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Ka-boom: Dan Henderson heads to Strikeforce
By Zach Arnold | December 7, 2009
Cue the UFC supporters saying Henderson will bankrupt the promotion, but the move in the short-term hurts the depth of UFC’s “superstar” fighter base in a big way.
It also serves as medicine to Dana White, who spent a lot of TV capital pushing Henderson and then cashing in on him against Michael Bisping at UFC 100… only to see Henderson have no fights left on his contract after the PPV event. We know UFC’s policy of ripping up fight contracts with 1 bout left on them in order to get a new long-term extension.
Think about this — they spent money for a long-term deal with Tito Ortiz in July… and didn’t lock up Henderson. Who’s more valuable now – Henderson or Tito? We know the answer.
As for Henderson and future opponents in Strikeforce… Scott Coker has a list of opponents already in mind. Well-played, Scott, well-played.
Initial read: Helps Strikeforce a little bit, hurts UFC a lot.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 42 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The following brought to you courtesy mmalogic:
“Since Dan didn’t fight Nate who is he going to main event or even co-main with? he’s not worth much to Zuffa at this point… He’s worth more eating up the competitions finances.
How do you think CBS will feel when there demo gains are cut in at least half with a LIVE UFC counter program? Losing 2million viewers from your average viewership in that time slot for the demo gains is one thing to stomach… but once those demo gains are slashed you can kiss CBS goodbye .
And losing the CBS Deal AFTER you make expensive contract commitments then Showtime/Strikeforce are done.
Zuffa is not ignorant and knows exactly what it’s doing and knows exactly what’s going to happen. There’s already a space in the Tombstone Dana has.”
In case you need a laugh at the rantings/musings of a supposed insider running some damage control over at Bloody Elbow.
Wait. The UFC which a much larger roster is hurt ” alot” by not retaining Dan Henderson, but Henderson only helps Strikeforce “a little bit”? How is Dan Henderson worth more to a huge organization like the UFC than he is to Strikeforce, who is hurting for legitimate top 10 challengers in it’s 185 and 205 divisions? Outside of Mousasi and Shields, they don’t have anyone in the top 10 who could contend for their titles. So they double the number of quality fighters in two division by adding one guy and that only helps them “a little bit”? And the UFC, who owns 8 of the top 10 205ers and more than half of the top middleweights is hurt “a lot”? That makes no sense whatsoever. Good for Dan Henderson to go somewhere he feels respected, and good for Strikeforce for adding a serious talent to their roster. But if it really would have badly hurt the UFC to lose him, I doubt they would have let him go.
I don’t think this is that big a deal for UFC. Dan is a great fighter and fun to watch. But he isn’t a ppv draw and he quit against the top guy in his division. He was paid about what he was worth previously. UFC can’t give huge money to guys who don’t move the needle on ppv buys. That’s simple business. If they do then the whole roster will hold out.
Dan should demolish Shields and Cung Le. I’d rather see him at 205 in SF where he can expose Mousasi and then fight Fedor as champion vs champion.
UFCs main problem now is over saturation and an inability to produce new stars. Losing Hendo is a blip on the screen.
I understand that Tito is supposed to be some sort of draw for some sort of people. But all I can say from my own perspective is that there’s no possibility of me watching the next TUF now and I have every intention on enjoying Hendo’s fights as usual.
Maybe I’m just not part of the target audience anymore.
I love the move. Coker needs depth, and in Hendrson they have a quality fighter that can compete in two weight divisions.
As far as eating up the finances of Strikeforce, I don’t buy it. The promotion has to spend more money now because they are no longer just a regional promotion. But I find it hard to beleive that a promotion that’s made money for years, is going to all of sudden make rash decisions to go bankrupt. Let’s see where the promotion is a year from now at this time.
Tito and Chuck coaching TUF next season? I could care less. The best part about Dana White’s announcement, is that he didn’t even seem excited about it.
For an alleged Zuffa insider, MMALogic sure does a remarkable job of getting things wrong on a regular basis. I think he may have guessed something correctly in the past and was incorrectly regarded as an insider from that point forward. Anybody remember when he said in September that the Fedor deal was done and would be announced the next day? Yeah, me too.
Dan is worth plenty to Zuffa in the right matchup. The problem is that they didn’t recognize it, or figured that since Anderson wasn’t going to fight him at any point in the near future, he wasn’t worth as much as he was asking for.
