It's one thing to nab Fedor Emelianenko and retain the rights to Gegard Mousasi, now Strikeforce may have awakened the beast by stealing Dan Henderson from the UFC. Henderson, who has been pining for a title rematch against Anderson Silva, finally gave up on that possibility and according to Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole is going to sign with Strikeforce

The obvious fights for the 205-pound Henderson with Strikeforce/Showtime have to be Mousasi and newly signed Mo Lawal. There may not be a ton of depth for Henderson to run through but at 39-years-old, he's clearly jumping at one final chance to make big money and the opportunity to fight on CBS. Strikeforce debuts its first CBS card on Nov. 7.

UFC president Dana White has often called Strikeforce, "Strikefarce" saying Scott Coker's promotion is too small to swim in the deep waters:

"They should've stayed the way they were," White told Cagewriter back in August. "They want to fight me, we're gonna fight. You know how that goes and you know how that ends. They're a small-time show that's trying to act big. It's a joke. It's a tiny little regional show with nobody in it."

White took a risk with the way he handled Henderson's contract negotiations. Henderson, a free agent, said on repeated occasions that the next fight he wanted was the Silva rematch (lost to Silva back at UFC 82). Silva was promised to the winner of the Henderson-Michael Bisping fight at UFC 100. Henderson scored a devastating knockout of the Brit and thought he had gotten his Silva fight. White changed his mind later in August, stating that Henderson should fight Nate Marquardt with the winner facing Silva. It seems like that was the turning point for Henderson, who has now bailed on the promotion.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewr ... mma,196516

Not a good move for Hendo. Not enough competition there for him. Although the UFC middleweight isn't very deep either.

I would be disappointed if he went to Strikeforce.

this sucks if it happens

Here's a small update

Get ready, Gegard.

Former dual Pride FC middleweight and welterweight champion, Dan Henderson, could be headed to Strikeforce after he could not come to agreeable terms on a contract extension with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), according to Yahoo!Sports.com.

UFC President Dana White had this to say on the stalemate:

“We have a good relationship with Henderson, and there are no hard feelings. He had a figure he believed he was worth, and we had our own figure, and we weren’t able to get together.”

The report indicates that Strikeforce officials could not be reached for comment. In addition, it’s unclear how soon Henderson would be able to compete for another organization — UFC often has the the right to match contract offers in a free agent situation.

Regardless, this is certainly quite a turn of events. Especially since Henderson has mentioned numerous times recently that his goal is to remain a UFC fighter.

However, the former number one middleweight contender seemed adamant that in addition to more money, he also wanted another opportunity to challenge reigning division champion, Anderson Silva.

The latter didn’t seem like a potential deal breaker after White all but assured Henderson would rematch Silva after his sensational knockout of Michael Bisping at UFC 100.

However, that was before Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, made the case that Henderson should take on Nate Marquardt first to determine a clear-cut contender. In addition, Vitor Belfort — who lost to Hendo at PRIDE 32 back in Oct. 2006 — was not on the roster.

Now with Belfort in the fold he’s in talks take on Silva at UFC 108, which perhaps was a big blow to Henderson’s bargaining power at the negotiating table.

More on this breaking news as it develops.

http://mmamania.com/2009/10/16/report-d ... ns-falter/

Don't wish to be controversial, but I am quite excited at the prospect. I'd love to see Mousasi and Lawal have real tests, and Hendo is the man

I quite like to see the talent pool being split, especially after the UFC snapped up every prospect and has been capable of drawing a few people.

I won't believe anything regarding Henderson's status until something official emerges. I'd prefer to see Henderson remain in the UFC, and I'm as big of a Dan Henderson fan as they come. But, I honestly suspect he's slightly overestimating his worth. If I remember correctly, he bagged a very cool $500k at UFC 100. I'm pretty positive he cleaned up well fighting Rich Franklin at 93 as well.

I'm with Ed Soares on this: Hendo should fight Marquardt for the right to challenge next. It would make for a fantastic fight, and really determine where Hendo and Marquardt are at 185. Vitor earned the right to challenge Anderson next when he KO'd the former champion in three minutes, while Henderson edged out a split decision.

But, if Hendo goes to StrikeForce, Mousasi has an excellent opponent to look forward to. Beating Hendo would lay out the red carpet for Mousasi to walk straight into the UFC, which is something that needs to happen.

I don't believe henderson would want to fight anywhere but the UFC. He'll go to strikeforce, win every fight, and bankrupt them.

On the other hand, he'll go to strikeforce, win every fight, and bankrupt them.

I think Hendo vs Marquart or Mousassi is equally interesting, and I think it would be good for strikeforce if they made a good deal with Hendo, but as mentioned above I dont believe anything until its official either.


update:

In addition, a representative from camp “Hollywood” indicates a jump to San Jose is far from imminent.

“We had a brief get-to-know-you session with (Strikeforce) and met them for coffee, but to say he’s close to signing would be a gross misrepresentation. Until something is signed, nothing is ever over.”