Former Pride champion, UFC middleweight contender, and current Strikeforce fighter Dan Henderson (25-8) talked to MMAWeekly.com recently about his performance against Jake Shields in his last fight.
Both men were fighting for the Strikeforce middleweight title, with Shields earning a unanimous decision at the end of five rounds. Henderson dominated the first round but was flat for much of the remainder of the fight.
Now Henderson is saying that a bad weight cut, caused by medications he was using for his back, were likely to blame for his poor performance.
“It was just some medication I had took for my back that kind of helped keep the weight on me, and it just has to do with the pain I guess. I was just real flat that fight, and the weight cut really zapped me. I never minded fighting at either weight, with the exception of my last fight. I just think it’s funner to not have to cut weight.”
Henderson will meet Renato “Babalu” Sobral on December 4th at the upcoming Strikeforce: St. Louis (aka Henderson vs. Babalu II) event in the main event. Both men will be fighting for the #1 contender spot in the light-heavyweight division. This will be a rematch of their first fight which took place over ten years ago in February of 2000. Henderson earned a split decision over Sobral in the RINGS: King of Kings 1999 Final tournament.