UFC 17 Middleweight Tournament Champion, check. 1999 Rings of Kings 1999 Tournament Champion, check. Pride Welterweight Champion, check. Pride Middleweight Champion, check. Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, check. These are just Dan Henderson’s professional accomplishments, we would be here for days talking about his amateur background and how successful he was during that time of his career. There aren’t many mixed martial artists who can boast a similar list of accomplishments or who have beaten the caliber of opponents that Henderson has.

Now that the Rashad Evans-Jon Jones fight is over and done with we can now move on from the soap opera that was to Jones’ next opponent. UFC President Dana White announced during the UFC 145 post fight press conference that Henderson would be the next man to challenge Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. By the time the fight takes place Henderson will be close to or will have just turned 42-years-old and from the looks of things he seems to be like a fine wine, he is getting better with age.

With Jones coming out victorious via unanimous decision Henderson will now face Jones within the next few months, possibly at UFC 149 in July which will be held at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Jones has defeated four former UFC champions in a row and has done so with relative ease. Henderson is certainly the most experienced fighter that Jones will face, but at 5’11 he will be giving up almost a half foot in height and the reach advantage will once again weigh heavily in Jones favor making it difficult for Henderson to get inside and land his trademark H-Bomb.

“I feel like I match better against Jones and to be honest it’ll probably be a more entertaining fight than if I had faced Rashad,” Henderson admitted in an interview with Fightlinker. “Evans would’ve looked to put me on my back and try to win the fight on the ground whereas Jones would be more apt to keep the fight standing. It’s a totally different game plan for both guys, but it didn’t matter to me who I fought. I think the fans are happy that I will be facing Jones instead of Evans.”

The rest after the jump!

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