Dan Henderson a Free Agent, Likely to Re-Sign with UFC
Middleweight contender Dan Henderson has become a free agent following his knockout of Michael Bisping at UFC 100 in July, but is negotiating with the UFC and is likely to return to the promotion, according to SI.com’s Josh Gross.
“According to a source close to Hendo, Dan is a free agent. The source said Dan wants to remain in the UFC. It makes the most sense,” Gross recently Tweeted. “But as of right now he doesn’t have a contract with Zuffa. Negotiations were characterized as “slow.” Dan’s main focus is fighting [Anderson] Silva.”
Gross also shot down a rumor that Henderson could fight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the main event of UFC 105, writing that Little Nog was “never mentioned as a possible opponent” for Henderson.
Silva, the UFC’s middleweight champ, has called for Henderson to fight Nate Marquardt to determine the division’s top-contender, but Henderson has maintained that Silva is the only fight he’s interested in at 185-pounds and that he’d return to light heavyweight if he doesn’t get a title shot rematch.
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Dans place in the UFC shouldnt even be in question, with this and the Franklin contract situation, im wondering if these guys are strting to have more demands or are not happy with what they are getting paid.
I’m sure part of negotiations will include Hendo wanting another shot at Anderson. His plcae with ZUFFA should be secure IMO, i don’t see him even thinking of signing with anyone other than the UFC.
Agree 100%. He will probably use some of his leverage to get that shot with silva.
Though who wouldn’t like to see Maurdquart/hendo and say Silva/couture in the mean time.
I hope that he doesn’t have to wait too ling to get back into the Octagon, but i’m sure he’s going to bug the UFC about fighting Silva again and problably won’t settle for another fight at 185 other than a Silva rematch.
Here’s a scenario what if they don’t resign him, I know the will it would be a mistake not too. But just what it they didn’t. I would almost bet my right eye “the spider” will fight again this year before having surgery.
I see no reason why Hendo won’t be resigned to a UFC contract, I actually can’t believe that ZUFFA let it get this far (having Hendo become an actual “free agent”) but there is probably a timed clause in his previous contract and he can’t negotiate with anyone else other than ZUFFA rightnow… Can’t wait to see him fight in the octagon soon
Yeah, I was shocked he is a free agent also. Usually the UFC locks the guys up who they want to keep. Hopefully they can work everything out, I don’t really see him going anywhere else.
I really don’t understand Hendo’s reasoning that he only wants to fight A.Silva. I do in the fact that a win over Anderson would be phenomenal and life changing but, Dan you can’t and won’t beat him anyway. Beat Marquardt and then you would solidify your the #1 contender at least in my eyes.
I’m sure that’s the big sticking point. He’s trying to find a balance between his standing in your eyes and what is best for his career. I’m sure that, after cruising your posts here on Frenzy, he’ll do some soul-searching and sign on to a fight other than the title fight he was already promised.
i dont think he deserves a title shot, he hasn’t fought enough to get a rematch with the P4P, two D’s and a KO over Bisbang shouln’t even get someone a title shot, let alone a REmatch with the best P4P that just tapped your ssa out! imo
I wonder if deep down Dan knows should he fight Nate and lose, he’s got too many miles to make that long trek back up the ladder to get a title shot. Why take the chance on a loss to Marquardt, thus knocking you down a few pegs? It makes sense for him to try to negotiate a title shot- I’m sure he couldn’t care less about who is the definitive #1 contender. :) It is odd though that it’s taken a while for him, when Couture was signed almost immediately after the Nog fight. Usually it seems Dana and the boys don’t have a long negotiation process.
Why shouldn’t he demand a title shot considering Dana said the winner of his fight with Bisping would get one? There’s no reason he shouldn’t demand and get a shot, if you take that into account. It’s not that he won’t fight if it’s not Silva, he just won’t fight at 185 if it’s not Silva.
I’m definitely surprised that the UFC let him become a free agent without renegotiating, but I’m sure they’ll work something out. If they let him get away that would be a big gain for their competition. I doubt Henderson wants to go elsewhere, though. He strikes me as someone who wants to be the best and beat the best, obviously the best at both 185 and 205 are in the UFC.
In all honesty I look at this as a “restricted” free agent situation like in other sports.
I think the UFC and Hendo were so expected to not part ways that there were very few other real offers. If neither side is planning on parting ways or in a hurry to sign then they will take their sweet time. If other organizations were actively pursuing him or he needed the money the deal would already be done. Since I don’t think either is the case it’s taking longer.
IMO he should just fight nate and get it over with. Like he11 if he beats anderson (wich hes super confident that he will) hes gonna have to fight Marquardt anyway, in his first title defence.
