Dan Henderson Won't Wait For Title Shot, Now Wants To Fight In April or May

[No More Sorrow]

Now that Rashad Evans has successfully staked his claim as the number one contender to Jon Jones light heavyweight championship, with their date booked for UFC 145 on April 21 in Atlanta, that leaves former Strikeforce 205-pound champion Dan Henderson in the lurch.

"Hendo's" plan all along was to wait for the outcome of the Evans vs. Phil Davis bout at UFC on Fox 2 on Jan. 28 to see if "Suga" would emerge victorious and if so, would he have no injuries.

Check and check.

Now that that's settled, old "Hollywood" can get back to the business of tossing that "H-Bomb" around. But he needs a target first. And as he explains to ESPN.com, he would like to get busy around April or May and he even wouldn't mind if that target was a heavyweight:

"I don't know what the plan is, but I'd fight whoever it is they think would be a good match-up. The problem is there's really nobody right now who fits the bill for a title contention fight, that would make sense to fight me. I don't know. Maybe I'd fight at a different weight class. I don't know if they see anybody at heavyweight that would make sense? But I would prefer to fight someone in April or May. ... Who do the fans want me to fight at heavyweight? I'd have to think about that. I don't know who at heavyweight would even make sense. The heavyweights that are in title contention right now wouldn't want to fight me. I don't know who is out there, but I did let the UFC know I'd be open to that as well."

Hey, he beat the legendary Fedor Emelianenko at heavyweight. Why not try to do the same inside the Octagon?

I don't think he should take any fight until after the Jones/Rashad fight i mean one of them could still get injured between now and April and Hendo would be the first person the UFC calls. And honestly, I'm not so sure about a move to heavyweight for him I mean he's riding a 4 win fight streak at Light heavy weight, so if he does fight i think he should fight somebody within the divison while he awaits Jones or Evan's

 

[The Cork]

Not sure theres anyone to fight, like he said.

Machida is a horrific matchup for him stylisticaly, Davis has just come off a bad loss and would do nothing for Hendo, Griffin & Ortiz are no challenge at all and closer to the bottom of the division that the top.

A rematch with Shogun is probably his only option.

 

[Deezy]

Hendo will most likely take a fight against anybody. If the price is right, he would fight god.

 

[Slim]

Hendo really doesn't have anybody to fight. a rematch with Shogun doesn't make too much sense. not really anybody at heavyweight to fight that would do anythin for him. I mean if he has to fight... give him Lil Nog. They were almost scheduled to fight at one time. Why not make that happen. Be better than sitting out from now til who knows when.

 

[The Cork]

a rematch with Shogun doesn't make too much sense

Wut.

It was a close fight (closer than Diaz/Condit) and one of the best fights of all time....

 

[Slim]

Yeah it was close, it was real good, but what would Hendo gain from a rematch?

I mean trust me I'd be first in line at Buffalos picking out a table just to wait to see the rematch. But what would Hendo gain? It wasn't like it was a controversial ending where you had people thinking Shogun won and the such. Hendo won that fight plain and simple and another war with Shogun would really delay a future title shot for him.

Also I think the Condit/Diaz fight was closer due to how to fight played out.

 

[The Cork]

Yeah it was close, it was real good, but what would Hendo gain from a rematch?

What would he gain by beating anyone other than Jon Jones?

Like everyones said, theres nothing there for him, might as well go with a rematch of a close, exciting fight as opposed to one against a non-factor like Nog/Davis/Franklin.

 

[Slim]

Cause if he loses the rematch against Shogun... he's out of contention. And when you get knocked out of contention in that division you fall in line a few slots. He gains nothing from fighting Shogun except another exciting fight. If you are next in line for a title shot why would you put yourself against a top level guy? At least he'd have an easier fight against Lil Nog and the only reason I said Lil Nog is cause that fight was talked about before at one point.

Fighting Davis maybe. Since Davis was just in a contender fight it'd make a lil more sense even though Davis wouldn't have much of a chance. Franklin... that would be a very nice return fight for him.

But yeah I was saying IF he were to fight again before a title fight... if he fights Shogun he won't be medically cleared for quite a while. Then after that he'd have to train. That would be the best fight for anybody to watch... but to put his body through all of that again... that's why I suggested a lighter fight IF he were to fight again before the title fight. He gains nothing from fighting anybody else other than Jones is my main point.

 

[Dademo]

Hendo should fight Lil Nog. Lil Nog is on a 2-3 fight winning streak I believe.. I like that fight. I wouldn't care if he waited though.

 

[No More Sorrow]

Well they offered hendo little nog at UFC Sweden in April, but Dan turned it down because he thought the fans didn't want to see it.

 

[Slim]

Yeah that's the only reason why I tossed Lil Nog's name in the mix cause that was actually a rumored fight to possibly happen. I'd definitely like to see Hendo fight again soon but... we'll see what happens.