This situation was horribly mismanaged by the UFC. Henderson stole the show on the biggest show in mma history, and now gets to leave with that as the lasting memory fans have of him. He is also the 2nd best 185 pounder in the world, and for all Dana’s talk about having the best guys fighting in the UFC, it really seems more like he means the best guys who are willing to accept the UFC’s salary structure.
Dana can talk about how guys don’t draw tickets and thus aren’t worth the money, but given that their last show sold 6k tickets (and it is fair to assume most of them were bought with the thought that Brock would be fighting), maybe Dana shouldn’t pay Tito or Forrest either? If Dana cared about selling tickets more than keeping salaries down and keeping his fans happy, then he would have signed Fedor and would have kept Henderson.
Given that UFC 108 and UFC 109 are going to be complete flops at the box office, and Rashad and Couture are certainly getting huge amounts of money to fight, maybe Dana will let them go too. For Dana’s talk about Henderson not being a draw, his fight for the 205 pound title against Rampage was one of the most watched UFC bouts of all time, and drew better numbers than Vera v Couture. Part of that is due to the fact that there was still novelty in mma several years ago, whereas now the consumer is more sophisticated and less likely to buy ppv cards filled with crappy main events and TUF fighters littered throughout the undercard. That, however, makes Henderson more valuable, not less valuable, given that he is one of the most established stars in the company–he had been a coach on TUF, main evented multiple shows, scored the biggest knockout on the biggest show in mma history, etc.
UFC is really fucking up by letting stars go–their mistakes are giving Strikeforce a buzz and air of legitimacy it did not have before they got Fedor, and that only increases with Hendo. Further, Strikeforce, by only putting on a small number of shows a year is ensuring their quality, whereas the UFC is burning its fans out (as well as burning their wallets out) by putting on shows every month, many of which do not deserve to be on ppv because they lack quality main events (see 106, 108, 109, etc). UFC risks alienating their fanbase by making their fans pay for shitty cards and allowing their top talent to leave.
Dana White is a pathological liar and a petty asshole, and his decision to ban Clinch Gear as a means of playing hardball in negotiations, like his constant belittling of Fedor, has caused those 2 great fighters to go elsewhere. You reap what you sew.
What kind of ratings did Henderson do when his fights aired on spike? Specifically ratings for the quarter hours during his fights?
Also people need to take into account how much his opponents contributed to ratings for his fights on spike.
This isn’t just about ratings, or ppv draws or whatever. Dan Henderson is involved in quality fights that are the stuff of legend.
I love this quote from his manager — is sums up how good Dan is —
“Dan has nothing but fond memories of his time with the UFC and appreciates the opportunities that were provided to him by Lorenzo, Frank and Dana. He enjoyed three of his five fights being headliners and being on the main card for his other two fights. He also appreciates being awarded ‘Knockout of the Night’ at the biggest show in UFC history, being a coach on ‘The Ultimate Fighter 9’ and was grateful that they continued to compete with Strikeforce for his services. Dan is really comfortable with his decision to move forward with Strikeforce and wishes the UFC continued success as well.”
How many fighters in the UFC have done that?!?
Way too soon for you to trash talk other people for being wrong, Jeremy “Renzo Gracie vs. Matt Hughes at UFC 109” Botter.
Dana should spend less time being a media whore and more time building/ maintaining UFC’s roster
“Think about this — they spent money for a long-term deal with Tito Ortiz in July… and didn’t lock up Henderson. Who’s more valuable now – Henderson or Tito? We know the answer.”
We do know the answer it’s Tito, in what planet is Dan Henderson a “superstar”?. Tito’s drawing ability might have fallen but, Dan has never been a draw and beating up Bisping didn’t turn him into one considering by the time he fights any buzz he had from that fight will be gone.
Good for Henderson if he can get SF to overpay for him, but just like many others have found out all it takes is 1 loss and this gamble of his is going to blow up in his face.
Hendo leaving in no way hurts the UFC and if anything hurts SF in the longterm since they now appear to be going the route of Affliction byy overpaying fighters who aren’t draws.
