Dan Henderson: 'Anderson Silva is really trying not to fight me -- it's obvious'

I believe Nate deserves it more than Hendo. Hendo’s last couple of fights: Decision win over palhares and KO over Bisping. Marquardt’s: Sub over Horn, got robbed against Leites, TKO over Kampmann, TKO over Gouveia, and a destruction of Maia. IMO those wins marquardt has are much more impressive than Hendo’s last couple of wins. With that said they should definitely duke it out at 105 main event just to clear things up.

I agree RT…but whatever…imo Nate would make short work of Dan anyways…its just a matter of time

Silva only has 3 fights left and then who knows what will happen…I don’t want 2 of those fights to be against guys Silva has beaten soundly so they should definitely have to fight to see who gets one last crack at the champ. I think it would be one helluva fight and I have no idea who would win that one…I’m a big fan of both of those fighters.

Lets just hope Vitor destroys Franklin (as much as I like and respect Rich) so we can see Silva go up against someone new.

Anderson Silva is taking some time off.

Hendo and Nate are both legit #1 contenders.

UFC 105 is in desperate need of a main event.

It’s really quite elementary, my dear Dr. Watson.

Make it happen, Zuffa. Contender eliminator between Nate and Hendo at 105.

IMO what Silva needs is a loss…he is more likely to renew his contract and become re-interested in the 185 divi. if he thinks there’s a possibility he could lose…the best man to beat him is obviously Nate or Dan at this point regardless of whether he’s already beaten them…I get sick of watching the Pistons, Patriots, Red Wings, Yankees’ Red Sox win championship after championship but you don’t hear any respective commish say such things like “well, they are the best team, but the fans are bored of them”…Dan and Nate have both fought their way back to the top and DESERVE another shot despite how boring it may seem

I don’t like the idea at all, but I’m sure it will happen just to satisfied Mr. Silva.

You’re right Mac.

I see no other options for the UFC than booking this fight. Silva can take some time off, or take a fight at 205 (although there aren’t many viable and available opponents any time soon). It is going to be very interesting to see if Dan really does turn down the fight with Marquardt when it is offered to him. Dan really wants his title shot, so he is going to talk openly about it. He may very well be willing to fight Marquardt in a true #1 contender fight, but why would he come out and say it publicly when he was “guaranteed” a title shot after his KO of Bisping? Hendo is no stranger to this game. BUT, he does prefer to fight at 205.

Hey Mac, how many has Boston won in the past 80 something years?

haha…you know what I mean…bad example. You can understand my frustration though being a Jays fan stuck in the best division in all of sports these days…

Interesting side note question?

Which division is the strongest in all of sports? ie. MLB American East, NFL NFC East etc

I’d say the AL East Mac, but the NHL’s Western Conference Central division deserves some consideration after last season.

Four out of five teams made the playoffs. I don’t remember seeing that before. And the Preds, the fifth team, finished ninth in the West and almost got in.

Good call JJ…Detroit won the cup too which is more than I can say about any AL East team last year…

nfc east G-men!!

Yep, and the Western Final in the NHL was Detroit/Chi-town… both Central Division clubs.

In all of sports? La Primera and Premier League are the strongest in all of sports…

AFC South>NFC East top to bottom.

Just scored free tickets to Giants week 1 game vs Redskins!!!!!

I hoping to land tix to the Chargers game as well.

nice!! Chargers will do better this year with “Lights Out” returning

wtf happened to Okami?

DeMarcus Ware sacked his ass, that’s what happened to him. And tell that little punk bitch Eli that he’s next.

Okami is around…and thats it…I don’t get why they cut leites and kept Okami…

BREAKING NEWS…

They just set up Anderson’s next opponent.

I guess he will square off against Ares, the Greek god of war, murder and bloodshed. Anderson has opened up as a -150 favorite.

Henderson can talk about Anderson not wanting to fight him all he likes, but it seems pretty apparent that Dan wants nothing to do with fighting Nate. I don’t blame him either, if he does fight Nate in a contender elimninator, there’s a high probablility he never gets a title shot in the UFC again.

If Anderson seems a little reluctant to fight Dan, it is because he doesn’t want to waste one of his last few fights on a guy he already demolished. Anderson is not worried about losing to Henderson. If Anderson IS going to fight a guy he already beat, he wants it to be against the clear-cut top contender. Nothing wrong with that, IMO.

