Some of the UFC light-heavyweight division's biggest names are in a bit of limbo.
UFC president spoke to MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) on Wednesday and gave updates on the trio of veterans, though no immediate bookings are scheduled for any of them.
Henderson, of course, has been on the sidelines since a grueling "Fight of the Year" win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in November at UFC 139. The former PRIDE and Strikeforce champion was in the running for a shot at UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones, but the titleholder instead headlines April's UFC 145 event opposite Rashad Evans.
White said Henderson isn't interested in a fight with ex-champ Lyoto Machida, which is making it difficult to get him booked for an upcoming fight since he apparently doesn't want to wait for the Jones-Evans winner. The 41-year-old Henderson, who's won seven of his past eight fights, also has expressed interest in a rematch with middleweight champ Anderson Silva. However, Silva is expected to fight Chael Sonnen in June at UFC 147 in Brazil.
"He doesn't want to fight Machida," White said of Henderson. "He doesn't want to wait (either). He's going to have to wait. Who does he want to fight? I mean, I don't know what to do with Dan.
"Dan's either going to have to wait for Jones and Evans or wait for Silva – or fight somebody else. It's pretty simple."
Then late Last night, Henderson took to Twitter to defend his position:
Was never offered machida. And even though he has lost 3 out of his last 4, I'm sure it would be entertaining.
I really wouldn't want to see a Hendo/Machida fight honestly. I don't know, Dana is saying one thing and it seems like Hendo comes out later on and says an entirely different thing and this whole topic of Hendo's next opponent has been going on for a while now, fist Hendo wanted to wait, then he didn't want to then he wanted to move to heavyweight but didn't know who to fight now apparently he wants to fight Machida, so who knows what's actually going on.
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