My take is this:
-The term “gamble” in terms of leaving the UFC to make more money elsewhere is among the dumbest memes out there. We saw this with Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski too as tons and tons of people claimed that they were mouthbreathing morons for taking large sums of money outside the UFC. As I’ve said, oh, a billion times, the promise of a large single guaranteed payout versus many smaller payouts is a no-brainer. Dan Henderson, if he’s getting paid more in SF and loses, is in no worse a position than if he was in the UFC and lost his next fight to Marqhardt/Vitor/Anderson. There are no guarantees with a 40 year old man.
-I don’t know that it “hurts the UFC”. It doesn’t help, as Marqhardt and Vitor are probably not at the same level of recognition as Henderson, but right now the brand still sells well enough that they turn a profit on PPV buys thanks to the low payrolls. What is interesting about this (and Anderson Silva, and Rampage) that you’re seeing increased traffic of guys who are looking at their pay and deciding that they deserve more than Randy or Tito, both of whom resigned to fairly substantial deals and both of whom are clearly not pulling public interest like they did in their prime. The question for me now; How many fights does Rampage have on his contract? If its just one, then he too may be looking at putting himself on the free agency market in the middle of next year following his fight with Rashad.
As for it hurting or helping Strikeforce; Paying $500K a fight to Tito Ortiz probably wouldn’t have done anything substantial for them that Henderson doesn’t. Henderson will also fight in more weight classes and is frankly a better fighter. They need to bring in guys to fight that can give their homegrown fighters legitimacy. I know wrestling dweebs; “building properly” and all that. If only this were really pro wrestling and not an actual sport in which fighters have to beat other good fighters to gain legitimacy among the general fanbase, they could sell half a million PPVs with Cung Le right now. But they can’t.
On paper Ortiz is supposed to be a superstar far beyond Henderson. But in reality I think they’re about even as draws these days (although that has far more to do with Ortiz looking like crap forever than fans getting on the Hendo bandwagon.) But when you add in the fact that Henderson is able to be a credible fighter in two divisions then he’s absolutely more important than Tito, who these days is dead as a money draw and only mildly interesting for free TV. Plus he fights more regularly than Mr. Phantom Injuries.
That said, it won’t hurt the UFC beyond losing out on some more incredible Middleweight fights. Henderson isn’t at a level where his jumping ship is a sign the ship is sinking. If you weren’t watching Strikeforce now I don’t see how “OMG DAN HENDERSON IS THERE!” is going to change your mind. He appeals to the hardcore MMA fans who watch or at least know of Strikeforce programming already. He’ll have some fantastic fights, but this isn’t a gamechanger. It’s just one of many problems Zuffa has had post-UFC 100.
As for MMALogic’s comments, he knows nothing. Do a search of his SBNation blog or read his comments: his accuracy rating is complete crap. If you say enough predictions eventually a few of them will be right, and that’s all he does. UFC hasn’t done a live counter programming in ages, so if they weren’t going to do it for Fedor’s debut why are they going to do it for Henderson? And what are they going to be able to counter program with when they can’t even get a good PPV card people want to buy. 2 years ago it was easy to throw Anderson Silva on free TV. Now they would desperately need him for PPV. But since they’re the senior’s league these days, maybe they can go track down Royce Gracie and Harold Howard to finally have that match 15 years in the making~!
That said, it won’t hurt the UFC beyond losing out on some more incredible Middleweight fights.
Henderson was reliable for a PPV main event for one of the non-mega shows. Given how many PPVs they have coming up and how few of them have really appealing main events, he’s certainly a loss, though hardly one they can’t overcome. My worry is that with putting guys like Marqhardt against people who are really no-names to MMA fans on PPV, they’re going to do nothing for their ability to draw. They have a lot of guys like that on their roster right now who may be highly ranked, but can’t sell anything because they haven’t fought on a large enough stage to build public interest and demand. They’ve got a lot of Jon Fitches, not many Rich Franklins. The guys they do have that are that sort of “will provide at least the minimum” names are shot, aging names unlikely to necessarily want to fight younger guys (see; Matt Hughes).
Yes, that’s what I meant by credible Middleweight matches. Marquardt-Henderson would have been perfect for the #1 contender: if Marquardt wins he just beat a guy who has been a top fighter for a decade. If Henderson wins he’s a credible fighter for Silva. And even as just impressing newer fans, none of them were watching when Vitor was last in the UFC (since that was right before Ultimate Fighter) but they did see Hendo KTFO Bisping so he’s still a better challenger if your history is short sighted.
