Henderson looks to leapfrog Machida with strong UFC 161 bout
By BOB EMANUEL JR. | Scripps Howard News Service
Dan Henderson has been down this path before with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
After Henderson won the middleweight tournament at UFC 17 in 1998, he competed almost exclusively in Japan for nearly a decade. Upon his re-entry to the promotion in 2007, Henderson — then the PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion — lost both title unification bouts.
Henderson then departed for Strikeforce, where he won the light heavyweight title. He returned to the UFC for a third time in 2011, and his victory over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua earned him a title shot against UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
The bout fell through after Henderson injured his knee while training for the September 2012 fight. Ultimately the entire UFC 151 event was canceled.
Henderson failed to reclaim the top contender’s spot earlier this year when he lost to Lyoto Machida.
Despite Machida’s looming fight with Jones, Henderson could possibly leapfrog him with a strong performance against former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans Saturday night in the main event of UFC 161 from the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
“Well I mean obviously that’s something that was supposed to happen last year and didn’t,” Henderson said of the title shot. “And, one day I would like to fight Jon Jones. I feel like I have unfinished business there. But I’ve been 100 percent focused on this fight — not even really even concerned about what happens after. So that’s pretty much it. Rashad’s extremely tough and very dangerous. And, you know, I want to make sure I’m 100 percent focused (on him).”
The main card, which can be seen live on pay-per-view at 4 p.m. HST, also features heavyweights Roy Nelson vs. Stipe Miocic, light heavyweights Ryan Jimmo vs. Igor Pokrajac, women’s bantamweights Alexis Davis vs. Rosi Sexton and heavyweights Pat Barry vs. Shawn Jordan.
The preliminaries, which air at 2 p.m. HST on FX, include welterweights Jake Shields vs. Tyron Woodley; lightweights Sam Stout vs. James Krause; welterweights Sean Pierson vs. Kenny Robertson; and bantamweights Roland Delorme vs. Edwin Figueroa. Two additional preliminaries — lightweights Mitch Clarke vs. John Maguire and bantamweights Yves Jabouin vs. Dustin Pague — can be seen an hour earlier at www.facebook.com/UFC.
