Dana White "cool" with Dan Henderson, but vet unlikely to return to the UFC

Former top UFC middleweight contender Dan Henderson has moved on, signed with Strikeforce, and is now expected to make promotional debut on a CBS-televised card in April, according to CBS executives.

UFC president Dana White said he respects Henderson and encouraged him to make the move to Strikeforce.

But don't expect the 39-year-old fighter to return to the UFC before his career is over, White said.

Last week during festivities for UFC 107, White spoke to a small group of reporters about Henderson. The early UFC fighter and former PRIDE champion re-entered the octagon in 2007 after Zuffa LLC purchased and folded PRIDE into the UFC.

Henderson eventually fell short in light heavyweight and middleweight title shots, but with a win over Michael Bisping in July, he looked as though he'd get a second shot at middleweight champion Anderson Silva's title. However, Vitor Belfort was promised the title shot instead, and Henderson couldn't agree to a new deal with the UFC. Strikeforce – with heavy urging from CBS – eventually came calling instead.

"There's always this talk about I don't respect guys – Dan Henderson," White said. "Believe me, I show a lot of guys a lot of respect. Just because I wouldn't pay Dan more than anybody else doesn't mean I don't respect guys. I'm happy (with his deal). I'm very happy with it. I couldn't be happier. I pushed him to do that. I started taking [expletive] off the table, and that made him make his decision to go with them."

Despite the urging, White doesn't expect Henderson to make a return.

"Dan probably won't be back in the UFC," White said. "He'll retire over there."

But after so many high-profile fights and a coaching gig on "The Ultimate Fighter," isn't Henderson a valuable commodity?

"To them maybe," White said. "He's not to me. It's over with me and Dan Henderson."

White, though, re-iterated that there are no hard feelings.

"Dan and I talked the other day," he said. "We know where we stand. ... We were cool. We were.

"He knows where we stand. I'm not sitting in front of the media and talking [expletive] about him. I talked to him on the phone. We talked, and I told him exactly how it is."

Last week Henderson told MMAjunkie.com Radio he's not dwelling on the reasons for the move. Instead, he's focused on the opportunities that await in Strikeforce.

"I was happy with every aspect of [the Strikeforce offer], money included," Henderson said. "Obviously, they were really adamant about wanting to try to sign me, so obviously they were very respectful. Dana has a reputation of not being so respectful. That's just how he is, and I think the fans know that. They also know and respect the fact that Dana's done a lot of great things for MMA. I appreciate that as well.

"I don't have any hard feelings. It is what it is now, and I finally decided where my next fight's going to be. I'm excited to start training and getting in shape and going over there to beat somebody up in Strikeforce."

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Dana White: NBC’s Sale To Comcast “Very Interesting”

Saying that the UFC will end up on network television may be a bit premature, but taking a look into the UFC’s future is fair game. Earlier this month G.E., the parent company of NBC, said they are working on a deal to sell the network to Comcast.
Comcast also happens to own Versus Network, which airs WEC programming and will soon be broadcasting UFC events as well.
When asked about the possibility of the UFC ending up on NBC with a network television deal, UFC president Dana White responded by saying, “It’s obviously very interesting.”
White has promised that at some point, the UFC will secure a network TV deal and will use it to air four major events a year to feature his promotion’s best fighters.
An admitted avid fan of boxing, White has talked about how boxing’s best days were when the biggest bouts were avaialble for free on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.”


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White talks UFC on Versus

UFC president Dana White has long said he won’t do a network television deal just to get a deal done. It’s got to be “the right people and the right deal.”

Zuffa, LLC – the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting’s parent company – recently extended its contract with Versus to include UFC events on the sports network in 2010 in addition to WEC programming.

It is the beginning of a multi-year agreement that will develop over time according to Marc Fein, Versus Executive Vice President of Programming, Production and Business Development.
The initial plan calls for two UFC Fight Night-type events, though details of when the events will air on Versus, including what night of the week, have yet to be determined.

The UFC’s expansion onto Versus is the latest example of White’s television strategy. He’s going to team with partners that will work in concert.

He feels he’s got that in Versus and its parent company, Comcast.

“We’ve always had the ability to do fights on another network (aside from Spike TV) if we wanted to. We could do four per year,” said White on Wednesday.

“I’ve been talking to networks for a long time now and I’ve never come to a deal with the big ones, CBS, Fox, you name it, HBO, never come to deals with any of them. I didn’t like the deals and I didn’t really feel that they were into it,” he added.

“Versus has shown their commitment to mixed

martial arts, the UFC, the WEC, and we couldn’t be happier to be in business with guys like this.”

Airing UFC events on WEC’s home network immediately raises the obvious questions about longstanding rumors of merging the two brands or at least commingling talent.

White quickly shoots down the notion.

He has no immediate plans on trading fighters back-and-forth. The goal is concrete, “get the WEC on pay-per-view.”

An interesting element to the addition of UFC on Versus is

Comcast’s recent purchase of NBC Universal, which still awaits governmental approval. The New York Times says that Comcast will likely rebrand Versus as something akin to NBC Sports Cable in direct competition to ESPN.

It’s too soon for any definitive statements in that regard, but it is an attractive option for the UFC if it comes to fruition.

“You never know,” White responded when asked by MMAWeekly.com about the impact Comcast’s NBC purchase could have on his company.

“It’s obviously very, very interesting and Comcast and Versus have been great partners for us. They’ve got some interesting things going on.”

So now maybe the door is cracked open to the possibility of UFC on NBC? It’ll take time to find that out, but in the mean time, White is happy extending his relationship with the media juggernaut.

“These guys have been great partners to us, Comcast and Versus.”


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