Late on Tuesday, rumors began to pop up in the MMA world that the UFC was considering a possible Dan Henderson-Anderson Silva fight as the headline bout for the inaugural UFC on FOX event. At first glance the idea seemed a bit off the wall, mostly due to timing, since the FOX card will take place on November 12, but the potential fight does seem to be based on more than a “crazy” rumor.
On Monday, UFC president Dana White was speaking to the LA Times about the UFC’s recent deal with FOX, telling them that before a decision could be made on a headlining bout for the event that will take place at Anaheim’s Honda Center, he would have to see the result of UFC 134.
UFC 134 will take place in Brazil on Saturday, August 27 and will feature a main event between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami. The LA Times then asked White if that meant that Silva would be on the FOX card, to which he responded, “I’m not saying that. Let me get through these fights.”
The initial reports of an actual opponent for Silva came from Tatame.com, who cited “sources close to the situation” as telling them that Silva was speaking with the UFC about a potential rematch with Dan Henderson, whom he previously defeated at UFC 82, forcing Henderson to tap out early in the second round of the bout. The victory earned Silva “Fight of the Night” as well as “Submission of the Night” honors.
The other option, according to the initial Tatame report, was to move Chael Sonnen from his fight at UFC 136 against Brian Stann and match him up with Silva. Sonnen was close to defeating Silva at UFC 117 before tapping to “The Spider” in the fifth and final round of that bout.
On Wednesday, Tatame.com spoke to UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta on the subject of a Silva-Henderson bout to which he responded, “I would love to do that. Anderson just needs a win.”
Lost in all of this is a huge “what if”: what if Okami defeats Silva?
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