The UFC Fight Night scheduled for June 6 in New Orleans lost its main event of Ryan Bader vs Daniel Cormier recently, as Cormier has been elevated to a title shot on May 23 after the whole Jon Jones saga. The UFC announced the new main event will be the middleweight clash pitting veteran Dan Henderson against Tim Boetsch.
The match between Boetsch and Henderson was the co-main event of the show already, so the UFC has just moved it up one spot. Though Henderson is a legend, he is going to be a few months removed from 45 years old when this fight goes down. And with a 1-5 record in his last six outings, the aging fighter will not be impacting the title picture anytime soon. Neither will Boetsch, who is 2-4 in his last six fights, so he has not exactly been lighting it up. It might have made more sense to elevate the heavyweight bout between Matt Mitrione and Ben Rothwell to main event status, as both men are on winning streaks and a lot closer to impacting the title scene than either Boetsch or Henderson.
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Once they get in the ring, you can expect Boetsch and Henderson to both be aggressive and not wait around for lucky opportunities. Henderson has become increasingly reliant on his big right hand, and he has eschewed his ability to get takedowns so that he can land his big punch. Boetsch has proven he can take a punch, but Henderson can still knock you out. Boetsch usually counts on his sturdiness to outlast his opponents, winning late or with the judges when he is doing well. Against Henderson, it may help Boetsch to set a high pace and wear Henderson out. It bears noting that Henderson was a testosterone replacement therapy user, and he left it behind with little issue, but he has become much slower and his gas tank has seemed depleted later in fights. Henderson deserves all the accolades he gets as a pioneer, but unfortunately for him, in his mid-forties the way to beat him is just avoid getting KO’d by him.
One thing that remains up in the air is who will Ryan Bader, who was to face Daniel Cormier in the main event, will face next and where. What we could be seeing is that Bader will be the next challenger after Anthony Johnson and Daniel Cormier determine a champion on May 23, as the veteran has had a strong four-fight winning streak to boost his credentials.