Also, as I’ve said before they should absolutely not run Fedor-Henderson. It would probably be a great fight, but there is nothing to gain and everything to lose from that. You’re not going to have Henderson as a full-time heavyweight if he beats Fedor (and kills him as a draw forever) and if Fedor wins, well, Henderson is a Middleweight nearly 50 pounds lighter than Fedor when he usually weighs in. Nobody will respect that. And even if Fedor does win if he has problems with Hendo (who gave Nogueira problems years ago) people will question Fedor’s hype so it’s a lose-lose either way beyond an entertaining fight.
Who are the UFC’s top tier PPV draws?
I think Lesnar and GSP are their top draws, and the second tier is Silva, Penn, and probably Machida, who by themselves can’t pull in fans, but can when pitted with a wellknown opponent or with a major undercard attraction.
The issue they have is that they have a very difficult time trying to force guys to fight these dangerous emerging contenders without changing their pay. Starting with the Vera fight, Couture’s on a new contract that’s supposedly heavy on guaranteed money (besides that which is announced), and the same is true with Tito and Hughes. I think the jury is still out to as whether or not its incentivized them to fight those kind of tough but anonymous names.
What is absolutely true, though, is that without talking about offering pay raises for fights like that with guaranteed money, you won’t get those fights, and you’ll have to rely on getting “lucky”, as the case argurably was with the circumstances of Machida’s title shot, to get guys into big fights on a regular enough basis that they are percieved as legitimate fighters. Otherwise, you can go 20-0 in the UFC against guys on untelevised undercards or PPV openers for stuff like UFC 109, and it won’t matter.
Right now Lesnar and GSP against any opponent with Penn, Griffin, and Silva being able to pull off big numbers against the right opponent. I think it’s safe to retire Ortiz, Couture, Hughes and Liddell from the list now.
Then you have moderate draws like Evans, Machida, Jackson, Mir and then Kimbo being uncertain to have his 12 year old fans able to purchase his shows.
“It looks like Jeff Monson is heading to Strikeforce as the latest in a string of high-profile signings by the promotion.
Around The Octagon have stated that sources close to the fighter have told them the signing is complete and ‘The Snowman’ is expected to drop to 205lbs when he appears on the roster.”
Another drop in the bucket. It’s a minor drop, but it’s a drop. It all adds a little.
@him dropping to 205, he’s going to have to scale back on some of his supplements.
http://www.mmaunltd.com/news-detail.asp/NewsID/1121/monson-latest-big-signing-for-strikeforce.htm
Interesting story about Mouassi not being on any card unless Fedor is on it, kinda odd.
you know Strikeforce will slip in there that Monson beat TUF winner Roy Nelson.
Monson is an excellent fighter, but you have to match him against someone who is an aggressive striker. His fight vs Sylvia was god-awful, and his fight vs Roy was even worse (I thought Roy won btw). Don’t match Monson against a good grappler or it will be Shields-Miller all over again..
Strikeforce signed Fedor, Mousasi, and Henderson. UFC signed Kimbo & Tito. UFC is the Superbowl of MMA.
Put me in the \”it hurts the UFC\” camp.
DH is a solid high level and very skilled fighter that you know will fight hard for 3 or 5 rounds and not gas. If you want to be the top league you have to have ALL the studs. The NBA is the NBA partly because anyone who can play, plays in the NBA. (except that Spanish dude).
A big part of what makes the UFC brand the UFC brand is that people honestly (and rightfully) believe that the best of the best are fighting there. When the DHs of the world are being replaced by the Kimbos, it starts to undermine that.
“The NBA is the NBA partly because anyone who can play, plays in the NBA. (except that Spanish dude).”
Look up Josh Childress.
This hurts the UFC, but not much. Dan’s a good fighter and he’s a medium strength draw, but the UFC has 10-20 guys like him on their roster.
I don’t think he was going to save any PPVs either, which seems to be the crux of the argument. Assuming he’d even take a fight with someone other than Silva (which is a huge assumption), he’d be the 2nd fight on UFC 108, and pull in an additional 50k-100k.
The problem is you’re concentrating on his drawing power, not his place in the sport. If you want to call your self the top league, the end all and be all of MMA, you NEED to have the DHs of the world on your roster. it’s that simple.
