We weren’t the only ones left scratching our heads when it was announced that Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier would meet at UFC 175. It’s not that we felt the fight is a squash match or anything, because Henderson’s victory over Mauricio Rua at Fight Night 38 proved that he is never one to be counted out entirely. It’s just that, well, up until the point that Hendo turned Rua’s nose into a pancake, he looked every bit as stiff and sluggish as one would expect a 43-year-old MMA fighter with nearly as many battles on his resume to look.
Couple Henderson’s recent performance(s) with the fact that Cormier is a much younger (in fight years, at least), stronger, and faster version of Rua, and that the matchup will serve as Henderson’s first sans-TRT, and you might begin to understand our surprise at the booking of this fight…
We weren’t the only ones left scratching our heads when it was announced that Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier would meet at UFC 175. It’s not that we felt the fight is a squash match or anything, because Henderson’s victory over Mauricio Rua at Fight Night 38 proved that he is never one to be counted out entirely. It’s just that, well, up until the point that Hendo turned Rua’s nose into a pancake, he looked every bit as stiff and sluggish as one would expect a 43-year-old MMA fighter with nearly as many battles on his resume to look.
Couple Henderson’s recent performance(s) with the fact that Cormier is a much younger (in fight years, at least), stronger, and faster version of Rua, and that the matchup will serve as Henderson’s first sans-TRT, and you might begin to understand our surprise at the booking of this fight…
Clearly, it would be hard to argue against giving Cormier the next title shot after Gustafsson should he defeat Henderson — that is the point of this matchup after all, right? To match Cormier up with a credible, if fading name to establish his legitimacy as a title contender? But the idea that Dan Henderson, who just broke a three-fight losing streak via an improbable comeback over a guy he already beat, seems presumptuous to say the least.
Then again, who knows? Maybe this is just one of those Condit vs. Woodley situations, where the UFC has a contender in mind and is simply sweetening the pot by giving the fight #1 contender (or in this case, #2 contender) status. The difference being that Henderson is a much more marketable fighter than Woodley, and therefore deserves a title shot where Woodley wouldn’t.
I’m not saying that it would be the craziest thing in the world to give Henderson a shot at this point in his career, especially if he is able to somehow get past Cormier. The man’s a legend, he’s earned it, yadda yadda yadda, and lord knows people are still bitter about UFC 151. Having Hendo fight Jones (if he’s still the champ after my boy Gus gets through with him*) would at least partially put that debate to rest, but can you imagine how Phil Davis is going to react to this news? Or, you know, Jones himself?
(“…he did WHAAAAT to Josh Barnett?!!” Photo via Barry Hartman/MMAFightCorner)
With heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez out nursing another shoulder injury for the foreseeable future, many MMA fans have pondered what’s next for top contender Fabricio Werdum. Currently on a three-fight win streak since returning to the UFC, Werdum is fresh off a second round submission of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC on FUEL 10 (*cries, self-immolates*) and is anxious to stay busy. According to an interview with MMAFighting, Werdum has already agreed to face Hawaiian hitman Travis “Hapa” Browne in March based purely on this fact:
I had a meeting with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta and told them I wanted to wait, but then I thought about it and saw that I would need to wait too much before my next fight. You don’t remember what you don’t see.
We don’t have a date 100 percent confirmed yet, but I believe it’s going to be in March. I already know that it’s going to be a main event, so it’s a five-round fight. He doesn’t have a good cardio, so that’s good for me. He’s explosive when the fight starts, tries to finish it quickly, with jumping stuff and knockouts, so I see a lot of openings to defeat him.
Apparently Browne’s back-to-back-to-back knockouts of Gabriel Gonzaga, Alistair Overeem (who has split a pair of contests with Werdum) and Josh Barnett in 2013 have done little to impress Werdum, who was equally critical of Browne’s ground game, stating, “We have trained together a few times three years ago, and he knows how the training was. He knows that he doesn’t have a good ground game.”
Of course, one doesn’t exactly need a good ground game when they posses the power to obliterate anyone who dares shoot in on a takedown against them. Luckily, Werdum has a gameplan for that as well. Sort of.
(“…he did WHAAAAT to Josh Barnett?!!” Photo via Barry Hartman/MMAFightCorner)
With heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez out nursing another shoulder injury for the foreseeable future, many MMA fans have pondered what’s next for top contender Fabricio Werdum. Currently on a three-fight win streak since returning to the UFC, Werdum is fresh off a second round submission of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC on FUEL 10 (*cries, self-immolates*) and is anxious to stay busy. According to an interview with MMAFighting, Werdum has already agreed to face Hawaiian hitman Travis “Hapa” Browne in March based purely on this fact:
I had a meeting with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta and told them I wanted to wait, but then I thought about it and saw that I would need to wait too much before my next fight. You don’t remember what you don’t see.
We don’t have a date 100 percent confirmed yet, but I believe it’s going to be in March. I already know that it’s going to be a main event, so it’s a five-round fight. He doesn’t have a good cardio, so that’s good for me. He’s explosive when the fight starts, tries to finish it quickly, with jumping stuff and knockouts, so I see a lot of openings to defeat him.
