(That moment you realize you are a fraction of the man Dan Henderson is.)
Few, if any, will ever be able to forget Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s epic battle at UFC 139. It was like that time you watched your dad and your friend’s dad argue over a garden hose at your local pub when you were 12, an argument that quickly devolved into chair throwing, bottle smashing, and frequent use of the “n-word” despite the fact that both participants were white. You and your friend would never be the same again, but to be fair, his dad did say he would return the hose over a week ago, so fuck him.
Now swap your friend’s dad/Shogun with Dana White, and your dad with Dan Henderson, and you’ve pretty much got the gist of these two’s ongoing series of misunderstandings. They’ve butted heads over money before, but now it seems they’ve moved into the territory of straight up verbal warfare. At yesterday’s Calgary press conference, White informed Mauro Ranallo that he had attempted to secure a rematch between Henderson and Rua, but was met with firm opposition by the inventor of the H-bomb:
Yeah, I was trying to put together Dan Henderson vs. Shogun II and Henderson doesn’t want to do the fight. Henderson wants to wait for the winner of either Jonny “Bones” Jones or Anderson Silva. He wants Anderson Silva, if Silva wins, he will make that cut. Otherwise, he wants to fight the winner of Rashad and Jones.
After hearing the above snippet, Henderson took to his Twitter account to respond, where he promptly slayed DW in less than a sentence, responding, “If dana said it then out (assuming he meant “it”) must be true. Lol..”
And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the quickest way possible to piss off your boss, like a boss. If this response had a movie equivalent, it would be How to Lose a Job in Ten Words. And yet, it’s hard to deny what Hendo’s text is getting at. Dana White has led the MMA media astray on several occasions, only to pull the rug out from underneath us when the opportunity struck. You remember that whole Kimbo Slice situation? How about the fact that he was urging Wanderlei Silva to retire weeks before making him a coach on TUF: Brazil? All we’re saying is, Dana’s word is not exactly set in stone. Just ask Paul Daley. Or Miguel Torres.
But considering that Hendo has already turned down a rematch with Lil’ Nog in order to get the next shot at Anderson Silva or Jon Jones, it’s not like Dana’s accusation is out of left field either. And, let’s be honest, Hendo was definitely slowing down in the latter rounds of his UFC 139 fight with Rua, so maybe that has something to do with it. But far be it from us to call our fake dad a liar. Especially when he helped this country win the Revolutionary War.
What say you, Potato Nation? Do you think Hendo is worried a rematch with Shogun could cost him a title shot? Or is DW blowing smoke up our collective asses again?
-J. Jones
