Lorenzo Fertitta: Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson possible for UFC's debut on FOX
Posted on August 24, 2011, 07:10 AM by Anton GurevichUFC Co-Owner Lorenzo Fertitta revealed that the Ultimate Fighting Championship would love to debut on FOX with a rematch between Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson. According to Fertitta, Anderson Silva just needs a victory over Yushin Okami in Brazil to get a clear path to a second encounter with "Hendo" Henderson.
Here's what Lorenzo Fertitta said in an interview to TATAME.com:
"We don't have a main event set yet, we'll find out probably after this Saturday, these fights in Rio, then we'll set a main event. But it'll be something big. It'll be a big fight. I would love to do (Silva vs. Henderson). Anderson just needs a win."
In his last bout, Dan Henderson defeated "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko via TKO in Round 1. The pair met for the last time in the main event of UFC 82: Pride of a Champion, with Henderson dominating "The Spider" in Round 1, but eventually losing via Submission only 10 seconds before the end of Round 2. Since then, Henderson won six fights and lost only one (Jake Shields), also becoming the reigning Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion.
It's still unclear whether Henderson would be interested in moving down to Middleweight. "Hendo" stated on numerous occasions that he would like to stay at 205.
Further Reading: Silva vs. Okami Preview
Comments
Id rather see Hendo vs Jones
U mean rampage vs. Hendo
lol i like how everyone automaticly rules out okami
not that i think hes gunna win just funny that no one thinks he even has a chance and id rather see hendo fight at 205 hes got the belt there and a unification fight would be sick
Man that'd be a sick fight. Would be really interesting to see how Jones reacts to getting tagged by the H Bomb as we've never seen him actually have to take a shot yet. It'd be hilarious if after all his smugness and the hype he's got a ridiculous 2010 Arolvski-esque glass chin
@odeh91
no?, Im pretty sure I ment Hendo vs Jones.......
@keyboard contender I'm pretty sure Jones is gunna get K.O'd by rampage
Hendo vs Rampage would also be great!
Hendo vs Silva needs to happen at 205! Hendo can't cut to 185 , the weight cut just takes a lot of him, remember Jake Shields?
it would be a disadvantage to Hendo to make him cut the weight
hes 40 years old , let him fight at his weight class , besides its not like Silva can't cut less weight and he still has the height and reach advantage. make it at 205!!!
Man i always thought we should of seen AS vs. Hendo 2 instead of the damian maia
well i think we can all agree that we are glad to see hendo back in the ufc
@Rigo; I agree! A fight vs Hendo would be the perfect opportunity for Silva to finally move up to LHW. The winner of that fight could then fight for the LHW belt.
id love to see a rematch but i think there are bigger fights than this for the fox debut
At this point there's not that much fights bigger then this it'll be champion vs. Champion if Anderson wins, but ya a big heavyweight fight would be great, if they sign overeem he could fight Brock but Brock is probably gunna needs more time. But ya the should have a huge card for there debut
To be honest, I never really paid too much attention to Strikeforce until near the end with some of the Diaz or Shields fights and as such I am in no position to speak with authority on it. However, it is increasingly clear that Strikeforce is becoming of decreasing focus for Zuffa.
As with most acquisitions as a general comment, the weaker entity gives way to the stronger. If the UFC wishes to retain any value in the Strikeforce franchise beyond the fighters it continues to pull over, the time is pressing to market their intentions before the brand and franchise becomes extinct.
not sure if they will happen, November is right around the corner, and who knows if Silva will agree with a month training camp right after the fight with Okami, he has to win true but he also has to be come out the fight healthy
as much as i would like to see this match free id rather to see how hendo does against the top LHWs in the UFC and wait for sonnen/stann winner to challenge silva
agreed, I definitely think Hendo should stay at LWH
Hendo wants a fight for the belt at 205, at his age is probably not easy to go up and down from mw to lhw, it seemed he lost a lot of energy and stentgh in the Shields fight. I am more interested in a Sonnen rematch, and at 205 it would be champion vs champion, not this one.