That’s pretty much impossible when there is competition who will pay more than you will for a top 5 fighter that is a medium draw.
The UFC payscale is geared to be able to pay for all the top fighters, but it means that they can’t outbid other promotions on a single fighter that’s not very important to their business, or it puts everything out of equilibrium.
On the other hand, if Strikeforce ever wants a roster as deep as the UFC’s current roster, they’ll have to do some big paycuts or get a lot more income. So we end up where we are, UFC has 85% of the top talent, while SF has only 3 top 5 fighters in total, which I think makes a case for the UFC to call themselves “the top league”.
Kimbo pulled 5.2 million viewers for his victory over Alexander on Saturday night, which is just under 250k shy of what Fedor pulled on network.
Pretty heady numbers for Slice, so it shows he’s still got draw…although I would hope he did after months of push and hyping on TUF. Although, I think this was a lower number than his fight against Nelson – but a Wednesday vs. Saturday night was probably a big factor.
The TUF fight did 6.1 million, so I’m sure the DV-R numbers will push Saturday to match if not exceed.
How does Kimbo pull in viewers like that?
It’ll be interesting to see the quarter hour ratings, since Kimbo’s fight was in the middle part of the broadcast. Specifically, how many people stuck around for the last two fights?
Ice45muncher comparing Josh Childress to Dan Henderson is one of the worst analogies I’ve ever seen. Josh Childress was a decent player; I believe he was the Hawks’ 6th man. Dan Henderson is a 2 division titlist whose first 2 matches in the UFC upon his return were both title matches in main events. Further, basketball is a team sport and mma is not. There are a lot more high-level basketball players out there than fighters of Henderson’s caliber.
Further what makes you think Henderson got offered more by Strikeforce than by Zuffa?
Lastly, your “UFC payscale is designed to pay all the top fighters” is patently false. If that were the case, where is Fedor? UFC has failed its fans by not signing Fedor. Dana won’t break the bank to get the best fighter in mma history. He is so stuck in his ways that he doesn’t seem to realize that it is better to pay a guy 6 million dollars a fight who brings in monstrous buy rates and huge amounts of media attention than to pay a guy 100k and get shitty buy rates, disappoint your fanbase, and make a mockery of your claim that all the best fighters fight in the UFC.
The UFC’s credibility is starting to fade, and you can’t put a pricetag on that. The best heavyweight isnt in the UFC, the 2nd best 170 pounder isn’t (Shields), the 2nd best 185 pounder isn’t, many of the top 155ers aren’t, and a top 5 205 pounder isn’t. While Henderson may not be a huge draw (but really, they only have about 3 guys who are huge draws–Lesnar, GSP, BJ), he is a good draw, especially post-Bisping which millions of people saw, and he was the number 1 contender. By not re-signing him, Dana has once again decided it is ok to put on a shittier product to save money, but he doesn’t seem to realize that the fans understand this, and reject his shitty product. Henderson could be fighting on 108 or 109 in the main event, but instead we are left with grandpa Coleman, grandma Couture, Thiago Silva (who nobody cares about), and Rashad Evans (who nobody likes). I can’t wait for the buyrates.
Was looking for something else entirely and came across this from 2006:
Boxing’s biggest upcoming fight will take place May 5 when Oscar De La Hoya defends his junior middleweight championship on HBO PPV against welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. White predicts the UFC’s show on Dec. 30 featuring superstar Chuck Liddell versus Ortiz will challenge that fight for pay-per-view buys.
“When De La Hoya leaves,” White says, “it’s over for boxing.”
God only knows how Kimbo does that, it’s among the more ridiculous things in the sport to me (the phenomenon not the fighter or whatever…)
Couture, Ortiz, Coleman, Liddell are all mistakes. Other fighters are now gauging their paydays by guys that UFC shouldn’t have brought back anyway.
Henderson isn’t particularly far off from that group either, although his skills have certainly aged better than any of the others, and his desire to compete seems to be stronger (probably goes hand in hand).
Measured against keeping them, it looks like a bad idea, measured in a universe where UFC didn’t keep them, and didn’t re-sign him, it’s bad, but not THAT bad. Maybe they’re going to turn over a new leaf and start letting these old dogs lie.
