Scott Coker confirms Dan Henderson will move back up to Lightheavyweight

Coming off his loss against Jake Shields as a Middleweight in his Strikeforce debut at Strikeforce: Nashville back in April, Scott Coker confirmed that Dan Henderson will move up to compete at 205 pounds, with a fight against Renato Babalu Sobral seeming imminent.

Speaking to MMAWeekly.com, Coker told them:

"Dan I believe when I talked to him over the weekend, I talked to Jordan, his manager, and they said they probably want to fight at 205 instead of 185. (They) felt that the weight cut was too much, and Dan would welcome to fight Babalu again, Gegard Mousasi, for a 205-pound contender’s bout. I don’t think you’ll see Dan in the 185-pound tournament, although stranger things have happened in MMA, right?” We haven’t finalized it, but I would think the top two guys, Babalu and Gegard, depends on what happens with Gegard, but I think a fight between Babalu and Dan is something we might pursue in the very near future."

Speaking after his win over Robbie Lawler, Babalu told the crowd:

“I don’t want to disrespect, but I would like to fight (Henderson). It’s going to be 11 years since I fought him. It’s a long time, and please, it would be an honor to fight him again, to have the chance to fight Dan Henderson.”

While his upcoming bout with Jake O'Brien at Dream 15, Gegard Mousassi seems occupied for the near future, but a bout with Babalu would be a big sell for Strikeforce. Henderson is currently 25-8 in his MMA record, and met Babalu at RINGS: King of Kings 1999 in the final, where Hendo finished on the better side of a split decision.

After his shock upset loss to Jake Shields a few months, Henderson's next move is unclear. While many thought he would walk through Shields, that evidently wasnt the case, and Shileds left Nashville with his belt.

Despite Coker announcing a middleweight 8 man tournament in the near future, Henderson it seems will not be part of it.