MMA Quick Hits 3/9/11: Henderson vs. Fedor, Daley will ‘smash’ Diaz

Fighter’s Only is reporting that sources close to Fedor Emelianenko state he is giving “serious consideration” to dropping to light heavyweight for a bout with newly-crowned Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, Dan Henderson. According to the report, Emelianenko was approached by Strikeforce officials about the fight prior to last weekend’s event in Columbus, where Henderson defeated Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante. Henderson has stated a few times that he would be interested in fighting Fedor. Ummm, no. Just no. It’s like Strikeforce is desperate for Fedor to hold one of their titles. I guess they should’ve let him fight Alistair Overeem from the get-go. Now, after two losses, they want to give him a title shot against Dan Henderson? Dumb.

Paul Daley told MMAHQ.com that he’ll beat Nick Diaz by knockout. “I’m going to smash him, take his belt then I can take all the time off I want… There’s no way he’ll stand up with me. He might think he wants to but his coaches won’t allow it; Cesar Gracie’s a great coach and he won’t want him trading punches. His boxing and his lack of wrestling [are holes I see in his game]. I’m a better athlete than he is. He’s a really dangerous grappler but he’s got to get in close enough to make it work and I’m not going to give him the chance. I’m going to smash him within three rounds. We do have a more complex game plan than that but that’s as simple as I can break it down at the minute.” Well, he certainly has a shot. If he can bait Diaz into a slugfest, he’ll probably get the knockout. The shots that Evangelista Santos landed on Diaz would be KO shots if landed by Daley.

According to a report from Sherdog.com, Hector Lombard will meet Joe Doerksen at a Cage Fighting Championship event on March 25 at Luna Park’s Big Top Stadium in Sydney. This is a pretty good fight for Australian MMA fans. Doerksen is a former UFC fighter and Lombard should be in the UFC.

Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante signed with Strikeforce last year and met Josh Thomson in October, losing a very close and contested decision, but has been out of action since then. JZ told Fighter’s Only that he’s not happy about it. I would be too. JZ has the talent to fight in the UFC but chose Strikeforce. Now Strikeforce isn’t using him. Seems like a waste of talent to me.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told MMAJunkie.com that Jorge Masvidal may be tapped as the opponent for K.J. Noons on the April 9th card. That’s a quick turnaround for Masvidal. But he didn’t take any damage so I’m sure he’s up for it. That being said, Strikeforce should probably let someone else have that fight, like, I don’t know, JZ Cavalcante.