Negotiations between the UFC and Dan Henderson are more than stalled, they are apparently "done."
"You never know what's going to happen, we'll see what happens in time," UFC president Dana White told Raw Vegas on Saturday. "But as of right now, yeah, negotiations are done."
White says he holds no ill will towards the Team Quest fighter but simply could not reach a new agreement with Henderson, whose contract with the organization expired with his win over Michael Bisping at UFC 100 in July.
"I have a great relationship with him but he was looking for an obscene amount of money," White said.
At 39 years of age, and at the height of his popularity for the wild knockout over Bisping, Henderson is probably looking at his last big lucrative contract. The former PRIDE double champion could continue serving as a contender in the UFC's middleweight and light heavyweight divisions or turn his drawing power towards benefiting Strikeforce and its deal with CBS.
Friday's Yahoo! Sports report said that Henderson landing with Strikeforce was imminent, but FanHouse learned from Henderson's camp that any talks between the two have been introductory.
The questions now is if this is all a tactic for White to go public with the failed negotiations to encourage Henderson to lower his price, and if not, is Strikeforce willing to sign Henderson under his allegedly high asking price.
White suggests, as a person in his position would, that Strikeforce would be overpaying if it were to sign Henderson.
"If they can afford to sign Dan Henderson, and I couldn't, what's that tell you?" White asked.
Get the latest gear
