Strikeforce's Dan Henderson: "Now there is another option"

[Drock]

http://prommaradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/hendo.jpg


When rumblings began several months back that Dan Henderson (25-7) might be walking away from the UFC, many viewed the former PRIDE champ's negotiations with Strikeforce as mere posturing.

When Strikeforce announced on Monday that Henderson had officially signed on with the promotion, many began to wonder who might be next.

Today, Henderson told MMAjunkie.com Radio (http://www.mmajunkie.com/radio) that he wouldn't be surprised if more top-level fighters follow his example and explore options outside of the sport's biggest promotion.

"It's inevitable," Henderson said. "For a while, there wasn't any other options, and fighters were not really keen on that idea of not having a place to shop around. They weren't real happy with the UFC kind of having a monopoly on everything. It's their way or the highway, and now there is another option. That makes [fighters] feel a little more comfortable."

Full Story At
http://mmajunkie.com/news/17132/strikef ... option.mma (http://mmajunkie.com/news/17132/strikeforces-dan-henderson-now-there-is-another-option.mma)

[Misfit]

I think there is only one good fight for him other there and that's Mousasi. He kills Shields IMO which would be fun to watch but really a good challenging fight. After that, hmmm. :?:

[Drock]

I think there is only one good fight for him other there and that's Mousasi. He kills Shields IMO which would be fun to watch but really a good challenging fight. After that, hmmm. :?:
I Can Actually See Dan Henderson Holding The 185 And 205 Titles, Then Going Back To Dana White And Being Like "Hey Bitch Am I Worth The Money Now?"

[Misfit]

yeah but do the SF's belts really hold any value. Le and Overeem really made the belts worthless by not defending them IMO. They are not much better than a gold star on the fridge. When I say Jake Shields, do you think, Oh the Strikeforce MW champ. ;)

[cerealfreak]

No but surely this can only continue to expand the sport even more? If fighters start looking at other promo's and Dana realises it then maybe some things will change. For a while many of u had wanted to see inter-promo fighting, how cool would it beif Dana finally allowed Lashley to fight Brock for example?

[Misfit]

that scares me Carl. I kinda like the way Zuffa set it up for one main reason and that's to stay away from the boxing mold. We had to wait for so long to see some of the boxing matches in the 80's and 90's. With everybody under one org and under contract, the fights happen quick. Yeah we get the teammate crap where they won't fight each other but we don't have a lot of guys ducking people for big fights IMO. Yeah, Tito ducked Chuck for a little bit but we did get them to fight. I would be afraid of it turning into boxing and we wouldn't get the fights we want to see. Look at Strikeforce and their "open" contracts, we are still not any closer to seeing Fedor/Overeem. If Fedor signs with the UFC, it's instantly the fight we want to see IMO. Unless Fedor wanted a tune up fight inside the cage which would have been understandable. I'm just scared of it turning into boxing. We already have WAMMA trying to sell some BS belts and rankings. If WAMMA works we will then get BAMMA, CAMMA and DAMMA with in the year with their own stupid belts.

While I do think it's good that the UFC is pushed, I don't think the pushing needs to come from another org. They will continue to be pushed by the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB for major airtime.

[Drock]

Really? I Would Much Rather MMA Be Like Boxing Were There In One World Champion In Each Division So We Don't Have The Stupid Fedor Lesnar Crap.

[Misfit]

One World Champion???? Should I go threw all the different Orgs that have a World Champion.

You have 4 major different belts.
WBA World Boxing Association,
WBC World Boxing Council
IBF International Boxing Federation
WBO World Boxing Organization

And then a how bunch of other smaller ones like the NABF and so on.

[Drock]

Well Yeah I Guess So, But If Im Not Mistaken Wouldn't The WBO Heavyweight Champ Fight The IBF HeavyWeight Champion And Stuff Like That?

[Misfit]

Here's a list of the "World Champions" in boxing. For the most part, there are 4 different Champs in each weight class. If Boxing was giving us the fights we wanted, these guys would be fighting each other and hold multiple belts. It's not happening Drock, trust me, I grew up watching boxing and waiting for the fights that I never got to see.

