UFC
Dan Henderson explains why he turned down UFC bout with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Jan 12, 2012 - 4:45:43 PM Dan Henderson explains why he turned down UFC bout with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC's first trip to Sweden will be headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Alexander Gustafsson and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, but it's not the fight UFC officials initially targeted for Nogueira off his UFC 140 win over Tito Ortiz.

Ariel Helwani reported during Tuesday night's new "UFC Tonight" episode that the organization initially approached Dan Henderson about taking a fight with Nogueira, but "Hendo" turned the bout down. In an interview on Wednesday's Clinch Gear Radio on SiriusXM, Henderson explained his reasoning for turning that fight down.

"I was under the impression that [UFC President Dana White] still kind of was on the fence whether he was going to put me in front of Rashad or not, that's assuming Rashad wins," Henderson said (transcribed by MMAFighting.com. "[White] did offer me a fight with 'Little Nogueira.' I didn't think the fans would be interested in that fight, and not as much time as I would like to prepare for a five-round fight. So I told him I would wait to see what happened with the Rashad fight. I would like to fight Jones now rather than if I took that fight with 'Little Nog,' it wouldn't be fighting Jones until another eight-nine months."

"It would have kept me active right now, but I'm okay waiting a little bit. We'll see what happens with the Rashad fight and go from there"

Henderson said he would have entertained the Nogueira fight more had it been a three round affair, but with the UFC wanting them to headline an event in a five-round bout it wasn't a fight he wanted to take. Now, he'll await the results of January 28 and the UFC on Fox 2 card to determine what his next move will be.

Penick's Analysis: Nogueira and his brother, along with UFC Middleweight Champ Anderson Silva, are the only three fighters to ever stop Henderson in a fight. However, even though Nogueira does hold a win over Henderson, that's not the right fight for Henderson right now with a title shot potentially looming, so declining the rematch makes sense. Nogueira just picked up a win after losing two straight, while Henderson is riding perhaps his best career run, and if Evans gets beat by Phil Davis, or if he gets injured in a victory, Henderson will get a chance to claim the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. I don't think you can blame him for turning down the Nogueira matchup with that on the line.

[Dan Henderson art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]