[h=1]Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida headed to UFC 157 in Anaheim[/h] by Matt Erickson and John Morgan on Nov 21, 2012 at 3:30 pm ET The Dan Henderson-Lyoto Machida fight that UFC President Dana White has been promising for a while looks to be closer to official. Though Henderson (29-8 MMA, 6-2 UFC) earlier this month said he would meet fellow contender Machida (18-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) on the UFC's Super Bowl weekend card, UFC 156, it appears the two will wait until later in the month to throw down. The two light heavyweights will meet Feb. 23 in Anaheim on a card expected to be UFC 157, sources with knowledge of the booking on Wednesday confirmed to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). As first reported by MMAjunkie.com, UFC 157 will take place at Honda Center in Anaheim. After some Twitter buzz that that the fight would take place on Feb. 23, Tatame reported the matchup's new date, and other news outlets, including MMAFighting.com, said the bout is not expected to serve as the card's main event. As for just who might wind up headlining the card, rumors have already been swirling that the UFC's first female fighter, Ronda Rousey, could wind up on the top of the bill. Rousey hails from Southern California. White has said already that Rousey, Strikeforce's women's bantamweight champ, is now under the UFC banner. Henderson will fight for the first time in 15 months. He was scheduled to face Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title at UFC 151, but an injury forced him out and the rest, as they say, was history for that card. In his most recent outing, he outpointed Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in what many considered 2011's "Fight of the Year" at UFC 139 in San Jose, Calif. Henderson recently appeared on Spike TV's "MMA Uncensored Live" and said he was fighting Machida at UFC 156, which takes place Feb. 2 in Las Vegas. But that proved to be premature, and UFC officials never made a formal announcement about that date and have yet to make one about the new date. Machida, meanwhile, is hoping to earn another shot at the title. After a 1-3 stretch that included a title loss to Rua, a split-decision setback to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and a title loss to Jones, Machida recently picked up a second-round knockout of Ryan Bader at UFC on FOX 4 in August in Los Angeles.
I love me some Ronda Rousey, but there ain't no way she takes top billing from Henderson-Machida. I hope I didn't read that correctly
I doubt she will be the main event. Has she ever even been on a PPV? Dana is not stupid. I would be shocked if they put someone as the main event on a PPV that has not proven to be a PPV draw.
people probably know rousey more than they know henderson or machida, but those people aren't the ones buying tickets to UFC and ordering ppvs. i doubt she'll headline the event.
disagree, brother. I don't think women mma is even a blip in mainstream. Most people can't name one WNBA start, I would bet less than 10% of the U.S. population would have a clue who Rousey even is.
a lot of people dont watch mma period, yet they know who rousey is because of the recent exposure she's gotten. she was on the redcarpet on some award show, cover of that espn body mag and hosted TMZ a few months back. that and she's a bronze medalist olympian. i have three male coworkers who don't know who anderson silva or GSP is but they know who rousey is merely based on the daily news feed they get on their smartphones. it's disputable. statistically, how many of american population follow mma? of those, they all know both rousey and machida/henderson. of those who don't follow mma (much more than those who follow) know rousey more than they know hendo or machida. so i guess it depends on how you look at it. IF rousey were to headline, its intent from a marketing standpoint is to probably attract non mma fans that's heard of rousey from the publicity she's gotten in the past year.
The mainstream pub she's got is legit. I can't deny that. Call me a dinosaur, I just don't want to believe it
I don't know in the US, but I think that in most of the world, people have no clue who Roussey is. At least in Canada, i'd say less than 5% of MMA fans know her. Depending on how much of theyr sales "overseas sales" typically consist, it could be a disastrous move for the UFC
wow, it looks like rousey is headlining ufc 157. she's fighting some chick i've never heard of. it was announced on espn today.
Unreal. Her opponent, Liz Carmouche, is a solid fighter but ultimately probably only the 5th or 6th best fighter at 135 pounds. I was kind of thinking they would match Rousey against undefeated Sara McMann who is an absolute beast in wrestling and submission grappling. I suppose the UFC will let Rousey and McMann get a view fights for exposure on PPV's and then pit them against each other. Short of a fight with Cyborg, McMann is the chick most likley to toss Rousey around like a rag doll. I know female MMA isn't big around here, but if you get a chance, check out Sara McMann. But it is amazing that this fight gets top billing over Henderson-Machida and Faber Menjivar. Henderson is a freaking legend and his bout with Machida is a fight between 2 of the top 4 Light Heavies in the world. Meanwhile, the fight is in California and the "California Kid, Uriah Faber, can't even get co-main event status.
McMann looks like garbage, sure she sounds good on paper, but did you see her last fight? No way in hell does she beat Rousey at this point.
That is fucked up. I agree, Henderson is a legend and Hendo Vs Machida is an intriguing fight between 2 top light heavies. What a load of shit.
Let's just say that this last point didn't help your case at all, haha. There may be 3 people on the planet who know Ronda Rousey because of her olympic success.
