Henderson to Strikeforce: A lose-lose-lose situation
By Yehia El Behery on Nov 16, 2009
For Henderson:
- Will Strikeforce pay him the money he wants? Mousasi doesn’t think so.
- If Fedor doesn’t get an immediate title shot, Henderson doesn’t get one.
- Big fights (against big names) for Henderson in Strikeforce…,anybody?
For the UFC:
- The UFC invested too much in Dan Henderson (who is probably a future UFC hall of famer) from the Ultimate Fighter to spot at UFC 100 main card.
- Henderson at 39 is probably one or two fights away from being the second “legend” in the “To be a legend, you have to beat a legend” à la Chuck Liddell and Mirko Cro Cop.
- Even if he pulls a “Couture” and keeps winning past those “one or two fightes”, then the UFC will lose the #2 or #3 middleweight (and probably top ranked light-heavyweight) in the world. It’s bad enough they don’t have Fedor #1 heavyweight (and probably #1 pound for pound).
For Strikeforce:
- If Henderson loses will he be willing to climb the ladder again AT Strikeforce!?
- Every win for the unmarketable Henderson at Strikeforce will stop the momentum of a rising, more marketable name (Strikeforce unlike the UFC doesn’t have a lot of those).Originally posted on my blog MMAStaredown.com
Filed Under: MMA
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Hendo will be back in the UFC, all they have to do is give him a shot at Silva. But Hendo vs. Mousasi is interesting and would be a great test for both. Henderson would also give Strikeforce three top/marketable fighters” Hendo, Fedor, & Carano. But Hendo is already a legend and the truth is he is not going to get much more popular in the U.S. But in Strikeforce he could fight in Japan again which would probably bring him in the money the UFC may not be willing to pay him.
Bill
War,
I agree!
In a way, I hope Hendo jumps ship. Goes to Strikeforce and writes a tell all book about the UFC.
He is extremely marketable and is an American hero! To be honest he may only have a few good years left anyway, why not use his fan base and marketability to continue to grow S’Force into a legit MMA organization, giving the young guys time to develop into stars.
If the UFC does not give him a shot at Silva, then he should walk.
If I was in Joe Silva’s shoes I would tell Henderson he comes back and gets a shot at Anderson, and if Silva beats him again then he has to move up to light heavyweight. The more interesting and bigger fights are at that weight for him now. Imagine Hendo vs. Evans, Griffin, Ortiz, A. Rogerio Nogueira, or Shogun and if he is successful a shot at Machida. There are a ton of interesting match ups for him in the UFC. At 185 aside from Silva it seems he has two decent ones: Marqhaurdt and Belfort (although Belfort and Hendo could fight at a catch weight or 205).
However, if Henderson were to go to Strikeforce he also has the types of match ups Alex talks about. Also if Strikeforce and M-1 were to co-promote in Japan it could offer up more. Plus he could as you point out help Strikeforce develop into a more legit organization. The only problem there is that he may seem like a UFC cast off to some and therefore not interesting draw. Personally, if he stays in the UFC I would like to see him and Randy go at it at 205.
Bill
I gotta disagree with you here.
For starters, the notion that there are no immediate, high-profile fights for Dan Henderson excluding a title shot is off. Dan Henderson and Frank Shamrock would be a great debut match, for starters. Two hugely important American MMA legends in a fight for bragging rights with Frank Shamrock’s ability to build a fight would certainly do a strong box office in Cali.
Also, fights with Arona, Lindland, Filho, and Babalu, while maybe not drawing huge hordes of casual fans, are very interesting fights for the hardcore fanbase.
Finally, your argument is predicated on the assumption that Strikeforce will not be able or put the work in to make Mousasi or Mo Lawal stars, which I think with the right push they are more than capable of doing so. Mousasi can be promoted as a P4P great, the next Fedor, etc… and with a couple more impressive wins against quality opponents, that argument will not be ridiculously off-base. Mo Lawal, on the other hand, has tons of personality and an exciting style that in a couple of fights can make him into a marketable fighter as well.
Ultimately, I feel six to eight months from now, if Henderson signs to Strikeforce, fights between Mousasi/Lawal, Lawal/Henderson, and Henderson/Mousasi will be anticipated and looked at as essential divisional match-ups with P4P ramifications.
And I find it strange to assume that just because Henderson is 39 he will all of a sudden, out of the blue, become mediocre. In just the last few years he’s beaten Wanderlei Silva, Rich Franklin, Michael Bisping, and Rousimar Palhares in impressive performances while having competitive losses to Quinton Jackson and Anderson Silva. I don’t think anyone would say any of those fighters are “losing it”, so why are Henderson’s fights with them disqualified solely because of his age? Just seems a little ridiculous to me.
There are some interesting match ups in Strikeforce. In the long run Hendo belongs in the UFC with the very best! He is still top five in the 185 pd division and could beat Anderson.
There are some good match-ups for Henderson at Strikeforce. But the match-ups at the UFC are certainly more interesting.
Alex Sean – Dan Henderson will not fight Matt Lindland. “P4P ramifications” with those names, no . . . that’s a hard sell.
wardog – Henderson already faced and beat Vitor Belfort. He’s definitely not interested in that fight. Been there, done that.
Henderson went back and forth between he’s not interested in fighting Marquardt to saying he’ll fight Marquardt. His main thing is being respectfully financially compensated for his services.
Dan Henderson is probably the only Pride import that came into the organization and recieved two consecutive title shots. Forrest Griffin ruined Shogun’s title shot. Liddell ruined Wanderlei’s shot.
If Henderson goes into Strikeforce, I think he will get a title shot. He’s definitely good and easy for them to market. I don’t think they will have many high-profile opponents for Mousasi.
My point is that at 185 in the UFC before or after a fight with Silva there seems to be only two match ups that make sense for Hendo: Belfort and Marquardt. Of course hendo beat Vitor but it would still be an interesting rematch. The truth is that neither of these fights may be a big time PPV draw, but in the LHW division there are a ton of match ups that would be marketable. You could probably put Randy vs. Dan and actually sell it for a title shot. Also who would not want to see Henderson vs. Ortiz? I know I would love to see Hendo connect that big right on Tito’s basketball head!
Bill