Good point. And if you can’t beat someone that many feel is the #1 contender, then you have no business taking on the champ.
Fight Nate, hmmmmm wouldn’t you need a contract to be able to do that? ;-)
Dana White said that the winenr of Bisping-Hendo would get the next title shot. He also said that about Maia-Marquardt but in that fight i think that Dana and the UFC meant that if Maia not Marqurdt,if Maia would have won he for sure would have got the next shot at Anderson because that is the fight everyone wanted to see.
Hendo is not going to fight at 185 unless it’s a fight with Anderson, he doesn’t want to fight Marquardt because he feels that he has earned his rematch. I can’t beleive why the UFC is kinda letting it go this far withought signing a new deal with Hendo, Hendo is not just any other fighter who they can jerk around, and he deserves IMO more respect than to just let him become a free agent.
I think the reason why the UFC is having trouble with 185 and 170 title picture is due to the fact of having these “super fights” that have messed up each divisions flow and now they find themselves with these problems trying to find the right guy to fight Anderson and GSP.
i think that whether Silva likes it or not, he’s going to have his next title defense as a rematch and possibly after that as well, that is something he’s going to have to accept. I don’t know if Marquardt-Hendo will happen, but either way these guys can’t wait forever and it’s unfair to them to have already been somewhat guaranteed a rematch with Silva prior to their recent fights and have that not seen through because Silva and his manager would rather Hendo-Marqurdt face off first.
Give Henderson his fight with Silva, he deserves it and he’s not getting any younger plus he might be the only guy that can beat Silva, i honestly think Nate would buckle again…but that’s just me.
I think an issue like this shows that maybe both the sport and the promotion are getting too big to be run by “Dana White’s One Man Show”.
Yes, I realize that the UFC has many staffers, but honestly, it’s run by one guy, mostly off of his cellphone and wherever and whenever he pleases, within reason.
Also, consider the following:
Five years ago a top talent like Hendo would NEVER have reached “free agent” contract status, yet for whatever reasons, here we are.
Five years ago Dana White probably wouldn’t have made the obvious error of publicly promised pending title shots to 2 different guys in the same weight class, yet for whatever reasons, here we are.
Five years ago no fighter other than maybe Tito was busting out this “diva-tude” when it came to fights. Nowadays we have guys trying to matchmake either directly or thru their handlers, trying to name the weights at which they’ll fight, and working stipulations for their NEXT fight before even first winning the fight at hand, and so on.
And yet, for whatever reasons, mostly related to money flooding into a sport where there was little or none before, here we are.
Five years ago fighters were just glad to have jobs, a place to engage in their chosen sport, and reasonably fair and steady income from their profession. Now, for reasons we’re mostly aware of, a majority of fighters see thenselves as the “product” of their respective “companies”, and behave and “negotiate” accordingly.
I honestly can’t blame either Hendo or Marquardt for wanting to fight each other, when they’ve been promised title shots by Dana White if they won their last fights, which of course they did. Maybe Dana, like the majority of us, thought that Maia would submit Marquardt, and therefore could be further stalled behind Hendo under the “Thales Leites” rule.
Or, maybe Dana White was caught off-guard by what some of us see as a change in Anderson Silva’s attitude towards the 185 division.
Also, maybe Dana White is so busy, so often, trying to keep the UFC as the greatest show on Earth, while simultaneously trying to expand it past its North American base, securing a network TV deal, and micro-managing the affairs of hundreds of fighters and ancilliary personnel.
Nonetheless, IMO Hendo will of course be resigned.
Like most here, I feel the sticking point is this Silva/Marquardt/185 or 205? issue.
Truthfully I think both Hendo and Marquardt could do well at 205, but why would either of them head into that already overly-crowded division, when the 185ers still have room to breathe and grow.
And isn’t Anderson Silva fighting at 205, sort of, as well?
As I’ve stated previously, the only fair way Marquardt and Hendo should fight is if its for some sort of Interim title, and ONLY in the event if the champion is medically unable to compete.
Otherwise, he needs to face one of these guys, or drop his belt, probably AFTER Rua-Machida drops.
Personally I think that if he can still safely make the cut, Hendo should stay at 185 for the time being. Silva seems on his way out of the division, and I think Hendo can probably beat Marqaurdt and most everyone else at 185, contrary opinions notwithstanding. He’s also got some interesting fight options, such as Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva, which are rematches I think people will pay to see.
Ultimately, this is the responsibility of Dana White to fix this problem, and I’m interestedly waiting to see how he does so…
Now you are going after Dana White, goodness you have been on a role for the last 5 weeks :P
^^^^ thats a joke jcohl ;-)
5 years ago I was 25….