I don’t know why so many people here have a hard time taking Anderson at his word that he wants to retire from the sport after his contract is up. He will be 36, and he is smart enough to know that his skills will start to deteriorate around then. He doesn’t want to jeopardize his legacy.

He will leave the UFC 13-0, with six title defences and a few of those victories at LHW. That will be more than enough to solidy his status as the best fighter in the history of the sport.

Okami is fighting Sonnen at 104… on the undercard. ’Nuff said.

Not so sure about that JJ. Like I said, Soares doesn’t want to lose his biggest earner and Silva himself said “we’ll see”, so there still hope!

It’s already confirmed by Yahoo! sports. Ares is next.

damnit i missed the red wing talk………im pissed lol….iight JJ you know your stuff because im like the only person I know that knew about how strong the redwings devision was , and that could prove it with stats lol

Thanks JG. And it’s about damn time the Wings had to actually earn their division titles! That division has been a joke for years (minus the Deadthings, of course) and now the tables have definitely turned. St. Louis could be great in a couple years, and Chicago looks very strong right now… but Columbus and Nashville won’t do anything this year IMO. Meanwhile, my Canucks just signed Bobby Lou to a 12-year, 64 million dollar contract. Holy crap!

I unno bout colombus tho,they have a young team and they made the playoffs last year, there only gunna get better. I hated that division my friends (leaf fans) always chirped me saying the devision was the worst in the league and that toronto was in the best lol….damn im excited for hockey lol

Columbus rode a red-hot rookie goaltender to the playoffs. He isn’t going to put up numbers like that this year. As for Toronto fans, they are a bunch of waterheads, although compared to Calgary fans they are NASA engineers. The Northwest division was the toughest for a long time.

Only five teams in the West are GUARANTEED playoff appearances this year (IMHO). Detroit and Chicago in the Central, Vancouver and Calgary in the Northwest, and San Jose in the Pacific. After that, the remaining three spots will be a dogfight. Drop the puck already!

Yeah you might be right about calgary fans but i dont know any lol. All i know is that leafs fans see the wings lose in the finals and they think its like a moral victory for them “hey my teams sucks ass and hasnt won for 40 years but yours was 1 game away from a repeat” thats all i hear in my head lol

Spot on JJ, Hendo is a hypocrite he whines about not getting a rematch with Andy after losing convincingly the first time (holding someone down for a round before getting rocked standing and submitted on the ground is not a good performance) yet is seemingly reluctant to fight Nate. I don’t particularly want to see Andy waste his last fights on people that he has already beaten but at least Nate has earned his shot, by beating top contenders easily, albeit allowing foul play to cost him a decision over Leites (the second point shouldn’t have been docked but he got away with the piledriver at the end so no complaints from me), all Dan has done is survive submissions from Palhares, scrape a decision over Rich and KO Bisping, after he ran to Hendo’s right the whole fight before getting dropped then threw an elbow on a KO’d opponent and joked about it.

To me Hendo-Nate should be the 105 main event, with the winner getting Andy, unless Belfort can smash Rich in which case he should get the first shot and Hendo-Nate can still fight at 105 for the next title shot, which would be Andy’s last defence if he beats Vitor and would allow for another superfight at LHW in between defences. If Dan refuses to fight a legitimate contender then the UFC should sod him off and give Nate or Vitor the next shot. Let him fight Rich in a pointless 205 fight if he’s going to be a baby about it.

has anyone put into consideration they already told dan henderson that he would get the next title shot……..just woundering if any thought of that already

I dont whant to make excuses for Henderson or take anything away from Silva. But Hendos cut to 185 when he fought Anderson wasn’t a very good one. And we all now by now how f** important it is to be healthy and in shape for a fight on this level. Just saying.

I don’t know about that Henderson and Nate are the clear two front runners with out a doubt but Henderson has beat better fighters as of late and through out both their careers. The one punch KO for Nate last fight was exciting but it doesn’t prove he could stand with Silva based on one fight when Dan has been in more top ranked fights and won. Couture who is good at analyzing fights even said style wise Dan has a great shot but only if his endurance greatly improved.

Yeah, Couture is very good at predicting fights. And Dan has one of the most accomplished careers in MMA history, is a 2 division champion, and has tested himself again and again against a Who’s-Who of MMA legends from MW to HW and everything in between. Nate is “Great” but by comparison, he’s just and up-and-comer…there’s no comparison between their resumes and no question who’s more deserving of another title shot.

