Dana White’s interview on the new ‘UFC Unfiltered’ podcast was a goldmine for information yesterday, and included a glimmer of hope for those fans who’s been calling for a middleweight title fight between the division’s new champion Michael Bisping and his nemesis Dan Henderson.
“I know a lot of people want to see that fight, but there’s so many guys that we would have to jump over to do that fight,” White said on the show. “But most of them are hurt. ‘Jacare’ is hurt, Weidman’s hurt, Rockhold just lost. So I wouldn’t rule it out.”
While there’s undoubtedly a rich history between these two, it would be somewhat of a stretch to give ‘Hendo’ a title shot given that he’s now 45 years-old, has been strongly hinting at retirement, and is only ranked No.13 in the division, and that’s something that White freely admits that he’s having to carefully weigh up.
“He’s saying win, lose or draw, if he fought Bisping in a title fight he would retire,” White said. “But if wins the belt I highly doubt he would retire. I don’t know it’s a tough one. I’ve questioned over the last year whether Henderson should still be fighting at 45, but it’s hard to deny the guy when he’s taking people out the way that he is.”
So, there’s plenty to mull over in that regard, but in the meantime, Georges St. Pierre has announced that he’s set to finally return to the UFC after an extended absence, and he’s indicated an interest in fighting Bisping for the 185lb strap.
That’s a fight that could well overshadow the Bisping Vs Hendo hype, and would also makes more sense from a competitive standpoint at this moment in time.