A rematch 10 years in the making?
Dan Henderson vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral has been made official for Strikeforce's upcoming show in St. Louis, Missouri on December 4. The match will serve as the event's headliner.
Strikeforce officials alerted MMAmania.com of the booking earlier today.
Former PRIDE and UFC star Dan Henderson was expected to do great things back in April when he made his much-ballyhooed debut under the Strikeforce banner against Jake Shields in the main event of "Saturday Night Fights" on CBS.
And while Shields was counting the days until his promotion release, he obviously was in no hurry to surrender his 185-pound title.
"Hendo" battered the Cesar Gracie disciple en route to a dominant first round in their middleweight championship fight. Shields recovered between rounds and did some dominating of his own, controlling Henderson with a relentless wrestling attack and suffocating top game.
Following his unanimous decision defeat, "Dangerous Dan," who just turned 40, commented on his difficulty in making the 185-pound weight limit.
Now he'll get the chance to prove he still has some gas left in the tank, just at 205.
Henderson narrowly beat the Brazilian under the RINGS banner way back in February 2000. And "Babalu" wants a chance to prove that ten years later, he is the better fighter.
Sobral wasted little time in calling Henderson out following his unanimous decision win over "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler back on June 16 in Los Angeles. It was his first win under the Strikeforce banner since coughing up the light heavyweight title to Gegard Mousasi last August.
"I won't never punch and try to hurt my friends, but I would like to ask for a fight, and all the respect that I have, in the beginning of my career I fought Dan Henderson in Japan and lost to him. I don't want to disrespect, but I would like to fight him. It's going to be 11 years since I fought him. It's a long time, and please, it would be an honor to fight him again, to have the chance to fight Dan Henderson."
"Babalu" got his wish, now only time will tell if he'll regret it.
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more fight announcements for Strikeforce's December 4 event as they break.