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 The will he / won't he thing going on with Dan Henderson possibly going to Strikeforce continues, with Dana White saying Dan has "1000%" already signed with Strikeforce and everyone else involved (Dan, Dan's manager, and Scott Coker) saying he hasn't. The big question now is whether we're just splitting hairs over the status of the situation: even if he's not technically signed by Strikeforce yet, it is something he's at least looking into:“Honestly, I got a call from Dan's management a couple of days ago telling me Dan had turned down the UFC's offer,” Coker said. “I guess the UFC made an offer and put a deadline on it. They turned it down and were calling to talk to me, but I told him I have this huge fight and there's a tremendous amount going on and I couldn't really deal with it at this point.” The vibe I get off this article (another slanty Kevin Iole piece, although to his credit he at least included the other side of the story this time) is there's a chance Coker and Hendo are playing coy to make some announcement this Saturday. But honestly ... there are better things to lie about than Dan's signing status. Plus, what I get off this situation is that Dan and Strikeforce haven't even talked money yet, and even then, is Dan Henderson really going to go to Strikeforce based on the principle that at least they're paying him a 'fair' (albeit smaller) chunk of cash than the UFC? I doubt it, but I guess we'll see.  Ego / Respect can make people do strange things.  The Showtime/CBS people enjoy making big splashy announcements. Wouldn't be surprised if "he hasn't signed" is simply a semantic dodge so they can say no, he actually signs a contract today or tomorrow, and they make an announcement tomorrow night.  At least if Hendo goes to Strikeforce, it's highly likely we'll see Hendo vs Mousassi fairly soon. And that would be pretty awesome.  save the announcement for after the fights. keeps the steam going  The only cool thing that could come of this would be a 39 year old Hendo crushing SF's 24 year old golden child. Which is WHAT WOULD HAPPEN.  "At least if Hendo goes to Strikeforce, it's highly likely we'll see Hendo vs Mousassi fairly soon. And that would be pretty awesome."Yes. FUCKING INCREDIBLE! More psyched bout that then Silva / Hendo 2  Hendo vs Mousasi? Erection. mousasi hasn't faced a heavy handed iron chinned rasslers beforebut if he is slick enough he may be able to sub him....and even if he gets past hendo he's going to have to deal with a young version of hendo in king mo hell King Mo vs Hendo sounds good to, same for Hendo vs Filho with the whole Dream Strikeforce thing lets face it after matchups with marquardt and a vitor rematch what was left for hendo at middleweight in the UFC? No much is left for Hendo at MW in the UFC but he does deserve a rematch with Anderson. Also, Hendo has mentioned that he prefers to fight at 205 of which there is plenty for him to do in the UFC. people are forgetting that Strikeforce has non-exclusive contracts. My guess is that if Hendo signs with Strikeforce for less money, it is because he wants to also fight overseas and make the almighty Japanese dollar, cuz he's a huge star over there. "is Dan Henderson really going to go to Strikeforce based on the principle that at least they're paying him a 'fair' (albeit smaller) chunk of cash than the UFC? I doubt it, but I guess we'll see."The difference between whatever the UFC's offering and whatever Strikeforce is willing to pay might not be that big. If Mousasi beats Sokoudjou as expected he'll have no one to fight besides maybe someone like Arona/Filho. Neither of those fights seem particularly compelling right now, and if they wanted it to be a title fight those guys would have to pick up at least one visible decent win in the near future to get the shot. They might be willing to pay relatively big bucks to acquire any highly ranked UFC LHW, just to get a big fight for Mousasi. Obviously they're limited to guys who are willing to sign with them, and whose contracts are running out at the right time. If the UFC gets wind that a fighter might not resign with them, they're likely to delay the last fight on the contract until the last minute, which screws over both the fighter and Strikeforce, further reducing their options. The UFC may have made a substantial error by not renegotiating Henderon's contract before the Bisping fight, since he's now free to shop around elsewhere without worrying about the UFC delaying his fights. He's coming off a big televised win as well, so his value is quite high. He's a big enough name and a good enough fighter that Strikeforce can give him an instant shot if they sign him. Even if he loses in his debut they can give him a fight or two at MW. It could just be a ploy to get a better offer from the UFC, but given that his value to Strikeforce is very high it's believable that they'd give him a big enough offer to get him, especially if he feels spiteful towards the UFC. "My guess is that if Hendo signs with Strikeforce for less money, it is because he wants to also fight overseas and make the almighty Japanese dollar, cuz he's a huge star over there." While fighting in Japan may offer him some easy cash in between Strikeforce fights, I don't think it's a big motivating factor. I get the impression that Henderson wasn't really that big there. He didn't have the dominance/excitement factor that guys like Wanderlei/Crocop/Fedor/Nogueira had. He didn't have the freakshow factor like Sapp, or the Japanese fighter/legacy factor like Sakuraba/Yoshida/Kid/etc. He might have gone somewhere after his Wanderlei win but Pride collapsed. Also, there aren't a huge number of matchups for him in Japan. WVR only has Misaki rematch/winner of Kalidov vs Santiago at MW, and Dream pretty much has no one besides Filho(assuming he'd fight guys like Jacare/Mousasi in Strikeforce). I suppose he doesn't need that many fights in Japan in between his Strikeforce bouts anyway, but I don't see them handing him decent cash to do it relative to his UFC/Strikeforce offers. It's really quite simple: If Hendo's goal is to make the most money he can fighting, then the answer is the UFC. If, on the other hand, Hendo's goal is to fight the most challenging opponents possible, then by Gawd, the answer is the UFC. If, finally, his goal is to give Dana White the finger... well, then anything's possible. Perhaps he's hoping on Prime-time sponsorships paying the difference?It'll take time to build if it even works at all.
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