You guys remember when Dan Henderson launched a tactical missile at Michael Bisping’s chin at UFC 100 and shocked every living organism that had their television’s tuned-in at UFC 100? Hendo was ecstatic from that knockout and wanted another crack at Anderson Silva, but Dana White simply did not want to make that match-up happen. Of course you remember around this time in 2009 when it was rumored that Scott Coker was covertly talking to Hendo, meeting him at restaurants and even Dana White inadvertently walked in on the two having lunch at a suave place in Downtown LA. Dana insisted that it would be impossible for Strikeforce to pay him the amount of money that he wanted, and later that year Dan Henderson made an appearance at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers, a feat that shocked the entire MMA world. While Hendo was still undecided, it seemed like he was leaning towards Strikeforce, perhaps even as leverage to negotiate another deal with UFC. A few weeks later, Hendo signed with Strikeforce, something so extraordinary that it had the entire Underground mentioning how Strikeforce could rival UFC.
Hendo then went on the media circuit for Strikeforce and even appeared on NCIS: Los Angeles in an ‘MMA themed’ episode. In 2010 he was slated to take on Jake Shields, a fight that a large majority of people believed Hendo would easily take. The fight began, he landed a massive H-bomb which dropped Shields, but unfortunately he just couldn’t finish the fight. The former Pride champion, who at the time was riding a three-fight win streak, was defeated by a Strikeforce fighter — heads exploded. Everyone on the internet firmly stated that ‘Strikeforce was here to stay’ and that it could legitimately hold its on with UFC.
Now fast-foward over a year later in the post-ZUFFA buyout world we live in. Fedor has gone 1-3 in Strikeforce and has been cut from the organization, Alistair Overeem and Nick Diaz have signed UFC contracts, and with the MMAWeekly news that Dan Henderson has re-signed with UFC and will face Shogun Rua at UFC 139 — you just have to wonder what will be of Strikeforce a year from today.
Perhaps it was ZUFFA’s plan all along to disassemble Strikeforce. I’m not sure. I wasn’t in the board room with Scott Coker when it all happened. However, Shogun Rua vs. Dan Henderson is a fight that should make all MMA fans flip in their chairs for — and all Showtime employees sulk in their chairs. We all know someone is getting a raw deal, and it’s certainly not the fans. Now excuse me while I finish this bowl of Fruit Loops, you know, business as usual. [Source]