Why the hell not? Wanderlei/Bisping was the original main event planned for 105, and Penn/Sanchez the one after that. If it wasn’t for BJ continuing to be a little bitch, it WOULD be Penn/Sanchez at 105.

The “third unannounced card in November” you referred to is ALSO a free televised card, expected to be the UFC’s debut on a major network. It is perfectly reasonable to assume Hendo/Marquardt could headline 105. It’s not like these guys are the biggest stars in the UFC.

…

I disagree, Skope, I think if this fight has to happen, it’s ideal for free-tv. The point of putting fights out there for free is to garner new fans. Two top strikers coming off dynamic KOs is exactly the kind of fight that is guaranteed to be exciting and draw new fans, especially if you wanna garner excitement for a championship rematch with the P4P king.

i’m sure those hammerfists gave silva a headache.

Yeah, Nate did much better by curling over like a woman.

diceman, can’t agree with you anymore. Henderson can beat silva if he can just win 3 of the 5 rounds by doing what he did in the 1st rd of their first fight. Marquardt has nothing that silva cant deal with.

Oops scratch that, misread.

I agree with u Jay S.

Lester you are a mor*n. Don’t you remember getting clowned on last time for saying that. Nate lost to Leites.

Jay, so what if one of them loses, thats the sport. After every titleshot, everyone asks “who’s next?”…how about “nobody, yet”. Silva has been destroying people, lets give it to someone who truely deserves it – the winner between Marquardt and Hendo.

If they give Hendo a shot now, then they gotta get the winner to face Marquardt. Who wants to see Silva fight 2 of his last 3 fights against guys he already beat?? – more reason to make em duke it out.

So your saying Hendo and marquardt arent deserving?

Please explain how beatin everyone they put in front of you easily isnt deserving. Forget the Leites fight , its irrelevant .. Leites is a pre-lim guy and always will be , the only reason he won that fight with Nate is cause of the awful point deduction.

Even nate after the fight looked rdy for 3 more rounds while Leites could hardly stand.

Leites might have gotten a W that night , but he also received a beatdown for his troubles.

Marquardt would beat Hendo and give Silva a good fight , much better then Hendo did the first time.

But it wont happen , Hendo doesnt want too fight Marquardt and said he would rather move back up too 205 if he isnt going too get a title shot… So alot of this is moot , If Silva is going on Hiatus and Hendo is moving back too 205 then its just a matter of time before Marquardt gets a shot.

Hendo and Marquardt are both deserving, sure, but why not make them fight to see who’s more deserving.

I agree, Nate only lost to Leites because Herb Dean is an idiot – never liked him. I also think Marquardt would edge Hendo if they fought.

Why wouldn’t anyone want to see Marquardt vs. Henderson??

Markq lost to Leites

watch the fight again JJ.

I’m down with that.

I don’t know John. Nate and Dan did deserve a rematch way more than Franklin did. Dan is making sense by not want to fight Nate at this point. We need contenders in the MW division. And stop thinking always that it is absolutely sure to be Anderson will retire after his contract. Don’t you know that Soares is a f’n shark and he doesn’t want to lose his biggest earner. they will find a way to make the RJJ fight and then you will see the spider back in action in the UFC. I’m almost certain of it. A Silva said that he would love to keep competing in GI and No Gi tourney for his students but he also said that he wasn’t sure of retirement. IMO it make sense to have as many top contender possible for AS. Nate, Hendo, Akiyama, Belfort, Wand, Okami, could all be in the mix for the next title shot and I would be more than happy to see the spider against any of these guys. No need to have them fight each other to only have 1 guy at the end and have nothing after. All that just b/c we think that it would be a waste of the last couples of fight on the spider contract. the truth is that we don’t know for sure what will happen after his contract.

yeah, but nobody wants to even see Anderson fight at MW again, I mean he could fight those guys a 100 times and he would lose at last ‘cause they forced him to by boring him with the same opponents he/we already knows he’s better than.

I don’t agree with that, but that’s just IMO.

Alpha, when Rich got his rematch the division was weak. Also, Rich was a former champion with an event in his home town.

Personally, I think Nate gives Anderson a better fight than Dan. Dan is small compared to Nate and Anderson, and at 38 he hasn’t improved any since the last time they fought. Yes, he did better than Nate against Anderson the first time, but Nate has improved all facets of his game since then, while Dan is still the same fighter, if a little older.

