No one coming off a three-fight losing streak is in a very good contract negotiation position, that can’t be argued, but as a long-time MMA legend, a dual-weight Pride champion, Strikeforce champion and as the only man to knock out Fedor, Hendo has a resume that could demand more cash than most fighters at any length of losing streak. Still, Hendo has lost a step, and with his controversial TRT seemingly not helping him as much as it used to, maybe it’s time to hang up the 4 oz gloves?
Apparently not. Hendo, at 43-years-old, wants to keep on fighting and kicking ass. In fact, he’s currently negotiating his contract with the UFC, which could definitely hold some good fights in our future (Hendo/Shogun II please).
Hendo appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and discussed his contract situation:
“I was fairly surprised that it’s as far away as what I thought I fair offer would have been,” said Henderson. “I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say I was insulted, but I know what they’re trying to accomplish and trying to get everybody for as cheap as they can. That’s what they like to do. I don’t take it personally, but it was a lot lower than I expected.
“What I was asking for is a decent pay cut from what I was making, which I thought was fair.”
“So, I just feel that that’s not realistic from where it should be. But we’re working on it.”
“I’m pretty sure we’ll get it figured out in the next week or two.”
“I think they want me to come back. I don’t want to go anywhere else, it’s not even in my mind right now and I don’t think they want me to go anywhere else either. It’s just something where we’re a little far apart, and we need to sit down and get it hashed out.”
“I think, from what I’ve been hearing they’re trying to lower everyone’s purses win or lose, just because pay-per-view numbers aren’t as high as they used to be,” he said. “They are having a lot more shows, a lot more pay-per-views, a lot more free cards, so obviously they’re going to do less PPVs when they’re offering so many more cards and shows. It’s just a little too watered down to get as many numbers as they used to on every pay-per-view card.”
