We all know Dan Henderson has been negotiating a new contract with the UFC, and while we kept hearing they were far apart on money, we just kind of assumed they would eventually come to terms. Not so says Kevin Iole, Hendo might be headed to Strikeforce.
Dan Henderson’s career with the Ultimate Fighting Championship has ground to a close in a contract stalemate, and the former two-division PRIDE champion appears on the verge of signing a deal with the rival Strikeforce promotion.
Henderson could not be reached for comment Friday, but White confirmed he was unable to come to terms with Henderson. White did not immediately confirm whether the UFC retains the right to match contract offers under the terms of Henderson’s previous deal. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker did not return phone calls.
White, though, said he wanted to re-sign Henderson but couldn’t agree on the money in a new deal.
“We have a good relationship with Henderson, and there are no hard feelings,” White said. “He had a figure he believed he was worth, and we had our own figure, and we weren’t able to get together.”
Definitely didn’t see that coming. I can’t help but wonder is this is just a negotiation ploy on Hendo’s part, but without any sort of confirmation from Scott Coker it’s hard to tell.
It would definitely be a big signing for Strikeforce if it happens though. Despite being 39-years-old, Hendo has proved he’s still an elite-level fighter in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, and would make for one hell of a challenger to Mousasi’s light heavyweight title. Still, it’s hard to picture him outside the UFC at this point, but I guess if he can’t have Anderson Silva and the money he wants, he’s not afraid to leave, or at least that’s how it looks right now.
Update: According to Josh Gross, Strikeforce hasn’t even offered Hendo a deal yet.
Dan Henderson has not received an offer from Strikeforce. He met Scott Coker for the first time and they had coffee. That’s it.
Don’t expect Henderson to make any moves before the Nov. 7 Strikeforce card on CBS. Again, he has not even been offered a deal.
UFC and Hendo have negotiated for three months. Nothing much has changed on either side. He could return to UFC, but is now open to leaving.
Update 2: MMA Weekly caught up with Hendo and got a few comments.
Henderson on Friday laughed at news he’s been shown the door by the UFC.
“I’m still hoping to come to terms with the UFC, until I heard this,” he said. “And I will be exploring other options for sure, but I definitely need to make sure I get paid.”
Next week, Henderson plans to hunt in New Mexico and Utah and assess the situation when he returns. He remains firm on his terms for a deal with the UFC.
“UFC’s got a business to run and I’m not doing charity work with this,” he said. “I don’t believe that I’m asking for too much money, and I know for a fact that I’m taking less money than other fighters.”
We’ll see what happens, but from all accounts other than Kevin Iole’s article which cites Dana as the only source, Hendo isn’t “on the verge” of signing with anyone. It’s starting to look like a negotiation tactic on Dana’s part, not Hendo’s.
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i hope he stays
I do too, but a Hendo-Mousasi fight would B awesome
im going to have to agree with you on that. i would love to see how that turned out
oh yeah!
It definitely would, I’d love to see it, but that’s really the only fight I’d care about it, so I’d rather see him stay.
I’m going to have to disagree here. I for one, do not think Dan Henderson deserves a huge raise. I think the UFC made Dan Henderson into a bigger star than he ever was. Don’t get me wrong, I like Dan Henderson…but I don’t think he should be getting more than $200k per fight…even $200k is a lot pay a non champion. I think a fighter should be able to headline a card to make what Dan’s asking.
Why should Dan get more money? Is it b/c he fought in PRIDE and should be compensated?
Dan is 3-2 in the UFC and easily could have lost the Franklin fight. After these 5 fights, how much can he really be worth?? Approx. $100K would be fair pay for Hendo.
Henderson is 5 and 2 in the UFC dude and what are you ingesting that makes you make a statement so dumb as 100K would be fair pay for Hendo?
The guy was paid 250,000 for his UFC 100 KO of Bisping plus a KO bonus for a PPV that had 1.7 million buyers at 45 or 55 dollars a pop. Do the math. Not to mention all the sponsorship money the UFC brings in.
Now you think he should take a huge pay cut?
Lay off the drugs buddy.
I think the UFC is just scared that they will have to give other fighters’ pay raises if they give him one. I really don’t think U can hold his 2 loses against him though, cuz they were title fights against Rampage and this guy named Anderson Silva. He could have just as easily of won the Rampage fight as well. Zuffa should just give him his money. It’s not his fault that he killed their golden boy Bisping
Listen at this point i have gotten the idea that i just want to watch MMA from decent organizations, ie ufc, strikefarce!! So if the UFC wants to be ahole with thier money thats thier choice. Dan needs to get paid a bit more! Good luck Hendo!!
Hey Lanny, you trying to act smart by pointing out Dan Henderson is 5-2? I think anybody that follows MMA knows this. I’m not counting what Hendo did 11 years ago. Currently he is 3-2 with no big convincing wins. Franklin got robbed, we all knew Bisping was overrated and Palahres gave Hendo a tough 3 rounds.
Lanny – get your facts straight…Hendo did not headline UFC 100 and if he didn’t fight in UFC 100, they still would have made just as much.
I’d like to know why….why does Dan Henderson deserve a bigger payday in his new contract? Anything you state, I have a rebuttal for. Sorry to say this, but Hendo is not champion, had his chance against two champions at the time and he lost both. Who wants to watch Anderson Silva embarrass Hendo again? All Hendo did in the fight was take him down once and put his hand over his mouth for 2 min. If anybody deserves more money, it’s Silva, GSP, Penn. These 3 fighters also have one thing in common: They can all headline a PPV themselves.
Currently he’s 3 & 2? No dude it doesn’t matter how far apart the wins are they still count. You’re the one who better get their facts straight and you sound like you’re just a disgruntled Michael Bisping fan masking it saying he’s overrated and that’s the basis of your hate.
Saying Franklin was “robbed” also doesn’t help your case, because that’s just asinine. A close fight that could’ve gone either way is hardly a robbery for the loser.
Then again you might just be a huge Dana White fan and Hendo happens to be the attack piece this week, because that’s who Dana’s currently targeting.
Anyway carry on and keep hating on one of the greatest fighters in the short history of this sport.
LOL…I’m being realistic and truthful. I’m looking at the contract dispute from both sides. I’ve heard both sides and I agree with Dana White for once. Obviously, you don’t agree with this. It sounds like if someone disagrees with you, you think they’re always hating or they’re always wrong and always attacking MMA…or siding with the head honcho instead of looking out for what’s in the best interest of the fighter. It doesn’t sound like you can handle a argument because you still don’t have any from all the questions I asked before.
I don’t attack people because they disagree with me. The attacker usually is weak in argument or conversing so they try other methods to try and prove their point. Still, why does Hendo deserve any type of raise? Nobody can answser this. (He’s not a champ, he’s lost 2 title fights in the UFC, not a PPV headliner are only a few reasons why he does not deserve a raise)