Dana White Says Dan Henderson Turned Down a Rematch with Shogun

For what was one of the best fights of 2011 between Dan Henderson and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, MMA fans would have been down to see the two light heavyweight legends do it all over again.

Too bad Henderson didn't want it, according to a recent interview that UFC president Dana White did with The Score's Mauro Ranallo.

"I was trying to put together Dan Henderson versus Shogun II (for UFC 149), and Henderson doesn't want to do the fight," White said at a recent UFC press conference in Canada. "Henderson wants to wait for the winner of either Jon "Bones" Jones and Rashad Evans or Anderson Silva. He wants Anderson Silva. If Silva wins, he'll make that cut. Otherwise, he wants to fight the winner of Rashad and Jones."

Henderson defeated Shogun at UFC 139 in November. The back-and-forth war saw both fighters dominate the action at different points in the fight, and the end result left Henderson with a very close unanimous decision win.

Preceding that victory were impressive knockout wins over Fedor Emelianenko, Renato Sobral and Rafael Cavalcante. His win over "Feijao" won him the Strikeforce light heavyweight title.

The loss to Hendo was Rua's third loss in his last five bouts. His only wins since 2010 have come against Lyoto Machida and Forrest Griffin, both of which were rematches. In fact, Rua is 4-0 in rematches.

Former champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is facing Rua on an undetermined date, but he will have to undergo double knee surgeries first.

Reigning light heavyweight champion Jones will be defending his title against Evans in April at UFC 145. Middleweight champ Silva will defend his title against Chael Sonnen in a rematch of their 2009 fight in June. Silva defeated Henderson at UFC 82.