Hendo done with UFC?

Hendo is out of contract with UFC and isnt too pleased they are giving Belfort the title shot over him. Hendo beat Belfort back in Pride 3 years ago.

Hendo was promised a title shot after the Bisping win but Dana White did a 360 and changed his mind Saying the wanted a number 1 contenders fight between him and Marquardt... now Belfort get the fight and Hendo has to accept it.

Hendo said thats fine, He doesnt mind fighting Nate but he has asked UFC for a payrise. Hendo is only on $100,000 per fight... Less that even Michael Bisping. Infact a quarter of what Lesnar earns (probabally much less with PPV cuts and undisclosed payouts)

For me as a fan of both Belfort and Hendo I dont mind Vitor getting the shot at 185lbs despite never having fought at that weight class but if they are going to screw Hendo out of a title shot at least pay the man what he diserves. Hendo is more of a Legend in MMA than Randy Couture so Id like to see UFC appreciate what they have got and give him what he is Due.

Recently Hendo said that he is open to a deal with Strikeforce or perhaps going back to Japan. If Dana manages to Fuck this one up ill really start going off UFC. To treat Kimbo and Lesnar like Kings but treat MMA's only 2 weight world champion like Shit is a real balck eye on the sport... if it will even be considered a sport by the time Dana is through WWE'ing it up

No wonder Hendo's pissed if he's getting paid less than Bisping, I'm surprised he agreed to those terms in the first place. Hope Dana doesn't fuck this one up there are a lot of decent fights for Hendo in the UFC.

To be fair when it comes to pay,Hendo and his team where happy to sign for 100k per fight with a big win bonus(150K),the only reason Bisping got more is because his team were smarter in negotiating a better deal by using the lure of a whole new British fan base to follow him (I'd like to see what Bisping is offered when his contract comes to an end now there are a few more British faces and Bispings stock in the UK has dropped)and it can't really be said that Hendo wasn't given more favouritism then any other fighter that has come to the UFC,his first two fights were for the belts,I can't think of anybody else that has been given that.

I'm not saying he was not deserving due to his wins outside the UFC but to the guys who were fighting thier way up the ranks in the UFC,it must of been a bit of a poke in the eye.

He was Fine with it when he was handed a title shot straight away,so he should be more reasonable when the shoes on the other foot now Belfort is getting the same treatment.

He is a legand and I would hate for the UFC to lose him but to be fair he was given all the oppotunities in the world from the UFC to improve on his already very impressive career but couldn't capitilise on it and age is also not on his side anymore so it doesn't exactly leave him in the best negotiating position now does it.

I'm not 100% sure on this but I still think he is in the top 15 earners in the UFC,thats not to bad for somebody who is 40,not the biggest crowd puller and has only fought in the UFC 5 times(twice more in the early days)I think he stands to gain and has gained more out of the UFC than the UFC can get out of him,so I don't see why he shouldn't have to fight Marqaudt to earn the right to face Silva,since you lost to Silva when you were handed the chance last time.


He has done well in his three fights since but to be fair Nate has fought five times since he lost his title shot.

To fight Nate is the only fair way and I think it would be unreasonable for Hendo to think other wise.


Lots of fighters have had more than a fair start to their UFC careers,not only by the way they have all been fast tracked to a title shot but financialy too,not only better a salary but medical bills paid for and far better sponsership deals.

Big Nog got a title fight after one fight and so did Anderson Silva,Rampage and now Belfort and I'm sure if Wandi and Shogun had not lost there first fights there second would have been a title shot to.

Hendo was a world champion at 2 weights, the titles had to be unified, there was no question there, he earned his shot as much as any fighter has (may have been given the wand fight because it was in the US but thats another story )

Hendo holds most of the cards here, if ufc dont give him the money, someone else will and it would be a price worth paying to have one of the best ever on their roster.
UFC does have anderson, the fight hendo realy wants though.

I agree that UFC were right in giving Hendo a chance at both UFC belts since he was the Pride two weight champ but their was only one belt on the line,so all this unifying the titles was just a way to promote the fights as a Pride vs UFC thing and nothing more,the Pride titles ended when Pride ended.
Unless Fedor is still classed as the Pride Heavyweight champ or did Gomi lose his Pride lightweight belt at Sengoku or was those the only belts out of the four that finished when Pride finished?

So realisticly Hendo was just a highly ranked challenger for the UFC LHW and Middleweight titles and the UFC could of made him have a warm up fight in each division first but as I said from a marketing point of view it made alot more sense and money to advertise them as unification fights straight away instead of risking Dan in a warm up fight and maybe missing the chance of these fights happening.
I mean who doesn't want to see the champ of one Org take on another Orgs champ.

Alverez vs BJ
Sheilds vs GSP
Santiago vs Silva
Mousasi vs Machida
Fedor vs Brock

All these fights would sell themselves in the UFC.

