Henderson braces for biggest battle
When Dan Henderson started fighting 13 years ago, mixed martial arts was simply a way to use his wrestling talent to make some money and help fund his goal of making a third U.S. Olympic team in 2000.
He never made that third Olympic team, but the path he started led him to succeeding in many other areas. Henderson (25-7), the only man in history to hold major promotion world titles simultaneously in two different weight divisions, is looking for his first championship win in three years when he faces Strikeforce middleweight titleholder Jake Shields (24-4-1) on Saturday night at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
It's Henderson's first fight since UFC 100 on July 11, arguably the biggest event in the sport's history, and certainly in North America. But Henderson sees his Strikeforce debut, which airs live on CBS, as just as big.
"They're about the same," said Henderson, 39, who held the PRIDE championships at both 183 and 205 pounds when the organization folded in 2007. "I wasn't in the main event at UFC 100. But this time I'm in the main event of prime-time network television."
In reality, it's the biggest event in Henderson's headlining career. MMA has neither been a huge success nor a failure on network television. The overall numbers are considerably less than what normal CBS programming would do on Saturday nights. But MMA, with a heavy male adult audience that usually isn't going to watch CBS on Saturday nights, brings the network new advertisers who target that market.
Past CBS shows have drawn largely based on the marquee star. Kimbo Slice and Fedor Emelianenko have pulled acceptable numbers. Shields, on his own, could not. Henderson has had more U.S. exposure than Emelianenko, and is a better fighter than Slice. But he doesn't have the aura as the best fighter on the planet like Emelianenko, nor is he a mainstream name like Slice.
Strikeforce as a company seems to have been gaining television momentum in recent months. The last major Showtime event, on Jan. 31, featuring Herschel Walker, was the third-highest rated MMA event in its four years on the premium cable station. The last minor Showtime event, on March 26, with little fanfare, blew away all records for the company's secondary "Challengers Series" events.
Appearing on CBS was a major part of Henderson's decision to sign with Strikeforce after contract negotiations with UFC hit an impasse after his his knockout win over Michael Bisping. Henderson had reached a new level of popularity in North America, largely due to his appearance as a coach of Season 9 of "The Ultimate Fighter," followed up by his win.
"I'm glad to be fighting on CBS," he said. "There's no bigger platform. CBS was a big part of my decision. It wouldn't have brought me over just to be on CBS. But I was able to also have some big challengers as far as fights go. [Strikeforce has] a pretty good roster of fighters now, and that's why I was excited to come, not only for the money, because without the challenges, it wouldn't excite me. I'm very excited about fighting Jake Shields and the challenge in that."
Henderson, eternally low-key and quiet in public, played off as Bisping's opposite as rival coaches on the show, pitting Team U.S. vs. Team U.K. Bisping won the coaching battle with his fighters taking the contracts in the reality show. But Henderson won the war with a highlight-reel second-round knockout that was the most memorable single blow on the most-widely viewed MMA event in U.S. history.
At that same moment, his contract expired. There was some frustration on Henderson's part, since UFC president Dana White had told him he would get a shot at middleweight champion Anderson Silva, only to have Silva's side turn it down, citing Silva's 2007 win over Henderson via choke. There were also significant money issues. Strikeforce CEO and promoter Scott Coker thought Henderson was using the promotion for leverage to strike a better deal with UFC, but they struck a deal at the end.
"Money was part of it," said Henderson, who said he hasn't looked back once on his decision after making it. "I felt I was asking for fair market value for what I was worth. I thought I was asking for a fair price. They didn't. And I declined their offer."
Henderson, a few months shy of 40, has usually gone into fights as the little guy, who doesn't know he's the little guy because of the power in his right hand and his wrestling skills. Right now he walks around at 203 pounds. He spent most of his career at light heavyweight, fighting guys who were naturally 20 pounds or more heavier. Earlier in his career, he even fought several fights in open weight competition against heavyweights, including once beating a young Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by a controversial decision.
Saturday's fight will be different, though, as Shields, who has won 13 straight fights, cuts from 195. Shields has fought most of his career as a welterweight, where he held the championship in the defunct Elite XC promotion. When he submitted Robbie Lawler, who held Elite XC's middleweight title and was the highest ranked middleweight on the Strikeforce roster, suddenly he found himself up a weight class.
He captured the title with a win Jason "Mayhem" Miller via decision on Nov. 7 in Chicago in a CBS match which was criticized for its lack of excitement.
"The one thing I want to do is make sure he doesn't hump me on the ground for five rounds," said Henderson, in reference to the Miller match.
"I think he's dangerous," said Henderson. "I think that he's very good at doing certain things, taking people down, ground and pound, passing to their back and choking them. I have to avoid getting in that position."
Henderson feels he's stronger standing, a better wrestler, and just as good a grappler, but the key is he has to hold himself back from being too aggressive standing, which would leave him open for being taken down.
"In straight wrestling, I feel I can beat him seven days a week," he said.
But both men concede the likelihood that in a five-round fight, each may get advantage time.
"I think this fight will be on the feet, on the ground, everywhere. I think it has potential to be an exciting fight," said Henderson.
"I think it's going to be everywhere," said Shields. "He's a tough guy to take down and I'm a tough guy to take down, but I think I'll take him down for sure and he'll take me down for sure."