It is what it is, pure speculation and you should know how contracts can be a biotch to finalize (I assume that you do your own bids and offers) so perhaps its just a little something on either side that is holding this up and perhaps not specifically a guranteed title shot thing…
well at least this gives Hendo some leeway on the negotiation table as far as getting the fight that he wants. this could be his counter to silvas “conveniantly timed” elbow surgery. no it doesnt make sense for hendo to fight Nate, or vice versa, although it would be a great fight.
Maybe Hendo is insisting that the UFC flog as many Clinch Gear shirts as Affliction shirts?
;)
And yeah, I am going after Dana White a bit on this, mostly because its his fault, in spite of the rest being unsubstantiated at this point. One concrete thins we do know is that White promised title shots to both Hendo and Marqaurdt, and I can’t imagine that isn’t jamming the gears of the neogitation.
Also, I’m fortunate that one of my partners handles the conrtact side of our business. I give the guy mad respect, because Lord knows I would never have the patience for that sort of back and forth on a day in, day out basis.
Honestly, I guess I’m just a bit taken off guard that this Hendo contract situation got to where it is today.
Finally, I wonder if somewhere in California some mock-ups are being drafted for something that reads along the lines of:
M-1 Global Presents Strikeforce/DREAM fight, Hendo versus Mousasi…
;)
Nice that your partners take care of that side of business…
I’ve dropped the ball before on a contract, but that is why you put protective clauses in the contract to give YOURSELF 45~90 days before your opportunity to renegotiate is gone… I doubt that this is really a huge deal for I would assume that even if Hendo said he would negotiate with Strikeforce he legally cannot til the grace period is over…
I also doubt that Hendo would want to throw Strikeforce’s name out there, probably not the best tatic to get what you want from Dana
Perhaps Dana did drop the ball, yet so did Joe Silva, the Brothers Fertitta and the entire cast, Hendo will resign and he will continue to due well in the UFC simply because he is an excellent fighter…
Joe Silva is the VP of talent relations, and therefore he is actually the most likely person that Dan Henderson, or his manager, is dealing with. As far as Dana getting too bogged down with overseas stuff, that’s what Lorenzo is doing, to my knowledge. Does Dana have his hands full? Probably. Has he overloaded himself? Possibly. Does he have other people that can perform the tasks for him, and have been tasked at doing so? Yes. I think you are moving rather hastily to blame Dana White individually for this situation. Yeah, he’s made some promises about number one contendership that he seems to be backing off on, but by the same token, we haven’t heard anything from White about Henderson not getting a shot at Silva, only from Silva not wanting to give Henderson the shot.
I so stopped reading this when I got to chapter 2. Not enough action to set up the plot. Kind of like a Dan Brown novel.
Ouch.
This one was not so bad, but I have to admit I have given up on a few comments less than halfway through lately (not just jcohl’s, other peoples’ as well). Partly due to limited time to read comments, and partly due to the length.
Hopefully he knows I’m just being a biz and mean no disrespect.
Well, now that you stated that, I think he should know. ;)
Hello DbiZ good to see ya round these parts and I doubt anyone thought you meant any disrespect
Funny stuff, as always dbiz.
And no worries on the disrespect thing. At this point I can tell the difference between a joke cracked by someone I consider a compadre and a cheapshot taken by someone who’s not…
;)
This kind of uncertainty for title fights is only going to keep on happening as long as the UFC and Dana keep putting Silva against 205-ers and NOT have him where he SHOULD be which is at 185 defending his belt. Now if Silva no longer wants to fight at 185 rather wants to fight else where than thats fine, but he should not be jerking the division around as if he owns it because he got his fair shot now give Nate and Hendo their shots. YES Silva beat both of them but they have earned their rematches and White “promised” them a fight with Silva given they both get passed Maia and Bisping which they both did sooo 205 should not even be in anyones mind for Anderson at this point being that he has two Contenders to face.
This will also happen when Swick beats Hughes and Kampmann beats Daley, but the difference is that these guys want to fight eachother and GSP wants to fight whoever whenever as well.
jcohl is right, if Silva wants to keep fighting at 205 and still be the champ at 185 the UFC should set up Hendo-Marquardt for the Interim Title and then have that winner fight Silva after he fights whoever at 205, and i’m sure that Hendo and Nate would be at least open to that possibility. The UFC needs to do something but to be honest they only have a few options to consider, either give Hendo or Nate a shot bakc to back, or force them to fight eachother OR have one of them fight Silva and the other fight someone else…either way this kind of sad situation is a result of Dana White blowing up Silva’s head as “the best fighter in the world” AND having him fight POINTLESS, YES.. POINTLESS fights against Irvin and Forrest when Silva should have been focused at 185 where his duty as Champion really is. Now they have to clean up the mess and chances are that NO likely they will not please all parties involved.
