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Hendo swerved Nogueira in order to wait for Jones

Dan Henderson is happy to wait for Jon Jones © Getty Images

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Dan Henderson has given a three-fold explanation for why he did not accept the offer of a fight with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, revealing he wanted to wait for Jones, he did not have enough time to prepare, and he did not think fans would like to see it.

UFC president Dana White revealed he sounded out Henderson about a fight with Nogueira, only for the veteran to reject the bout. As a result, Nogueira fights Alexander Gustafsson in Sweden.

Henderson has now explained that he was still holding out for a fight with Jon Jones at the time, with White undecided over the identity of Jones' next opponent. Hendo also felt he did not have time to prepare for a five-round fight, and he predicted that fans would not be racing to see him fight Lil Nog.

"I was under the impression that [Dana White] was still kind of on the fence on whether he was going to put me in front of Rashad [in the queue] or not," Henderson told Clinch Gear Radio. "That's assuming Rashad wins [against Phil Davis].

"He did offer me a fight with little Nogueira and I didn't think the fans would be interested in that fight and it's not as much time as I'd like to prepare for a five round fight so I told him I'd wait and see what happens with the Rashad fight.

"I'd like to fight Jones now rather than if I took that fight with Little Nog. I wouldn't be fighting Jones for another eight, ninth months. I'm okay waiting a little bit.

"It was more about having the time to prepare and I did inquire to say, 'hey, I would be interested in doing it if it was a three round fight', I could have time to prepare."

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