I know it would not be true but if Hendo did leave and fight in Strikeforce,I think it would be seen by alot of fans as he is now ducking the best fighters out there,with all the top ranked fighters being in the UFC at his weight and is now just trying to pad his retirement package with a last big payday against sub standard fighters.
If some fans are tarnishing Fedors legacy because he is not fighting in the UFC then what chance would Hendo have by leaving and fighting lesser fighters.

I don't think he holds all the cards,don't get me wrong I think he will be able to get a better offer outside the UFC if he wants but I think his legacy is more important to him in the end and I don't think he will be able to leave the UFC without like Chesty refered to,having one more crack at Silva or the title.

I hope he goes to Strikeforce. There's good fights there for him. Jake Shields, Robbie Lawlor, Gegard Mousasi. Maybe Fedor??

I'd say Jake Sheilds would be to small for Hendo and once Hendo beat him,what next?Mayhem!
Personally I think he hits a dead end after that,just fighting nobodies untill his contract expires.

I think the opposite against Mousasi,Hendo is to small and I personally think Mousasi would be to much for him.
If he won it would damage the stock of there new big star,Mousasi.Losing to a smaller fighter who couldn't win a belt in the UFC at a lower weight would do no good for Strikeforce's image of having elite fighters.Strikeforce need to protect there image and they need young new exciting fighters to build there company on,not risk them against older,smaller ex UFC fighters.
If they have fresh talent then fans have nothing to compare how strong they are compared to their rivals which puts them on a more even playing field with the fans but if like I said an ex-UFC fighter who couldn't win a belt there cleaned out there stars how would that look for them.
Mousasi beating Hendo helps Strikeforce but leaves Hendo nowhere.
Maybe a fight against Babalu first but I'm sure if Hendo signed for Strikeforce he would be demanding a title shot straight away.

I'm sure as a personal challenge Hendo would love to take on Fedor but come on a top 5 ranked middleweight in his 40's against a younger and the best heavyweight and P4P fighter ever.

And as for Lawler my opinion of him may differ from most but I personally rank him along side your Chris Lyttle's and Marcus Davis's and I think he would lose to most of the Top 10 Welters in the world never mind the Middle weights.
For me he loses to
Anderson Silva
Nate Marquadt
Vitor Belfort
Yushin Okami
Damien Maia
Jorge Santiago
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Patrick Cote
Jason Miller
Alan Belcher
Rousimar Palhares
Matt Lindland
and probably a good few more middle weights that I can't think of now

and also these Welterweights I would put my money on beating Lawler

George St. Pierre
Thaigo Alves
Josh Kosckeck
John Fitch
Jake Shields
Nick Diaz
Mike Swick
Dan Hardy
Paul Daley
Martin Kampmann
Paulo Thiago
and again there are probably more.

I think Ronaldo"Jacare"Souza or maybe Babalu or Lindland would be his best options in Strikeforce because the rest of the potential Strikeforce opponents he could face like your Lawlers,Scott Smiths,Radach and Terry Martins are deffinately a big backwards step for a Legend like Hendo.

Hendo needs to try and negotiate a new three fight deal with the UFC and have a final shot at the belt and then if unsuccessfull he could move on to other pastures.
The problem with that though,is if the UFC only offer him a five fight contract and he loses the first few,he could left in limbo.

Sorry after reading back and thinking about it I've had a slight change of heart about what would be best for Hendo.
I still think if a fighter wants to be the recognised as the best you have to do that in the UFC (exept Fedor)but from a legacy point of view for Hendo maybe moving to Strikeforce and picking up an easier title and maybe having a shot at once again becoming a two wieght champion would look extremely impressive in the record books and would certainly add to his legacy,can you imagine him being known not only as the only ever two weight champ but as a two weight champ in two differant Orgs. :shock:I don't think he can win a title again in the UFC,well not while Silva holds the MW belt and he certainly isn't going to have another shot at the LHW division in the UFC,so like I said earlier if he can't get a three fight deal in the UFC then probably a move to Strikeforce would be the best move for Hendo.
So after thinking about it fuck what some fans would think about him taking the easier option,once it's in black and white in the MMA record books thats there for ever,fans change there opinions or forget facts on a monthly basis.

Hendo in Strikeforce/Dream does have very interesting possibilities. A shot a Mousasi for the Lhw belt as he would walk right into that Id imagine. Or he could go right in wo a title fight at Mw against the winner of Mayhem vs Shields and im fairly confident that he would win that one. Then theres Jacare who should really be having the fight with Shields for the title but is Rumoured to be face Robbie Lawlor. The winner of that would also work..

I would be an interesting move. Paulo Filho fights for Dream so with the Dream Strikeforce alliance this fight could be a possibility. Maby a Legends fight with Sakuraba!! There are some great fights and big paydays for him outside the UFC so they really need to meed his demands on pay.