Those fights weren’t pointless. Silva fought Irvin to counter program “Affliction: Banned”, and he fought Forrest so that he might actually have an exciting fight for a change and win back some fan support. Did these fights accomplish anything in either division? No. Does that make them pointless? No.
i can see your point in the Irvin fight, but that still falls into opinion because as long as Silva is the Champ his Duty as Champion is to fight the next guy in line, NOT try to manipulate who fights who so he can be content on who he fights, it doesn’t work like that. GSP continues to fight the #1 ranked guys in his division, i’m not saying that Silva does not because he clearly has, i’m just saying that there is not need for him to fight another fight at 205 right now being that he has 2 guys lined up for his belt AND there is not point of him fighting a contender at 205 unless he himself wants to make a run at the 205 title. But like i said, having those “super fights” messed up the flow in that division and makinf false promises to Nate and Hendo also messed up the flow at 185. Silva isn’t helping matters by trying to make Nate-Hendo fight eachother, he needs to man-up accept the fact that he will be defeinding his belt in rematches and go ahead and do so.
I agree that I don’t like Silva mucking with the flow by trying to tell the UFC who he wants to fight. However, if I remember correctly, Dana was the one that requested both of Silva’s forays into the light heavyweight division, not Silva. Silva seems content to sit back and not fight until a clear number one is determined (in his eyes), and otherwise just talk “stuff” to keep attention on himself. I rather think that the UFC came to him and said “Look Anderson, you’re going to defend against Henderson in your next fight, and we want you to fight on this date.” Then he decided that he would show them what’s up and go get elbow surgery to sort of force their hand into making Henderson and Marquardt fight before they fight him. Not sure that will work out, I think Henderson could probably stand to wait on Silva to come back.
I hope your version didn’t happen Justin because I would lose even more respect for anderson silva. We all have bosses and bosses tell their employees what to do, not that other way around. If i pulled something like that I would get canned in a heartbeat. So IMO henderson should wait for his shot because like you stated before justin, Dana did officially say that the winner of bisping vs hendo would in fact get the next shot. Now that nate ko’d maia, he’s clearly the next guy AFTER hendo. Hendo should wait and make the UFC wait as well.
This whole who’s next has the potential to be a mess dude. Hope hendo gets the next shot and soon cuz imho he’s earned it.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Hendo will re-sign with the UFC. I cant see him fighting in any other organization. He knows that the best competition is in the UFC. There is probably alot more to coming to terms on a contract than people think, so its probably just a matter of time till he re-signs. I think the UFC will probably lock him up for good, like they recently have with Randy and Diego.
As for a possible title shot…..as much as we would all enjoy watching Marquardt and Henderson throwdown, I think Henderson should get his shot against The Spider. It is a far more marketable rematch and besides, right after the Bisping-Hendo fight, Dana said Hendo would get the next title shot against Anderson Silva. He had been saying during TUF9 that the winner of Hendo-Bisping would get the next title shot…therefore Hendo should get it.
And the UFC shouldnt have a Marquardt-Henderson fight just because Silva wants to see it. That would be unfair to the rest of the fighters, and it would show that Anderson gets what he wants just because he is the champion and P4P king.
Anyways, I hope we see Hendo in the octagon again by the end of the year.
I actually don’t think Hendo deserves another title shot at the moment. At 185, he has only beaten Bisping and Palhares since losing to Silva, who was nowhere near being a contender. But to be fair to Dan he was promised, so the screwup is all Dana’s. And to be fair to Silva, why accept rematches to fighters that you’ve beaten decisively, unless they’ve improved drastically. Yes Hendo is a legend, but he’s also a legend in his own mind, and is no closer to getting the belt now than he was before. Nate on the other hand, may have show some signs of improvement and may be worthy opponent for Silva.
Anyway, I like watching Hendo fight and hope to see him back in the octagon @ 185, I think thats the best weight class for him.
He was PROMISED a title shot.. if they won’t give it to him at 185, he will go earn one at 205, which he easily has the talent to do and actually lines up really well against a LOT of the 205′rs/has beat many of them already.
That makes sense friends, he was promised a shot, didn’t get it, so he is going for a shot at 205. It’s smart he is setting himself up for two title shots.
If he dosn’t fight at until he gets his shot he gets his shot, in the meantime he can beat up the 205 div and get a shot there too….
Why give up what you have already rightfully earned ?
Am I repeating myself? :D