Former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Dan Henderson has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons by indicating that he would be interested in moving up to fight Junior Dos Santos for the heavyweight title at UFC 146 on May 26th.
Asked by a fan on Twitter if he would take the fight with Alistair Overeem seemingly now out due to a failed drugs test, ‘Hendo’ simply replied, “For sure.”
That’s interesting given that the UFC currently have a problem on their hands deciding who should fight JDS next, and with the most obvious choices in Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez appearing to have been ruled out by UFC president Dana White, only Fabricio Werdum has so far emerged as a potential opponent for the champion.
To my mind Henderson Vs JDS sounds like the kind of fight that could reinvigorate the UFC 146 fight card, moreso than Werdum could, and lets not forget that he also holds a win over Fedor Emelianenko last year at heavyweight.
This is a different proposition altogether though as Emelianenko has always been light for the heavyweight division, while Dos Santos is a big, solid 240lb’er who’d also enjoy a 5″ height and 6″ reach advantage if he were to step into the Octagon with the former middleweight fighter.
Personally I think Henderson would be wise to back away from this fight and concentrate on facing the winner of Jon Jones Vs Rashad Evans for the 205lb title, a fight he’s already been all but guaranteed.
You have to take your hat off to him for being willing to consider such a ballsy move however, and it confirms that he’s not trying to duck hard fights at the age of 41 despite having recently turned down the chance to fight against both Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and rematch Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in favor of waiting for a title shot.