Good to see the UFC talking up Okami's chances this weekend haha
you guys are looking at this from an mma fans perspective, whereas ufc want a fight that caters to the masses, not the hardcore, they want to use the opportunity with fox to create some buzz and gain some new followers, if stann wins and they put on hendo vs stann it leaves casual viewers underwhelmed, they can do that any other time but for the debut they want household names
I'm sure Anderson has his sights set on the Strikeforce LHW belt......
This is absurd. Why is Hendo in the conversation of getting immediate titles shots? Jake Shields had to fight Kampmann before his shot at GSP - and he came to the UFC with the Strikeforce belt AND a 15-fight winning streak. We can't just give Hendo the shot cause he's Hendo.
---- This is coming from a huge Hendo fan.
hendo vs rampage/jones winner makes sence, but against the spider?? anderson next fight is okami and its totally unproffessional to talk about possible future opponents!! i dont think hendo should fight at 185 again
hendo vs machida would be my choice
Is Hendo really going to be a middleweight again? He had so much trouble with the weight cut in the Shields fight - I thought he was planning to stay at 205.
the fight should be at 205, hendo didn't look good at 185.
Honestly I think the UFC is trying to find anyone they can to put Silva down. My opinion is that Silva is harder to promote than any other champion in the UFC, I mean what are his highlights the guy acts like a jackass in the cage all the time and anyone who watched the Damian Maia fight is turned off immediately. I think the UFC wants a highlight where the spider gets nuked by the H Bomb.
The Maia fight was horrible not just because of how it played out... but even scheduling that fight was one of the WORST decisions Zuffa made. Biggest mis-match they have made in years! Maia just beat Dan Miller prior to that title shot - he was nowhere near #1 contender at the time!
The only reason it happened at all is because Belfort got injured instead of waiting for a top contender, they decided to feed Maia to Silva thinking it would be an easy match to make their champ look good...
But think about it logically. Silva had absolutely nothing to gain in that fight and everything to lose. I'm not defending his actions because he could have made a statement in a way that upset the fans... but at the same time I'm not surprised he made a statement out of that fight. It was a big message to Zuffa. It just sucks that the fans lost out in order for that message to be sent.
your crazy dude you said "what are silva's highlights" ?!!? are u serious he has more insane highlights than any other fighter your insane look at whos hes beaten and the way hes kod them.
I think the UFC want to get Hendo in a big fight ASAP, and take advantage of the buzz from the win over Fedor.
I would love to see Hendo get another crack at Silva and even though Dan prefers fighting at 205, that is what will happen.
Suddenly, 185 is looking a bit threadbare. Other than Sonnen, Okami and Stann, I don't think anyone can challenge Silva. The Spider was so good for so long, guys avoided 185.
But that is starting to change. Partly because Silva has started to look human, but also because Jon Jones is presenting the same kind of problems to fighters that Anderson Silva used to.
And all you guys who hate on JJ make me laugh. The guy could be the most exciting fighter in MMA forf the NEXT 10 years, but feel free to put him down because of what you think his personality is like.
Okami has a way better chance of taking Silva than Rampage does of beating Jones.
Feel free to "weak" me if you've won the Lowpick more times than I have...
As far as I know, no one has won Lowpick 3 times yet, so this post should be "weak" proof. Whoever did it, take it back! ;)
You can blame the JJ hate on how good Rashad is at hyping fights... notice how nearly everyone was on the JJ hype train until Rashad did his thing?
Even if that man was fighting a no-name, give him a month and the fans will be tuning in and cheering for 1 man or the other like it's a championship match.
Hey there, new guy here. Just wondering what people mean by AS looking "human"?? i mean, i really dont see him being any worse than he was when he started (evasion %, damage received, TKO/KO ratios, conditioning, etc.) I mean the only really damage hes recieved were the 300+ steroid powered pillow punches. Not bagging on anyone, just not seeing how he has declined
So we are just ruling out okami. Fine by me
I think Hendo needs to stay at 205 the weight cut (as many people pointed out already) could really hurt him in the octagon and his age I think he might struggle and not fight at his full potential at 185. Beside Hendo is coming of a great win at the heavier division so logically he would stay in the LHW division.
I'm not sure if Dan is wanting to go to MW, I'm sur ehe would but I heard him say somewhere he would prefer to stick at LHW due to his age