I don’t think the credibility is “starting to fade”. Honestly, they could go on another hot run next summer if the right guys win the right fights. Bad PPVs being run is a long term thing. Even then, a few good PPVs and suddenly business looks a lot better. Hopefully the UFC makes some wise choices about putting guys on free TV rather than continuing to build up future title challengers on PPV undercards alone.
Honestly, with other Nog/Vera on the UFC 109 card, the televised portion has 5 fairly interesting and fun fights, even if they are not necessarily supremely important in their divisions. Not as good as this weekend’s event, but better than UFC 108 in my mind.
Also, Hoelzer Reich is apparently banned from Zuffa events now. Never should have gotten on TV to begin with, but its good that they did something before things could have gotten ugly.
if they are letting old dogs lie, why are Couture and Coleman main eventing, and why are Tito and Chuck coaching TUF?
I’ve never been a fan of “drawing power” and pop appeal just for its own sake.
I didn’t mind it at first because it enabled more money to stock the cards with the actual best fighters in addition to the pop ones.
I am longtime UFC fan and this is pretty disappointing. Back in 1998 they lost the Hendo-Shamrock match due to $’s. I was so happy to see Henderson back in the UFC after nearly a decade in Japan. Henderson is defintely nearing the end of his career, but the UFC has bumbled this signining and the King Mo one too. If the UFC 108 card was better, I wouldn’t complain as much, but they seem to be penny pinching for sure.
“Also, Hoelzer Reich is apparently banned from Zuffa events now. Never should have gotten on TV to begin with, but its good that they did something before things could have gotten ugly.”
You should head over to mmablog Bloody Elbow for the self righteous backslapping and congratulating going on over there about it too. They had TWO blog posts about em in the last week, while numerous other websites have been on it for much longer and much harder. But the UFC banned it the day after their most recent “article” where they posted links to the other sites who did all the heavylifting.
as I think about this, I am pretty sure 45 left in order to not have to defend the awful UFC 108 and 109 cards.
“UFC 109. Coleman. Couture. Winner gets a free motorized wheelchair, loser forfeits his Medicare benefits for a year!”
Dana: You know, the public wanted to see this fucking fight 12 years ago, and my job is to bring you fucking fans whatever the fuck you want to fucking watch. I make the fights you want to see. Fucking Strikeforce is going out of business. I don’t want fucking Dan Henderson, he sucks. I have Chris Leben, Matt Mitrione and James McSweeney. Those guys can fucking swing! Dan Henderson is going to fucking ruin Strikeforce. Nobody wants to see him fucking fight, they want to see Tito vs Chuck again! But UFC 109 isn’t the only fucking huuge show we have coming up. Make sure you fucking order UFC 108, we got Rashad Evans, he got knocked the fuck out his last fight, against Thiago Silva, who got knocked the fuck out 2 fights ago. This isn’t a number 1 fucking contender match because nobody would ever think either of them can fucking compete with Machida, so, umm, it is a number 2 contender match. It is just a great fight. Fans come up to me wherever the fuck I fucking go and don’t say anything about Fedor, they just beg me to put Rashad and fucking Thiago together. I love the fucking fans! Fedor sucks!”
I think that it is way to early to say if this will hurt the UFC or not. You can suggest all you want that Dan leaving will hurt them but if he goes to SF and gets beat does it still hurt them? I like to see Dan fight and I will watch all of the SF shows but I think the position the UFC is in this is not a big deal.
Plus I really wish people would quite complaining about how many UFC fight are on each year. Yes they put on a lot and when you have the roster they have you make it posible. I am sure if the UFC when to shows every 3 months we would all be complaining that we dont see enough good shows or that because the shows are so spaced out we dont see any other up and coming talent. All it will take is for the UFC to get over the injury issues they are having put together 2 or 3 good PPV and everyone will say that they are doing awsome.
Kimbo draws purely on how he looks. Lots of people are disappointed that the best MMA fighters don’t look all that threatening. If you didn’t know who GSP and Fedor were you might assume you could kick their ass. But Kimbo looks like what the uneducated would believe an Ultimate Fighter should look like: a muscled up bad ass you wouldn’t want to piss off. If he could actually fight it would be insane how big his shows would be. But instead he’s moving down to Light Heavyweight where he’ll fight opening bouts at Spike Shows until he culminates in a fight with Keith Jardine at UFC 115: Bum Fights.