Reigning Champions
Comment Email Print Share

HEAVYWEIGHT (UNLIMITED)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
David Haye Vitali Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko

CRUISERWEIGHT (200 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
Guillermo Jones Zsolt Erdei Vacant (a) Marco Huck

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT (175 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
Gabriel Campillo (b) Jean Pascal Tavoris Cloud Jurgen Brahmer

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT (168 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(c) Andre Ward Carl Froch Lucian Bute Robert Stieglitz

MIDDLEWEIGHT (160 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
Felix Sturm (d) Kelly Pavlik Sebastian Sylvester Kelly Pavlik

JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT/SUPER WELTERWEIGHT (154 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(e) Yuri Foreman Sergio Martinez Cory Spinks (f) Sergei Dzindziruk

WELTERWEIGHT (147 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(g) Shane Mosley Andre Berto Isaac Hlatshwayo Manny Pacquiao

JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHT/SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT (140 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(h) Amir Khan Devon Alexander Juan Urango (i)Timothy Bradley

LIGHTWEIGHT (135 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(j)Paulus Moses (k) Edwin Valero Vacant (l) Juan Manuel Marquez

JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT/SUPER FEATHERWEIGHT (130 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(m) Juan Carlos Salgado (n) Humberto Soto Robert Guerrero Roman Martinez

FEATHERWEIGHT (126 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(o) Chris John Elio Rojas Cristobal Cruz Steven Luevano

JR. FEATHERWEIGHT/SUPER BANTAMWEIGHT (122 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(p) Celestino Caballero Toshiaki Nishioka Celestino Caballero Juan Manuel Lopez

BANTAMWEIGHT (118 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(q)Anselmo Moreno Hozumi Hasegawa Yonnhy Perez Fernando Montiel

JR. BANTAMWEIGHT/SUPER FLYWEIGHT (115 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(r)Nobuo Nashiro (s)Vic Darchinyan Simphiwe Nondqayi Vacant

FLYWEIGHT (112 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(t) Denkaosan Kaowichit (u) Koki Kameda Moruti Mthalane Omar Narvaez

JUNIOR FLYWEIGHT (108 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
(v)Giovani Segura Rodel Mayol Brian Viloria Ivan Calderon

STRAWWEIGHT (105 POUNDS)
WBA WBC IBF WBO
Roman Gonzalez Oleydong Sithsamerchai Raul Garcia Donnie Nietes

[Misfit]

Well Yeah I Guess So, But If Im Not Mistaken Wouldn't The WBO Heavyweight Champ Fight The IBF HeavyWeight Champion And Stuff Like That?

In a perfect world yeah, but they don't. They bitch about money and shit like that. Those fights don't happen very often.

[Drock]

Well Yeah I Guess So, But If Im Not Mistaken Wouldn't The WBO Heavyweight Champ Fight The IBF HeavyWeight Champion And Stuff Like That?

In a perfect world yeah, but they don't. They bitch about money and shit like that. Those fights don't happen very often.
Well Thats Gay, I Still Like WAMMA's Idea Of Having A World Champion In Each Weight Class, But Thats Kinda Hard When The UFC Wants Nothing To Do With You.

[Misfit]

And I'm sure boxing started off the same way Drock. If Wamma grows, there will be more IMO. Just take the Boxing ones and add a MMA at the end of them, it will be the same way as boxing. People bitch about it but nobody is doing anything to prevent it from happening again. Wamma will only be the first one, not the only one. That's why I'm anal about the UFC setup. I want all my top fighters fighting under one org just like I want all my top football players playing in one org. And to be honest, I really don't care which org it is that has all the top fighters, it just so happens that the UFC is the closest to making that happen.

And there will always be good fighters that aren't part of the system. Hershal Walker didn't start in the NFL, hell, I can't even remember what the Trump league was called way back when. And Flutie spent a long time in the CFL but for the most part, 99% of the best football players in the world of playing in the NFL. This is what I want from the UFC. It doesn't destroy the other MMA leagues, they will just be smaller orgs. Like both Baseball and Hockey have farm teams. I just think these farm teams should be independent of the UFC. That's when it would get scary IMO.

[Red Tex]

that scares me Carl. I kinda like the way Zuffa set it up for one main reason and that's to stay away from the boxing mold. We had to wait for so long to see some of the boxing matches in the 80's and 90's. With everybody under one org and under contract, the fights happen quick. Yeah we get the teammate crap where they won't fight each other but we don't have a lot of guys ducking people for big fights IMO. Yeah, Tito ducked Chuck for a little bit but we did get them to fight. I would be afraid of it turning into boxing and we wouldn't get the fights we want to see. Look at Strikeforce and their "open" contracts, we are still not any closer to seeing Fedor/Overeem. If Fedor signs with the UFC, it's instantly the fight we want to see IMO. Unless Fedor wanted a tune up fight inside the cage which would have been understandable. I'm just scared of it turning into boxing. We already have WAMMA trying to sell some BS belts and rankings. If WAMMA works we will then get BAMMA, CAMMA and DAMMA with in the year with their own stupid belts.

While I do think it's good that the UFC is pushed, I don't think the pushing needs to come from another org. They will continue to be pushed by the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB for major airtime.


I don't understand why people don't understand this. It is basic common sense. You get all the fighters under one roof, and they all have the potential to fight one another other than the same camp bullshit.

[Misfit]

I think a lot of guys think if it wasn't for the UFC, then they would all be under one open veeerrrrry large roof. But that's what we had in boxing and it didn't work then, doesn't work now IMO.