MMA Worldwide

Hollywood goes to Strikeforce

Posted by Deshalen Barber on the 7 December 2009 | View Comments

Dan Henderson has finally taken his Hollywood shuffle act over to rival promotion Strikeforce. No single man is more thrilled than Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker who stated, "We are excited to welcome Dan Henderson to Strikeforce," and believes "Dan is one of the world's premiere fighters who has lived out an extraordinary career. We are looking forward to having him compete for us."

Henderson sentiments complimented those of Coker, “I’m very happy to be a part of STRIKEFORCE and their partnership with CBS and SHOWTIME®,"as well as their “growing roster of world class talent will offer me many exciting fights and has the ability to bring many new fans from all around the world to mixed martial arts. I am grateful to (STRIKEFORCE Founder and CEO) Scott Coker for the opportunity to help make this happen and for treating me with the utmost respect throughout our negotiations.”

With all praise being given by Hendo to Strikeforce, he remained positive about his departure from the UFC before he went on to say “I’d also like to thank Dana (White) and the UFC for the opportunities they provided me and I wish them ongoing success. I'll continue to watch their events and I hope they'll tune in to my fights in STRIKEFORCE. After all, I'm a true fan of our fantastic sport and would love only to see MMA continue to grow.”

Meanwhile Dana holds less than enthusiastic emotions toward the schism, to the point he abstractly expresses that "The [expletive] that Dan came in and said in my office and what he wants, it's unrealistic, and he knows it." "And it's basically based off of, 'I heard this guy is making this, and I heard this guy made (this much).' Basically, what everybody gets pissed off about is Tito. 'Oh, I heard Tito is making all this money, and Tito is this and that.' And it's because Tito likes to go out there and stay stuff like that or somebody in his camp did.”

Yet at the end of the day, the negotiations are done and Dan “Hollywood” Henderson has moved on under the premises he is worth more than what the UFC had to offer.

With Strikeforce December 19^th card out of the question, expect Hendo to make an appearance the early part of 2010.