Former Pride and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson is open to a matchup with surging middleweight contender Ronaldo Souza, but he sees no need for the bout to be contested at light heavyweight.
Souza’s coach, Josuel Distak, proposed a “special” matchup between “Jacare” and Henderson at 205 pounds on Tuesday, per Sherdog, and it didn’t take long for the former Olympian to respond.
I would be more then happy to give Jacare what he wants. Except I would do it at MW and Jan 3rd. (cont) http://t.co/9RFrGSfyLV
— Dan Henderson (@danhendo) October 9, 2014
Distak also suggested that Souza vs. “Hendo” could take place in February on the same card where middleweight champion Chris Weidman defends his belt against Vitor Belfort.
Souza, the No. 2 middleweight in the world according to the UFC’s official rankings, is riding a seven-fight win streak (six finishes) and makes a case for a title shot with victories over Yushin Okami and Gegard Mousasi in that 31-month span.
A former Strikeforce titleholder, Souza has only competed outside of the middleweight division once, scoring a submission win over Ed “Short Fuse” Herman in January 2012.
That bout took place at a catchweight of 194 pounds.
From a rankings standpoint, Souza is an odd matchup for Henderson, who is a paltry 1-4 in his past five fights, getting finished in his past two losses.
Still ranked as the No. 8 light heavyweight fighter in the UFC despite the rough patch, Henderson hasn’t competed at middleweight since April 2010, suffering a lopsided decision loss to Jake Shields.
As of this writing, the UFC has not shown any interest in the potential fight one way or the other.
Given that the middleweight division is in a bit of a log jam for the short term, would Souza vs. Henderson be a logical fight to make?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
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