“I know that for sure I’ll be fighting in either Strikeforce or the UFC, I don’t have any desire to go anywhere else. I would like the UFC to really help build Strikeforce and not take away their champions. I’d like to work out some sort of deal where I’m not walking away from my belt.”
Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Dan ‘Hendo’ Henderson (28-8) made that statement to famed commentator Mauro Ranallo on his radio show “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” this past week concerning the future of the Strikeforce promotion.
Rumors surrounding the former PRIDE middleweight champs future have him possibly re-signing with the UFC to face UFC title holder Anderson Silva, but with Silva recovering from a shoulder injury that fight probably wouldn’t happen till sometime in 2012.
Henderson is coming off a big first round TKO victory over heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko last July. That win, the third straight and sixth-of-seven bouts, was the last on the light heavyweights Strikeforce contract.
Strikeforce has already gotten rid of their heavyweight champ, Alistair Overeem, and have no plans to crown a new champion at the finale of the Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament. As well the promotion has failed to designate the top contenders for the vacant welterweight title, which was left open by Nick Diaz after he moved to the UFC after being given a shot at champ Georges St-Pierre this October.
It will be interesting to see if it will indeed be “business as usual” with Henderson defending his title, or if Zuffa will simply sign ‘Hendo’ to the UFC and leave another Strikeforce belt vacant to flap in the wind.