"He's happy, but the reality is that I pushed him into signing that deal. I told people over the weekend that he'd sign within the next week. I wanted him to s**t or get off the pot. He was in this limbo forever, and he needed more motivation to make a decision. Do you think that there's any guy we can't get that I want? Other than Fedor [Emelianenko]? So far, he's been the one guy we can't get. But everyone else that we've wanted, we got. If I wanted Dan Henderson, I could've signed him. For the money he wanted, he's not worth it. He's not a big pay-per-view star, he's not a big attraction, and he's not going to sell out arenas. He wants way too much and he doesn't bring anything to the table. Here's the reality: If I wanted him, he'd be in the UFC. It's not like, 'F***, Strikeforce beat me out.' He's been a free agent for a long time. If I wanted him, I would have signed him by now."
0 - points for subtly but he's got a point when it comes to PPV sales and marketability. Sadly Hendo is a amazing fighter but a sales dud. I still think the UFC should have held on to him though, letting a top 5 MW and LHW go while M1 -Strikeforce is building its roster is mistake.
Hey, I'm president of the biggest MMA company in the world and everyone who's not on my roster or cant make me big money sucks. Hendo's only one of two guys to win a round versus Anderson in the UFC and he brings nothing to the table....wow
Hendo brings wins and championship fights. Anderson isn't a huge ppv draw like Randy and Brock, does that mean he'll be let go? Dan was one of the only guys I saw with a chance at beating Andy....oh well now we'll get to see him against Jake, Gegard and Fedor...Wooooooooo hahaha Dana F'd up big.
Hendo brings wins and championship fights. Anderson isn't a huge ppv draw like Randy and Brock, does that mean he'll be let go? Dan was one of the only guys I saw with a chance at beating Andy....oh well now we'll get to see him against Jake, Gegard and Fedor...Wooooooooo hahaha Dana F'd up big.
Maybe not Randy or Brock but Anderson is becoming a draw in his own right. His fights against Thales Leites and Forrest Griffin both did pretty big numbers.
Hendo brings wins and championship fights. Anderson isn't a huge ppv draw like Randy and Brock, does that mean he'll be let go?
Logically speaking, no. According to both of their most recent reported paydays, Henderson already makes 50k more than the champ...and he's asking for a large raise on top of that. Also, as a main event, Anderson has drawn much better numbers recently than Hendo has. His last two PPV's drew 900k and 650k...not too bad, if you ask me lol. So, as long as Anderson has realistic expectations, I would rule that possibility out. I know it was a rhetorical question, but I think it deserved a response nonetheless.
_______________________________________ It's lose, not loose!
Hendo brings wins and championship fights. Anderson isn't a huge ppv draw like Randy and Brock, does that mean he'll be let go? Dan was one of the only guys I saw with a chance at beating Andy....oh well now we'll get to see him against Jake, Gegard and Fedor...Wooooooooo hahaha Dana F'd up big.
Maybe not Randy or Brock but Anderson is becoming a draw in his own right. His fights against Thales Leites and Forrest Griffin both did pretty big numbers.
Yeah, pretty much the only events to outdraw Anderson's last two events are UFC 100, the year end event, GSP vs Penn superfight, and Lesnar.
_______________________________________ It's lose, not loose!
Hendo brings wins and championship fights. Anderson isn't a huge ppv draw like Randy and Brock, does that mean he'll be let go?
Logically speaking, no. According to both of their most recent reported paydays, Henderson already makes 50k more than the champ...and he's asking for a large raise on top of that. Also, as a main event, Anderson has drawn much better numbers recently than Hendo has. His last two PPV's drew 900k and 650k...not too bad, if you ask me lol. So, as long as Anderson has realistic expectations, I would rule that possibility out. I know it was a rhetorical question, but I think it deserved a response nonetheless.
Those numbers are misleading.
It is hard to compare PPV buys in cards where there is more than one marquee matchup. Anderson's fight with Forrest was not the headliner of UFC 101, and it hard to say those buys are the result of just Anderson, Forrest, BJ, or Kenny.
If you do just go buy the numbers of their last fight, then Hendo is gonna come out on top because he fought at 100. Of course, again, doing so would be misleading because Brock and GSP were also fighting on that card.
