Henderson Set To Take on Shields for Strikeforce Middleweight Title in April
On an appearance on ESPN’s MMA Live program today, former PRIDE and UFC fighter Dan Henderson said that his Strikeforce debut would come in April and that he would take on current Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields.
Henderson officially signed with Strikeforce on December 5th, 2009, after lengthy negotiations with the UFC fell through.
Shields claimed the vacant Strikeforce middleweight title by beating “Mayhem” Miller at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers in November. The Brazlilian Jiu Jitsu blackbelt is 24-4-1 in his career, though much of his career has been spent at welterweight.
Henderson is a former welterweight and middleweight champion for Pride, and also fought for the light heavyweight and middleweight titles in the UFC, though he lost the title challenges to Anderson Silva and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Henderson is 27-7 in his MMA career, with wins over Gilbert Yvel, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Babalu Sobral, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva and Rich Franklin. He should hold a significant size advantage over Shields in the title bout.
The next Strikeforce on CBS event is expected to take place on April 17th, though a location has not been announced. In addition to the Shields/Henderson fight, the card is expected to feature Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum in the main event.
Here’s this week’s edition of MMA Live:
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- Alistair Overeem withdraws from Strikeforce Heavyweight title fight
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