Apparently Browne’s back-to-back-to-back knockouts of Gabriel Gonzaga, Alistair Overeem (who has split a pair of contests with Werdum) and Josh Barnett in 2013 have done little to impress Werdum, who was equally critical of Browne’s ground game, stating, ”We have trained together a few times three years ago, and he knows how the training was. He knows that he doesn’t have a good ground game.”
Of course, one doesn’t exactly need a good ground game when they posses the power to obliterate anyone who dares shoot in on a takedown against them. Luckily, Werdum has a gameplan for that as well. Sort of.
I won’t go there like (Gabriel) Gonzaga and Barnett did. Barnett looked desperate, he didn’t look like the veteran that he is. The clinch, the takedown, the body lock will eventually happen. I don’t need to shoot for a double leg. His takedown defense and elbows are really good, so I won’t make this mistake. We will fight on the ground eventually.
There is only one thing preventing Browne vs. Werdum from being made official, however. Browne’s previous victory over Barnett was the last fight on his contract, and the Hawaiian is currently in the process of renegotiating a new one. I would imagine that after the year he’s had, we can expect to see Browne’s 28k/28k pay structure increase significantly. Browne’s manager, John Fosco of VFD Marketing, told MMAJunkie that a deal is closed to being reached on by the two parties:
There’s no deal done between the UFC and Travis Browne right now, but all the talks that have been had up to this point indicate that we will be getting something done in the very near future, and they’ve always been fair with Travis.
We were talking about extending an agreement, and the UFC made it very clear that they like Travis and they think he’s a great fighter. But based on his resume of opponents, he hadn’t proven that he could beat the cream of the crop in that division, and that was something we agreed with. Overeem was a great win, but it’s not like it was the second or third time in a row he beat a top 10, let alone a top 5, opponent.
So we were in agreement, and we were willing to take less money for the Barnett fight to prove and put our money where our mouth is that Travis is that guy, and he is that good. The UFC even said they believe it, but they run a business, and he hasn’t done it yet. Because of that, we decided to [not sign a new deal] because they let us.
So, Nation, who do you like in this tentatively-schedule battle between top heavyweights?
(And to think, it only took a few hours of physical intimidation “spiritual encouragement” for Dana to see the light.)
In his past three fights, Vitor Belfort has looked less like a physically gifted athlete re-entering the prime of his career and more like the Batman & Robin version of Bane on a bath salt-induced rampage across Brazil.
After racking up consecutive “Knockout of the Night” victories over Michael Bisping (yay!), Luke Rockhold (whatever!) and Dan Henderson (NO, GOD! PLEASE NO! NOOOOOOOO!!!), Dana White recently confirmed with Fox Sports that Belfort will be next in line for a middleweight title shot regardless of who emerges victorious from the Anderson Silva-Chris Weidman rematch at UFC 168:
[Ed] Soares was telling me that Anderson absolutely thinks Vitor deserves another shot,” White said. “The next move for him will be Vitor Belfort. If Anderson Silva doesn’t win this fight, Chris Weidman and Vitor.
Perhaps this snippet was taken out of context, but it would appear that Old Dana does not have the utmost faith in his newly-appointed middleweight champion. Luckily, there are guys like Belfort in the UFC who can help “correct” Dana’s lack of faith via a brief motivational beating. If you know what I’m saying.
White also continued to tease the possibility of a Silva-Jones Jr. boxing match, but let’s just take baby steps here. Vitor Belfort is next in line, and he will either rampage through whoever emerges victorious from the Silva-Weidman rubble or end up sucking the wrong set of toes again.
(And to think, it only took a few hours of physical intimidation ”spiritual encouragement” for Dana to see the light.)
In his past three fights, Vitor Belfort has looked less like a physically gifted athlete re-entering the prime of his career and more like the Batman & Robin version of Bane on a bath salt-induced rampage across Brazil.
After racking up consecutive “Knockout of the Night” victories over Michael Bisping (yay!), Luke Rockhold (whatever!) and Dan Henderson (NO, GOD! PLEASE NO! NOOOOOOOO!!!), Dana White recently confirmed with Fox Sports that Belfort will be next in line for a middleweight title shot regardless of who emerges victorious from the Anderson Silva-Chris Weidman rematch at UFC 168:
[Ed] Soares was telling me that Anderson absolutely thinks Vitor deserves another shot,” White said. “The next move for him will be Vitor Belfort. If Anderson Silva doesn’t win this fight, Chris Weidman and Vitor.
Perhaps this snippet was taken out of context, but it would appear that Old Dana does not have the utmost faith in his newly-appointed middleweight champion. Luckily, there are guys like Belfort in the UFC who can help “correct” Dana’s lack of faith via a brief motivational beating. If you know what I’m saying.
White also continued to tease the possibility of a Silva-Jones Jr. boxing match, but let’s just take baby steps here. Vitor Belfort is next in line, and he will either rampage through whoever emerges victorious from the Silva-Weidman rubble or end up sucking the wrong set of toes again.
