Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin are two of the greatest MMA fighters America has ever produced. Between them they have won titles in the UFC, PRIDE and Strikeforce. While they have already shared a cage together, competiting in an exciting 2009 tilt, next month these former opponents will be sharing a training facility for the first time.
Both heading to Singapore to train with the Evolve MMA Fight Team which includes nine BJJ black belts, world champions in boxing and Muay Thai and NCAA and Olympic level wrestlers.
Franklin is looking to take a step closer to another shot at the UFC middleweight title when he takes on Cung Le in Macau next month, while Henderson has a UFC light heavyweight title-shot in his cross hairs. He was initially scheduled to face UFC champion Jon Jones but had to pull out of the bout due to injury. A fight with Jones is still a possibility although Dana White has also hinted that he might prefer to have Henderson fight Lyoto Machida first.
Henderson, who has won his last four fights beating the likes of Renato Sobral and Fedor Emelianenko, will be reunited with his long term cornerman Heath Sims when he heads to Singapore, as Sims is in charge of the wrestling program at Evolve MMA. He will also find himself rubbing shoulders with Franklin. With both men now competing in different weight divisions and unlikely to be asked to fight each other again they will be able to spar together and train together at Evolve MMA.
The Evolve MMA Fight Team consists of elite fighters such as Rafael dos Anjos, Shinya Aoki, Zorobabel Moreira and Leandro Issa, plus fighters from the US often travel to to train there with Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren also spending a few weeks in Singapore earlier this year.
PHOTO CREDIT – COMBAT LIFESTYLe
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