According to a recent article—posted by John Morgan of the fantastic cage fighting Web site known as MMAjunkie.com—the Ultimate Fighting Championship has dealt a knockout blow in the latest round of negotiations with Dan Henderson.
Except in this case, nobody wins.
"We're at a stalemate right now," UFC president Dana White said, according to Morgan's article. "The money that [Henderson] is asking for would make him by far the highest-paid guy in the UFC."
"You know what's [expletive] hilarious?" White asked. "I went to dinner last night, and [Henderson's] lawyer and (Strikeforce CEO) Scott Coker are sitting at dinner together last night. I said, 'What are the [expletive] odds that out of every restaurant in L.A., the one that I go to, these guys are here?'"
"The negotiations are done," White said. "I made [Henderson] an offer, and I guarantee you the offer that I made him, Strikeforce can't pay."
"I like Dan," White said with a smile. "We're totally cool. You'll never hear me say a bad thing about Dan Henderson, other than he's ugly, and that's just the truth."
In another related article written earlier last month by Loretta Hunt, who is the highly respected combat sportswriter from sherdog.com, Hendo felt he was being ignored and treated unfairly by the UFC.
“Yeah, I’m not real thrilled about that,” Henderson said of the plans, according to Hunt's article. “And I like Vitor (Belfort). He’s a good guy and he’s been around for a long time, but I just don’t understand why he gets to jump to the front of the line, especially when I beat him.”
“I think it’s something that might have slipped their minds, that (that fight) happened. I’m not exactly sure. You’ll have to ask them on that, but to me, that’s what it seemed like.”
"I’m OK with fighting (Marquardt); we just have to come up with a deal. Obviously I feel my value has gone up enough to warrant what I’ve asked for. I don’t think I’m being greedy by any means.”
“There’s a lot of numbers being thrown around out there and I feel I should be paid what I ask for. They feel like, I guess, I’m not worth that though.”
My opinion—for what it's worth—is that Hendo, at 39 years of age, knows he is coming to the end of the line, and likewise, he could possibly be looking for that one last big contract, which, at his relatively young age, would send him into retirement a happy and extremely wealthy man.
He deserves it in my view, and he isn't the first (and won't be the last) to demand it either, except my thoughts are that his methods of attaining what he wants are all wrong.
And here's an example of why.
Back in October of 2007, legendary UFC pioneer Randy Couture gave a press conference and stated adamantly that he was severing all ties with the UFC, leaving two contracted fights, a position as an on-air analyst, and his heavyweight championship behind.
He received $250,000 plus $936,000 of PPV revenue for his comeback against Tim Sylvia, according to the LA Times. He also reportedly received a $250,000 purse for defeating Gabriel Gonzaga, as well as a $35,000 bonus for "Fight of the Night" and $787,000 in PPV revenue.
However, apparently it wasn't enough; he had fought for peanuts during the early days of the UFC, and now that the UFC was-making money, he wanted his much deserved slice of the new, sweet, and lucrative UFC pie.
Eventually, however, Couture had no other option but to reconsider his future plans; the two (White and Couture) reached a new agreement, Couture re-signed for a fair amount, became the new UFC heavyweight champion by upsetting Tim Sylvia, and the rest is history. Things worked out fine.
In one of White's newest YouTube.com blogs—during a recent cage-fight event White was attending to cheer on his cousin's debut match—Couture can be seen laughing it up and carrying on with the UFC president.
Keeping in mind what we now know regarding the past friction between the two, this is a somewhat heartwarming scene, one which may or may not have happened if things didn't turn out for the best a few years ago.
Now I'm not saying that's the case here between White and Henderson, but it very well could be; after all, let's be-honest, money is the root of all evil—it destroys even the best of relationships.
Henderson doesn't strike me as a stupid man, but asking for too much money at this stage of his game and expecting the UFC to fall at its knees and hand it over to him may be an exercise in futility.
Henderson and Couture are both pioneers of the fastest growing sport in the world, and both now have the chance to "cash in" for fights they didn't "cash in" on earlier in their careers, for the simple reason that the money wasn't there.
Yet now, where else can Hendo—or Couture, for that matter—go where they will get the chance to compete at the highest level, for the greatest rewards, other than the biggest promotion?
In all fairness, I feel that somewhere deep inside him, Couture knows that he was wrong to leave the UFC back then, and now, in a very similar way, Henderson is going down that same path.
For the sake of his many fans, let's hope Hendo reneges on these high-priced demands and goes forward with acceptance of the UFC's highest offer before it's too late. Otherwise all this negotiating with the UFC becomes a fruitless effort, and one that he, too, may someday regret.
9 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete