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Written by Ashley Helveston
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The announcement that the MMA world has been waiting for has finally been made. Dan Henderson is leaving the UFC and making his way to Strikeforce. While it was said back in the beginning of November that a signing was possible, it seems that Henderson had been in limbo until his decision today. Hendo seems very pleased with the four fight, 16 month deal. Word is that he might take his first fight in either March or April and that it will be broadcast on CBS. With being able to fight at 185 or 205, it is unsure at which weight class he will make his debut. "They know how versatile I am," Henderson told Cagewriter. "I can fight at 185 or 205 or even heavyweight. It may or may not be for a title fight." The idea of a title match with current middleweight champion Jake Shields is being tossed around, but there is no word yet as of whether or not it's going to happen. Shields took to his Twitter account today to let his followers know that "Hendo always been one of my fav fighters. Guys a legend. Huge signing for strikeforce. Would happily give him a shot at my belt." With that being said, fans are hoping that a match up between the two could be in the works. Now what does Dana White have to say about all of this? UFC president Dana White had said for the past few months that negotiations were on the table with Hendo's camp, but "For the money he wanted, he's not worth it," he said. "He's not a big pay-per-view star, he's not a big attraction, and he's not going to sell out arenas. He wants way too much and he doesn't bring anything to the table." Fans cried foul after hearing this, believing that White was making a huge mistake by not signing this star. "Let me ask you a question," he continued. "Do you think that there's any guy we can't get that I want? Other than Fedor [Emelianenko]? So far, he's been the one guy we can't get. But everyone else that we've wanted, we got. If I wanted Dan Henderson, I could've signed him." White has also gone on to say that he pushed Dan Henderson into signing with Strikeforce, but Hendo let it be known his mind was already made up. "I was committed to Strikeforce by the time I talked to Dana. Really, that has nothing to do with anything. Even if Dana had given me everything I asked for it would have been questionable whether I would have signed with the UFC. I don't even really want to talk about it." The exposure that Henderson is going to receive through Strikeforce's CBS promotions are definitely going to boost his ratings as a fighter and let more MMA fans out there get the Hendo experience. One real positive thing Henderson had to say about the deal was "I'm happy with every aspect of the Strikeforce deal," Henderson told Cagewriter. "My image rights, the fight purse, and the fact that they're on CBS is pretty huge as well. It's a lot more eyes than a UFC PPV, or even a free fight on Spike. It doesn't get much better than having MMA on CBS." Henderson will also be able to expose his Clinch Gear fight line, seeing as how Dana White banned it from being used in the Octagon. Everything seems to be going in Dan Henderson's favor. With this new deal released today it looks as though Henderson will once again be a force to reckon with. For more on this story and other MMA news, be sure to subscribe to receive updates.
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