Strikeforce: Nashville
Posted by GameSetMatch on 16th April 2010
With the dissolution of Pride and much of the big-ticket Japanese scene, the UFC has experienced virtually no major defections of talent in the past five years. Tito Ortiz threatened, but eventually relented; Fedor Emelianenko, the highest-profile missing person, was never theirs to begin with.
What is remarkable about Saturday’s Strikeforce card (their second for CBS) is that it will feature the first Zuffa-endorsed, highly visible, highly competitive athlete to walk away from that promotion voluntarily.
Dan Henderson, while not nearly the draw of major UFC stars like Brock Lesnar and Georges St. Pierre, has still benefited enormously from the UFC’s promotional pull. His appearance against Michael Bisping at July’s UFC 100 was seen by a record 1.5 million pay-per-view households; The Wrestling Observer estimates 16 million people in total watched that event. He also notched a free-TV title merger (a loss) with Quinton Jackson in 2007. The only thing he missed was “The Ultimate Fighter” coaching position. To some minds, that’s probably a good thing.
Click here to read the full article – By Jake Rossen/Sherdog.com of ESPN.com
Tags: Dan Henderson, Gegard Mousasi, Gilbert Melendez, King Mo, Light Heavyweight Championship, Lightweight Championship, Middleweight Championship, Muhammed Lawal, Shinya Aoki, Strikeforce
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