to match the UFC’s offer (i think). and it’s all about the money,not the title shot, hendo himself has admitted to that. it could be just a case of he wants a bigger signing bonus. i think he deserves it and/or a raise, but it depends on how much he is asking and how much zuffa is offering. he seems to be pretty tight with dana, so who knows?
Brent, I think Hendo vs. Marquardt would be an interesting fight, but I think Dan would win, and (unless Dan decides he wants to make a point with a KO) I don’t think it’d be exciting.
Dana strains his relationships with a lot of his fighters when it comes to financial negotiations. That’s not to fault him for it, it’s because he’s a tough negotiator, but it does make it hard for fighters to like you when it comes down to money.
We’ll see, though. I’m just trying to be optimistic about Dan’s coming to Strikeforce, where I think he can really test a lot of solid competition. Also, I forgot to mention that I’d like to see him fight Jake Shields, now that Jake’s coming up to middleweight, just to test how effective Jake’s jiu-jitsu and wrestling can be against bigger guys.
(For some reason it keeps logging me in with this account.)
I would not complain about Henderson vs. Silva or Henderson vs. Mousasi or any of the other fights suggested. I think the UFC is basing their negotiations on the fact that if Hendo looses at this stage he will be out of title contention and be viewed as a “gate Keeper” to many because of his age and such. Plus Dan has said he does not want to fight Nate so that may also be a sticking point.
Face facts as popular as Henderson is amongst MMA fans he is not a really “popular” fighter or a major draw it seems in the UFC’s eyes. Do not get me wrong he’s a great fighter and a really nice guy, he just doesn’t present that marketing appeal that the UFC is looking for it seems. And if he were to loose to Silva well where would he be after wards?
I think that this show a major problem the UFC is having now and that is promoting fighters and not image. As soon as a fighter has a couple of losses they can find themselves facing a realease from the company, except if they are very popular. But in the case of Henderson if they cannot hold a belt, and are not a publicity machine, well they are on the way out. Henderson is a viable contender, but he’s lost to Silva once and therefore is not as good as “fresh” blood like Belfort (fresh to the newer fans), or even Maia. This seems to be more of the issue that the UFC is looking at, because in every division they are going to have these problems, especially if Machida becomes dominant.
Bill