Henderson To Challenge A. Silva At UFC 82

Ben Zeidler: Do you have any plans to capture the UFC MW belt or do you prefer to fight at 205 lbs now?
Dan Henderson: I think it's up to me. The thing that I'm focused on right now is winning this fight, nothing else, whatever happens after that you know, happens.

With the announcement of Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson booked for UFC 82, it appears that the biggest Middleweight bout in UFC history is about to happen.


MMA Junkie is reporting that Silva vs. Henderson was announced during the UFC 78 press conference:

Light heavyweight Dan Henderson will move down to 185 pounds to challenge UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (20-4 MMA, 5-0 UFC) in March.

The announcement was made during the post-event press conference for UFC 78, which took place Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

The championship bout will likely take place at UFC 82. As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first reported, UFC 82 will take place March 1 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

The Middleweight title has only seen five champions in its short history, and no bout has ever matched the hype that this one will create. The champion is the most devastating and dominant fighter his division has ever seen. The challenger is PRIDE's former Middleweight and Welterweight champion, who ended his PRIDE career with a stunning KO of legend Wanderlei Silva. Never before have two men of such impressive caliber met under the auspices of a middleweight title fight. Until now.