Why Dan Henderson Chose To Sign With Strikeforce
by Kelvin Hunt on Dec 7, 2009 5:00 PM EST
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PrintHenderson Talks about the decision with Sherdog:
The decision was based on a number of things. It wasn’t just a financial thing. It was the fact that I felt I wasn’t getting the fight that I wanted in the UFC. That was a big part of that -- that I wasn’t and that it got yanked away from me. I think I stepped up for the UFC a number of times and had earned that right again for a title fight. And the fact that publicity-wise, CBS offers quite a bit more than a pay-per-view and Spike TV.
I don't know what he's talking about when he said he stepped up for the UFC a number of times, maybe he's referring to being a coach on TUFor something. So I can't really comment on that. Henderson did receive back to back title fights in the UFC, only to lose both of those fights. So I don't know if he has a leg to stand on in that regard, because he's already lost the fight in wants in Anderson Silva. However, I do agree that the UFC did him dirty in regards to telling him he would fight for the title with a win over Bisping, only to publicly give that fight to Vitor Belfort shortly after that. If Dana White had any doubts about who would be facing Anderson Silva next, he should not have publicly stated that Henderson would get the next shot at Silva with a win over Bisping at UFC 100.
Henderson speaks on the UFC's decision to ban his own clothing line called Clinch Gear while he was negotiating with the UFC:
Well, at least I’ll be able to have Clinch Gear on in the cage when I fight for Strikeforce. The banning didn’t really affect anything though. When the UFC called and said that we could no longer sponsor (other fighters), that we were banned from the UFC, I wasn’t mad at all. It was more funny to me than anything that they would do that. Dana has stated to me that it was nothing personal and that there were no hard feelings at all. If there were no hard feelings, why would they ban a clothing line? We already had a deal; we were paying for the right to sponsor guys just like every other sponsor was. For them to come back and say just because Dan hasn’t re-signed a deal yet, we’re banned.
Henderson: Absolutely. Things like that aren’t necessary and for them to do that in the middle of negotiations doesn’t make me feel respected. It’s more of a strong-arm tactic and a lot of people turn the other way when that happens. To me, it was just funny. I didn’t take it personally, but it just seemed a little contradictory to the ‘no hard feelings’ thing.
Myself and MMA4Real reader Felix were discussing this in the other thread about Henderson signing with the UFC. This is only one side of the story, but it appears that Henderson is saying that the UFC banned Clinch Gear because he refused to sign the deal the UFC offered him. If that's true, then that's absolute bush league on behalf of the UFC.
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I want to hear what Dana says about the Clinch Gear thing before I draw a conclusion about that.
I dont think it was like when they banned Affliction, so we will see.
One thing that I thought was odd on the last Strikeforce show:
Mousasi, who was fighting Dan’s teammate Sokoudjou, had Clinch Gear on his shorts. Is it bad to sponsor a team mates opponent, or just business?
@fjbar75 on twitter...formerly El Mexicutioner
Aaron Crecy's comments on the UG after it went down last month...
“Let me clear a few things up. Dan Henderson owns the Clinch Gear, and I manage that business for him. We did have an agreement with Zuffa and were paying them monthly for the right to sponsor fighters in the UFC. The WEC does not currently charge a fee.
I received a phone call from a Zuffa representative about 10 days ago informing me that Dana decided to terminate our agreement and ban Clinch Gear from the UFC and WEC because Dan declined their most recent contract offer. Considering Zuffa’s history, it was neither surprising nor unexpected—it’s just business. If Dan ever returns to the UFC, I would imagine that the ban on Clinch Gear will be lifted.
Zuffa has every right to ban Clinch Gear, so we are appreciative that they allowed us to follow through with the three fighters we had previously agreed to sponsor for UFC 105, as I would have hated to leave those guys in a lurch the week before the event."
by The Real T-Bone on Dec 7, 2009 6:36 PM EST up reply actions
why?
for the money, that’s" why". it’s ALWAYS about the money. if people want to make it out as a “respect” thing, fine but don’t forget those vlogs where hendo was hugging and buddying up to dana white, every chance he could. hell if he would have re-signed with the ufc, i’m sure the ban would have been lifted, so that can’t be a reason. lol@ fans who think this is anything more to do than with money.
i like the signing as well and look forward to some great matchups for hendo, but can’t help but wonder if there will be a trickle down effect. guys like shields and gegard won’t be pleased as punch that they are probably only making 1/4 of the money as the guy who is challenging them for THEIR titles, just like fighters wanted “fedor” money after sylvia got 800k. everybody wanted a million to fight fedor and fighters will want more money to fight hendo as well. gegard and jake have alread both eluded to the fact that they want to be in the ufc someday, but if they get beat by hendo, how bad will the ufc want them? their value could lessen, so they will want to be compensated for the risk.
i think SF just put themselves in the “we are in competiton with the ufc” mode if they hadn’t already with fedor, wehter they deny it or not. i see alot of fans bagging on white already as the “evil dana” and portraying coker as the"lovable scotty", but SF isn’t even a drop in the bucket compared to the ufc, yet. they have no choice but to kiss ass, play nice, and share fighters. hell, i can remeber when white and co. 1rst started out they were alot like this, more than willing to bring chuck to japan and co-promote with Pride. now they have a billion dollar company to run with hundreds of fighters and thousands? of employees alltogether to think of. lets wait and see if Strikeforce does actually become a legit threat to the ufc and see if the kep the same “pleasantries” and coker plays nice all the time when he has to make more decisions in a week than he ever did in his life.
will we look back on this day as the day the mma world changed or as the day Strikeforce bit off more than they can chew? only time will tell. :-)
As bdw said it is all about money. Dan thought he was worth a certain ammount and the UFC didn’t concur. Neither side was willing to bend enough to placate the other and therefore a deal couldn’t be reached. That’s it. Sadly I think Dan fails to realize that a fighter’s marketability comprises more than their win/loss record.
As far as Clinch Gear goes, it was a simple business decision. The UFC is in the position where it can pick and choose its ad contracts. It is only good business to drop a brand that is owned by an employee of your competition. The timing was simply when the UFC withdrew from negotiations. At that point they knew that no matter where Dan ended up it wouldn’t be in the UFC so they naturally dropped a future competitor’s ad contract. It happens on a daily basis throught the business world.
Some people are like Slinkies... not really good for anything, but you still can't
help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs...
yep
wether it’s dan and his contract or him not having to pay SF a fee to wear his line of clothes, or both combined (most likely scenario), it’s all about the money$. :)
by bdw on Dec 8, 2009 1:59 PM EST up reply actions
Oh
I know it’s all about the money…however, they could have let dude promote his clothing(and help the fighters they were sponsoring get paid) until he actually signed with someone else…I mean they were paying a fee to the UFC to sponsor the guys anyways…
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