MMA News Forums » MMA Forums » General MMA Forum

[The Sensational One]

BROOMFIELD, Colo. – While the UFC will remain firmly in the MMA spotlight for the next 10 days with two more shows on the horizon, that focus will briefly shift in April for Strikeforce's second-ever CBS-broadcast event.

Headlining the April 17 "Strikeforce: Nashville" card is Strikeforce middleweight champ Jake Shields as he meets former UFC star Dan Henderson.

Following Sunday night's post-UFC on Versus 1 press conference, UFC president Dana White said he's not very fond of the matchup, but he is keeping an eye on Shields.

"Dan Henderson is fighting [expletive] Jake Shields," White said to MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com). "Come on. Are you serious? Jake Shields is 170 pounds, and he's their (185-pound) champion.

"And I just found out today that they're running commercials on [CBS], and the commercials are like three seconds, and it basically says, 'MMA legend Dan Henderson,' and he hits a heavy bag, I guess, and looks back at the camera. That's the [expletive] commercial. How about, 'Jake Shields is our [expletive] champion'?"

Strikeforce recently began airing those teaser spots on CBS during the network's broadcast of the highly watched NCAA men's basketball tournament. White believes the angle of the advertising, as well as the matchup itself, makes determining Strikeforce's motives simple.

"Jake Shields is on the last fight of his contract, so they're feeding him to Dan Henderson right now because they want to get rid of him because he's going to go away, or they're going to have to pay him some big money to stick around or whatever the deal is," White said. "'We're paying more money to Dan Henderson than we can afford already, so let's get Jake's ass kicked by Dan Henderson and get rid of Jake Shields.'

"It's such [expletive] bush-league [expletive], and you guys know it. They're a [expletive] joke. Showtime's always been a joke with all their sports programming, and this is no different."

White said he clearly favors Henderson in the matchup, but if Shields can pull off the upset, he should expect a call from the UFC.

"If Jake Shields could pull that off, that would be incredible, and good for him," White said. "He's going to get paid because what's going to happen is we would love to take him from there, and I'm sure they'd love him to stick around.

"I will help drive that [expletive] number right up through the roof and let the Showtime boys pay him a lot of money so that Jake can stick it right up their ass. 'I just choked out Dan Henderson, and now you [expletives] are going to pay me for trying to stick it up my ass. I'm going to stick it up yours.'"

White said he wouldn't rule out bidding for Shields even if he lost the fight. The UFC exec said the absurdity of the matchup means the responsibility for a defeat wouldn't fall directly on Shields' shoulders.

"The fight makes no sense," White said. "You're going to fight Dan Henderson at 185 (pounds) when you're really the 170-pound champion? That's how [expletive] up that company is, and they're our competitor."

But while White is comfortable admitting he's willing to go after one of Strikeforce's biggest stars, he was far less forthcoming when his competitor's biggest asset was mentioned.

When pressed as to whether the delay of Fedor Emelianenko's return to the Strikeforce cage had anything to do with the UFC, White had more questions than answers.

"What's going on?" White asked. "Why isn't he fighting? That's weird."

And in typical eyebrow-raising fashion, White chose to leave more ambiguity than clarity in the ongoing saga surrounding "The Last Emperor."

"I don't know (if he has a contract with Strikeforce)," White said. "If he doesn't, that would be interesting, wouldn't it?"

White says "we'd love to take" Shields, plays coy regarding Emelianenko | MMAjunkie.com


Pretty interesting.

[macewen]

I see Dana took up cursing...thats different

[Badluck33]

its obvious Dana knows more than we think when it comes to Fedor.....

I also think that there IS more going on that every one is let on.

Croker says contract is very close to being done and they are in the 11th hour, then he says he has no idea when it'll get done....

weird?

[Chute_Boxe44]

Interresting indeed. Same ol Fedor bullshit, but the Shields info is pretty cool. He actually brings up a good point about the Henderson fight. I mean Shields IS a 170 fighter, he just recieved the offer to fight Lawler cause there was no one else and he happened to win. Now they throw Henderson at him who is a legit 205er. It's pretty crazy when you think about it. Just imagine if Dan losses this fight (although I reeeeeeeeeeally doubt it) and how bad it will look on him. And if he does win (as he should) I'm still not going to be amazed or anything. It's just that everyone is caught on the "I wanna see Shields get KTFO" train that they'r not standing back and actually looking at the fight for what it is. Now don't get me wrong, I'll be watching the fight of course. I'm just saying Dana does make an interresting point.

[GL Jeff]

Fuck Dana is like Lex Luthor. You never know whats really going on in his head,but its crazy. I could see Dana forcing the price tag of a few fighters up to force SF to either give them up or over pay them,forcing their coffers to drain.

[mma #1 fan]

cool hope Jake can make some real cash out of this . on the Fedor news well blah blah blah he needs to get the fuck out of the news and in to the cage is all i can say . i dont see how fighting every 18 months keeps this guy at he 1# fighter in the world spot and with all the bad ass mofo's the ufc has in the hwd. He must fight them or some people need to let the thought go of him being #1 . just my thoughts

[RonPaulForPeace]

sheilds is the 185lb champion, if he didnt wanna fight 185ers then he should of fought for and won the title. stop making excuses for dana being a idiot. its like bj fighting at 170 and gsp beating him, bj fought there cause he wanted to and lost. sheilds is a fighter he aint gonna complain cause hes fighting a bigger guy, fighters fight bigger guys all the god damn time. dana just wants to make dan look stupid for taking a title shot over there, instead of letting dana fuck him over some more , promising this and that.

[rough-n-tumble]

So if GSP won the belt at 185, wouldn't he really be a 170 guy with the 185 belt? Why did he even allow Penn GSP 2 and why would he let GSP & A Silva fight in upper weights classes? White could never say anything that could legitimatize another org.

[GL Jeff]

Originally Posted by AMMATank

sheilds is the 185lb champion, if he didnt wanna fight 185ers then he should of fought for and won the title. stop making excuses for dana being a idiot. its like bj fighting at 170 and gsp beating him, bj fought there cause he wanted to and lost. sheilds is a fighter he aint gonna complain cause hes fighting a bigger guy, fighters fight bigger guys all the god damn time. dana just wants to make dan look stupid for taking a title shot over there, instead of letting dana fuck him over some more , promising this and that.

Actually he moved to 185 because SF pushed him their because Diaz was starting to fight at 170 and they wanted him champion. Not to mention both guys are friends and trained under the same BJJ black belt. It was easier for Shields to move up, because their was no competition for him at 170 anymore.

Dan does look stupid, he asked for more money,didnt get it, then went to SF for less.

[RonPaulForPeace]

dan left ufc for his self respect, he was told he was getting a title shot for squashing bisping but then they throw vitor in there who was owned by hendo before. he left for good reasons, he aint gonna let ufc fuck him over like that, he did what he had to do. i respect him for it. i dont think money had anything to do with it, he wanted what was promised to him and dana did what he does and fuck his fighters over