If Nate and Dan do fight, I have little doubt that Nate will win, and earn a shot at Anderson beyond any reasonable doubt.

Anderson is setting up the Roy Jones fight.

The UFC will have to pay him big $$$$ to stop that from happening.

Well JJ, I still don’t believe that it was a good reason to gave Franklin a rematch right after 1 win just b/c it was in his home town, former champ or not. They could had made him fight anyone and the Cincinnati fans probably would’ve dig it anyway. True the division was weak but C’mon, no one was complaining b/c it was a rematch with someone that Silva already face it before.
I find that disappointing for Nate to be honest. I too, believe that he should be able to get thru Dan anyway. But Nate was suppose to have his rematch in the bank if he was winning the Willy G fight. At the press conference that’s him that was asking to fight Damain next so we could have a true #1 contender. I feel that he’s getting shaft again if he got to fight Hendo next. I’m not really sure that Dan should get his chance before Nate but he did merit his chance to face Silva again too, IMO. I would love to have the MW division with more than 1 contender after the next title defence that’s all.

It’s gonna happen even if the UFC doesn’t want to. He said that he already signed something for that fight if I remember correctly.

Damn you Jackscan! You got me on this one!

Quit feeding the trolls, Alph.

I know, damnit! I’m not proud of myself!

Hahaha!

Alpha said: “I would love to have the MW division with more than 1 contender after the next title defence that’s all.”

I hear what you’re saying Alpha, but I think we’re better off having only ONE of Dan or Nate getting a title shot, because they are recycling title fights. If you give either of them a shot now, you have to give the other guy a shot next, and that makes things stale at the top of the MW division.

The best way to settle this is to have Dan and Nate fight each other. Then, while the smoke clears and Silva defends against the winner, a new contender or two will emerge with guys like Belfort, Wand and Okami looking to climb the ladder.

You have a good point JJ but the fact remains Silva needs to fight by the end of the year and in my opinion Dan is the best fighter that will be ready to fight by the end of the year. Henderson’s weakest opponent since entering the UFC has been Bisping who is better than any fighter Nate has faced besides maybe Maia rember it was only last year he lost to Leites as well.

Silva will fight on the New Year’s or Superbowl card, and I think that fight will be at 205.

Sadly enough, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s against Methuselah™, since Randy is a huge draw and the other big-name LHWs are booked.

There is one other fighter I would like to see that may be ready in time and thats Wandy I know a lot may not agree with Wandy’s latest fights but if there is one fight that may bring out the old Wandy it would be this one. The man fights with aggression and passion he also knows Anderson style very well and possibly knows his weaknesses along with the bad blood as of late could end up being a great fight. The two questions on this one will wandy be ready to fight by at least the Super bowl weekend and is it a fight worth risking with only three fights left on Andersons contract? Maybe I’m to big of fan of Wandy’s to believe he has a chance but I think it’s a fight just as worthy as any to risk because most likely Anderson will win all three of his next fights?

First, Wand and Anderson just buried the proverbial hatchet, so if they are friends again they won’t want to fight each other.

Secondly, Wand has done absolutely NOTHING to warrant a title shot or a fight with the Spider. He has lost every fight he’s had in the UFC with the exception of Jardine, and is a brutal 1-5 in his last six fights. He has a lot of work to do to be considered for a title fight.

Thirdly, Wand would get absolutely CRUSHED by Anderson. A lot has changed since they were in Chute-Box together, and a fight between them right now would be one of the most one-sided beatdowns I can imagine. Look at the way Rich countered Wand and picked him apart, and consider what the conunter-punching, hand speed and accuracy of Anderson would do. Wand needs a win at MW to boost up his confidence, not a career-ending skull-caving.

LOL I agree with JJ Puck I love Wandy too and you know that but there is no way he deserves a shot over other fighters that have earned it. He would probaly put up a better fight than Forrest but it would still be a dominated fight by Anderson.

JJ,I disagree homie. Things wouldn’t be as bad as what you’re saying with my scenario. With what I’m saying we gonna have 2 title defence, while waiting for the other contenders instead of 1 with your what your saying.The fight would be for 105 at the earliest then it would take 3 to 6 months(Silva might fight at 205 during that time) before we get a title fight. Then it would take 3 more months (if we’re lucky… they absolutely need to win, so it’s a wild guess)before another title fight from the new contenders. IMO they all should win twice minimum before being considered legit contenders. That put us with only 1 title defence, maybe 2 in 1 year, IF everything going according to the plan.