I think Henderson would give Fedor a great fight. Can't think of many people who would give him a better fight.

Mousasi vs Hendo would be great, as would Babalu vs Hendo. There's also Nick Diaz.

If i was running Strikeforce i'd be making 3 big offers at the minute. One to Hendo, one to Filho and one to Arona. You add those 3 to Strikeforce and they get a major boost in the talent pool.

Dana White...

“We have a good relationship with Henderson, and there are no hard feelings,” White said. “He had a figure he believed he was worth, and we had our own figure, and we weren’t able to get together.”

Good news for Strikeforce, bad move by the UFC.

This is the reason I dislike Dana. The man is a dick

Hendo is very close to putting pen to paper on a strikeforce contract, Fighting between strikeforce and Dream could really work for Hendo. UFC fucked up letting him go, hendo is one of the best ever MMA figehrs, I easily rank him up there with Couture, Liddell and Wanderlei even! There are good fights at 185 and 205 for him outside the UFC.

this is ridiculous, if he sold a few more ppvs there is no way they would be letting him go. Ben is right one of the best ever, certainly at 185 lbs there are very very few better in history. This would be like letting Sherk go if he had beaten edgar by devastating KO, in fact it is worse than that. This would be like letting Nog go.

Dana won't pay Hendo who has won titles EVERYWHERE and fought EVERYONE and beaten most of them. Yet Brock Lesnar gets 500k a fight?? Ridiculous. UFC is becoming the WWE.

Huge signing for Strikeforce. Let's hope they can get Filho and Arona signed up too. With the strikeforce contracts being exclusive only in the US and given fighters freedom to fight for Dream or Sengoku i think we could well see them signing a lot more UFC free agents. Especially those with a Pride background. Rampage, Shogun etc.

From Cagepotato...

As one of Dana White's official mouthpieces, you sometimes have to take Kevin Iole's articles with a grain of salt. Following the report that Dan Henderson is on the verge of signing a deal with Strikeforce, we're now wondering: Was the story put out in an attempt to put pressure on Hendo or affect public opinion of him? Because at the moment, Henderson is denying it completely. As Henderson's friend and business partner Aaron Crecy told MMA Fanhouse, "We had a brief get-to-know-you session with (Strikeforce) and met them for coffee, but to say he's close to signing would be a gross misrepresentation." And as Dan himself told MMA Weekly, "I’m still hoping to come to terms with the UFC, until I heard this...I’ve never even seen an offer from (Strikeforce).”

So, a ray of hope for Hendo fans who want to see him get his rematch with Anderson Silva at some point, even if he still isn't close to terms with the UFC when it comes to money. But why would Yahoo! and the UFC puff up a "possibly" story into an "imminently" story? Could they be testing MMA fans to see how much people really want Henderson to stay in the UFC? And will the UFC adjust their offer depending on the results?

This whole situation with Hendo is daft. The UFC has the money to pay the best fighters what they are worth, I hope this doesn't drag on and leave Hendo inactive for too long.

I want him in Strikeforce. I think it's a chance for him to become the first man to hold two belts in two major promotions at the same time. I don't see anyone at MW in Strikeforce or Dream that could beat Hendo.

I reckon if Hendo went to Strikeforce Frank Shamrock would be all over him like a rash. I don't see Frank surviving it but it would be a great fight to hype and a good stepping stone for Dan on his way to the title... I'd love to see it. It would be like Bisping vs Hendo in terms of the trash talking, with the difference being that Frank is actually articulate and likeable with some passable standup, unlike the c(o)unt.

Shields and Miller are at least a league below Henderson, and the last time I checked there was no Dream Middleweight Champ now that Mousasi's gone up?

l wouldnt be so sure about Hendo walking over Frank if they were to fight, i know this is almost irrelevant but ill post it anyway, this is almost the whole match.

Paolo_73 wrote:I reckon if Hendo went to Strikeforce Frank Shamrock would be all over him like a rash. I don't see Frank surviving it but it would be a great fight to hype and a good stepping stone for Dan on his way to the title... I'd love to see it. It would be like Bisping vs Hendo in terms of the trash talking, with the difference being that Frank is actually articulate and likeable with some passable standup, unlike the c(o)unt.

Shields and Miller are at least a league below Henderson, and the last time I checked there was no Dream Middleweight Champ now that Mousasi's gone up?

Frank also has a great ground game unlike Bitchping.

Hendo and Glamrock are quiet good friends and they often train together. I think they would fight because moneywise it makes a lot of sense.

If Hendo leaves the UFC I will be stunned. If Tito can come to terms with the UFC, anyone can.

If he wants the best fights as a priority, he will sign on with UFC again.
Mousasi is the only decent fight for him in his weight class outside the UFC.

What point is there in Hendo fighting King Mo, Sokou, etc when he is at this stage in his career? He needs to rematch Anderson and go out on the very top.