Dan Henderson Says Chris Weidman Will Beat Vitor Belfort, Especially In USA
Dan Henderson has experienced a three fight losing streak for the first time in his illustrious MMA career, dropping decisions to Rashad Evans and lyoto Machida before getting knocked out by Vitor Belfort at UFC Fight Night, last November. The bout against Belfort marked Hendo’s first ever knockout loss and may be a sign that his days as a fighter are numbered.
As the new generation of MMA stars begins to rise, ‘Dangerous Dan’ makes his observations about ‘The Phenom’ and his upcoming attempt at Chris Weidman’s MW strap. Weidman shocked the combat sports world by defeating heavy favorite Anderson Silva twice. Check out what Henderson had to say about Belfort vs. Weidman on the MMA Hour:
“No (he doesn’t beat Weidman). Vitor is very capable of beating anybody in those first few minutes of the fight because he is dangerous and he hits hard. But, I don’t see it happening, especially if the fight is in the U.S. I don’t know, I’m not going to point fingers and say things I have no idea about. Obviously he won’t be able to use TRT here.”
Henderson has also been a recipient of the controversial hormone treatment, so I’m a little surprised that he would beat Belfort with a stick on the subject. It would seem unfair from that perspective, although Hendo is 43 to Belfort’s 36 years of age. Also, ‘The Phenom’ has been caught juicing in the past.
“I just feel his body has definitely changed a little bit in the last couple of years since he hasn’t been fighting here. There’s reasons for that. He’s been fighting a long time and we’ve seen his body change a couple of different times. It is what it is. At the same time, I have no idea, he could be doing everything right by the book and the way he should. Which is what he should have done years ago, as well.”
As Hendo finds himself in a non-savoury contract dispute with the UFC, could this be a case of sour grapes? I’d like to think not, but UFC legend Georges St-Pierre recently described Zuffa as a ‘monopoly’ and claimed that fighters are unfairly treated.
The TRT issue seems a never-ending one, with Antonio Silva recently getting popped for ‘levels above normal’, would it not just be easier and more cost effective to do away with the treatment once and for all? It seems ridiculous that the UFC business model is willing to accept loss of contenders, potential event cancellations and the scrutiny of the MMA media just so slightly older fighters can go on longer.