With my “stale” scenario, it would make 2 (sure) title fights, maybe 3. Recycle fights or not, if they are the true #1 contenders in the division, nobody should cry about that. It’s the last 3 fights of AS… so what? We are talking about 2 guys that are top 5 MW in the world anyway. It’s not Cote and Leites. Anderson can retire if he want and nobody will have the right to complain IMO. People cry about it’s a waste of time… well deal with it. The guy is MW champ, he have to fight at MW if he want to keep the belt. If he want to test himself at 205 for the rest of is contract and complain about the contender at MW, well he should leave the belt. I don’t think that he would lose endorsements or money for the remaining of his contract. Other Champs did it before him. He could retire as the greatest MW ever anyway b/c he wouldn’t have lost the belt.

Anyway I don’t feel to argue on this and I’m sure that you gonna find a good way to tell me that I’m wrong, so that’s fine. Let them fight anyway that’s probably what the UFC gonna do.

Nice post Alph, you make some great points. I like contender eliminator fights, and 105 needs a meaningful main event, so I’m sticking to my guns.

I’d rather these two guys determine who the true #1 is, so that Anderson’s final MW defence is against a guy he’s never faced, such as Vitor. A new scalp on his resume. Nice argument though. :-)

lol, thanks, though I knew that it wouldn’t change your mind anyway. I was feeling like it was wasting my time, but I did it anyway. So Thanks to tell me in a delicate way that I have a good post for nothing, I appreciated. ;)

LOL, no prob.

haha bro

How do you know that Anderson wouldn’t accept that fight? I think he would jump at the opportunity but it doesn’t really matter because Fedor will never be in the ufc.

I know he’s tough to market, but if Okami can put on a good performance against Sonnen, then get another big fight soon (I mean a top guy), I would like to see him get a crack – nobody can say he doesnt deserve it.

I would like to see Anderson at LHW more. Maybe a fight against Rampage or a LHW titleshot (assuming ofcourse Machida is not the champ). I know Dana’s tryin to pit Silva and Machida together, but that will NEVER happen…he’s got a better chance at signing Fedor.

Not wanting to fight somebody because you would like a new challenge is different than avoiding them. Anderson knows he will kick Hendo’s ass and doesn’t want to waste one of the remaining fights of his career doing it.

To me it’s still avoiding…..just for another reason.

If not wanting to fight Dan is the same as Anderson avoiding him then you are correct Mike Z. I’m sure that he would go out of his way to avoid fighting me also.

I dunno. With that right hand, he can put anyone to sleep. His left isn’t too bad either (ko’ing Wandy).

Hendo has defeated HW, LHW, and MW. Big Nog, Carlos Newton, Gilbert Yvel, Babalu, Renzo, Ninja, Bustamante twice, Wandy, Rich Franklin, Bisping. He has more than a small chance in my opinion. Olympic wrestling, incredible power, granite chin….He is the only hope the MW division has in dethroning Anderson. He’s a much better 205 pounder I think but he’s still a tough challenge for Anderson

If machida stays undefeated and Silva wins another one Dana stated that he would make the fight happen one way or another and that the not fighting because they are friends is BS this is a sport and friends can still be friends after they compete.

Yeah, that will be a really exciting main event when they both circle each other for 25 minutes and don’t throw a punch.

If two guys don’t want to fight, they’re not going to fight, and Dana can’t force them. DW is just puffing his chest out and talking crap again, and as usual the livestock are eagerly lapping it out of their troughs. Dana is not going to risk pissing off two of the best fighters on his roster, and these guys aren’t going to let him bully them.

This fight is never going to happen, and if it does it will be an embarressment to the sport and Dana. These two will make Silva/Leites look like Couture/Nog.

he is not going to make them fight, he has to get swick,kos, and fitch to fight first those guys are all near the top of there devision and have not fought each other yet and you expect to see dana make two champs from different devisions fight? it won’t happen.

LOL could very well be. Machida has got more aggressive his last two fights but they were no Silva and you never know sometimes two similar styles could turn into a great fight once one hit’s the other with a strike they could put on a great show. It’s pointless talking about it unless they agree to fight each other and I don’t know what the chances are of that happening no matter what anyone says