Dana White says Dan Henderson turned down rematch with "Shogun" Rua for UFC 149 in Calgary

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

During Wednesday's UFC press conference in Calgary to announce the first event in the city, UFC President Dana White said he was trying to work on a co-main event that would "blow fans away." However, it appears he may have been unsuccessful in that venture, at least for now.

According to Mauro Ranallo, Showtime announcer and host of The MMA Show, White said the bout he was attempting to put together was a rematch between Dan Henderson and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. However, per White, Henderson turned the bout down.

Henderson has been sitting on the sidelines since a decision win over Rua in November in an epic five round fight. He had clear control through the first three rounds, but a massive comeback by Rua led many to believe he should have gotten a draw at the least in the fight. The decision went to Henderson, though, and he's waiting out the April fight between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans in hopes of facing the winner for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title.

The UFC said recently that Shogun would be Rampage Jackson's next and final UFC opponent, but with Jackson saying he is going to need surgery on both of his knees, he won't be available for a return by July. For now, Shogun remains without an opponent, but he may still wind up on this card.

Penick's Analysis: While a rematch of a massively close and incredibly exciting fight would have been highly entertaining, there are a couple of issues with putting it on this card, and it makes perfect sense that Henderson would turn it down. Firstly, as a co-main event, it would likely only be a three round bout. Considering their last fight was a five-round epic, giving it only three rounds in the rematch wouldn't be nearly as huge. Second, Henderson will likely be in line to fight for the Light Heavyweight belt by August. Jones and Evans fight just next month, and the Calgary event isn't until late July. Jones has said he wants to stay busy, and if he defeats Evans, August would be a four month break and would allow him to still get one more fight in during the year if he wanted to do so. With Henderson lined up for that fight, it's perfectly understandable for him to skip out on this rematch. I'm not sure why the UFC thought he'd go for it in the first place, but we'll see who they book Shogun against now that Rampage and Henderson are off the table.

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

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