UFC 139 was once scheduled to host the UFC heavyweight championship, but after that bout was moved up a week to the UFC on FOX headliner, the search began for a replacement fight.
Now, it’s set. Dan Henderson has re-signed with the promotion and will take on Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at the event to be held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
UFC president Dana White confirmed both Henderson’s signing and the fight’s booking to 5thRound.com after Tuesday’s UFC on FOX press conference in Hollywood, California.
The bout was originally reported by MMA Weekly on Monday, but at the time, multiple sources told MMA Fighting that the deal was not yet done, though it was the intended direction of the promotion.
Signing with Strikeforce, Henderson (28-8) becomes the third organizational champion since the Zuffa-Strikeforce merger to vacate his belt, following welterweight Nick Diaz and heavyweight Alistair Overeem.
Henderson went 3-1 during his Strikeforce run, losing his debut bout to Jake Shields in a decision before scoring consecutive knockout wins over Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Rafael Cavalcante and Fedor Emelianenko.
The 41-year-old will be in his third go-round with the UFC. He won two matches in the organization in 1997, then spent several years fighting overseas in Japanese organizations before returning to the UFC in 2007, going 3-2 along the way.
Rua (20-5) is fresh off an August 27 first-round knockout win over Forrest Griffin at UFC Rio. It was Rua’s first fight back since losing the light-heavyweight championship to Jon Jones.
UFC 139 also features former Strikeforce star Cung Le making his UFC debut against Vitor Belfort, and Brian Bowles facing Urijah Faber in a key bantamweight bout.