It is also hard to compare Anderson's headlining gig against Thales and Hendo v. Franklin. Overseas fights tend to not sell PPVs very well at all, so comparing the two isn't really legit because of the circumstances.
That said, I think Hendo was probably asking for more than he is worth in a pure ppv numbers sense. He was coming off a stint on TUF that probably added to his fanbase, but it is hard to know how that would have translated.
Either way, I don't really care if he fights for SF or UFC. There are good fights for him in either org.
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It is hard to compare PPV buys in cards where there is more than one marquee matchup. Anderson's fight with Forrest was not the headliner of UFC 101, and it hard to say those buys are the result of just Anderson, Forrest, BJ, or Kenny.
If you do just go buy the numbers of their last fight, then Hendo is gonna come out on top because he fought at 100. Of course, again, doing so would be misleading because Brock and GSP were also fighting on that card.
It is also hard to compare Anderson's headlining gig against Thales and Hendo v. Franklin. Overseas fights tend to not sell PPVs very well at all, so comparing the two isn't really legit because of the circumstances.
That said, I think Hendo was probably asking for more than he is worth in a pure ppv numbers sense. He was coming off a stint on TUF that probably added to his fanbase, but it is hard to know how that would have translated.
Either way, I don't really care if he fights for SF or UFC. There are good fights for him in either org.
I understand that it's difficult to compare certain aspects. Henderson was not in the main event of 100, which is the reason why I stated specifically that I was comparing both as main event draws...besides, 100 really falls into the same class as the year end Ultimate events anyway. Sure other fighters on the card can play a role in the numbers, but Anderson is definitely pulling his own weight...you just need to analyze what the other fighters bring to the table. And to be honest, I almost forgot that Anderson was the co-main event for 101. Truly, I'd say that the Anderson/Forrest fight sold more tickets than the title fight...a normal title fight for Penn draws 1/3 of PPV buys that 101 did...heck, GSP/Penn II didn't even pull better numbers. If you want a more realistic comparison, take a look at 88 and 97. UFC 88 had Chuck, Rashad, Hendo, and Franklin...it sold 480k. UFC 97 had Anderson, Leites, Chuck, and Shogun...it sold 650k. Add to the fact that Leites is no draw whatsoever and Shogun was still relatively unknown to the US audience, it's hard to deny Anderson his props. 97 may have had a title on the line, but when 1 of those fighters is irrelevant, it doesn't much make a difference...especially when 88 had more big names as well. Over time, Anderson has began pulling in solid numbers, while Hendo is still unproven. Dan's only PPV to do average or above is 100, which would've done extremely well whether he was on it or not. While it's a tough comparison when Hendo is on a European card, one thing I can say is that Hendo didn't bring in any better numbers than Franklin already pulls in regardless of opponent...which still leaves Dan's drawing power as unproven.
_______________________________________ It's lose, not loose!
Heres the way I look at it, Dan fought Rich at 97, in Dublin, with Shogun(thats pretty much it) on the card, drew in 320,000 buys which is at least $14400000. Dan and Rich made the UFC that much money pretty much on their own. Why can the UFC not pay their top fighters 300,000 a fight when right now other then end of the year and super bowl shows they're having 1 or 2 good fights on the card? They act like they put 4 great fights on every card, they are looking more and more like boxing. I just wen't through every UFC since 97 and I counted at the top end 3 good fights(because 2 cards had Cro Cop so that makes 3 for me) and many had 1 intriguing fight. IMHO the UFC is ripping people off, I honestly can't believe some people shell out $55 for some of these cards. They are lucky everyone takes what they say as gold and keeps buying these things. I'm not trying to bash the UFC, but when you have the kind of drawing power and make as much as you do off of us, how about doing something for the hard core fan who doesn't want to see Fitch vs Pierce or Couture vs Vera. We keep getting screwed because the UFC can say oh this guy is great he's done this and that and on top of that he's got a cheap contract when we miss out on the truly great fights while all the casuals believe it and we lose the great fighters. Oh well now we might get to see Dan vs Jake, Gegard, Fedor, and manhoef.
I'm starting to wonder how many more big-relatively big names Strikeforce can afford to pick up. Surely they can't keep paying for names like Fedor, Hendo, Arlovski, etc. at the rate that they are.
Dana does this to any fighter leaving his org. He loses all respect for them and puts them down. If he gets them back he praises them again. It is a cruel way of running a buisness.