Perhaps when all is said and done, Mark Henry will fully appreciate the gravity of playing such a pivotal role in the ultimate outcome of UFC 205, but for the time being assuming a place in the annals of MMA history couldn’t be further from his mind.
Between now and Nov.12, when the UFC hosts its inaugural event in New York City, Mark Henry will dedicate countless hours to ensure some of the card’s most prominent fighters are operating at maximum expression for a night that will see them become the first ever mixed martial artists to compete at the hallowed Madison Square Garden.
In total, Henry will help oversee the training of four of the competitors, three of whom he’ll corner.
Eddie Alvarez, Frankie Edgar, Chris Weidman and Katlyn Chookagian are all, to varying degrees, under Henry’s tutelage.
Only Weidman, the former middleweight champion, who faces Yoel Romero, will not be cornered by Henry. Instead, he will be seen to, as always, by Ray Longo and Matt Serra.
Alvarez (28-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC) will defend his lightweight crown for the first time against featherweight champion Conor McGregor (20-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the five-round main event, while Edgar, coming off a unanimous decision loss to Jose Aldo in an interim featherweight title bout at UFC 200, takes on Jeremy Stephens.
Katlyn Chookagian has been booked to fight Liz Carmouche in a women’s bantamweight matchup.
Yet, despite being a fighting man of the east coast, Henry is presently not all too enamored by the historical relevance of the world’s biggest promotion finally landing in NYC.
“It’s exciting, but for me, I just want the guys to win,” Henry told MMAjunkie. “Madison Square Garden is so secondary. I’ve got to tell you the truth: The only thing on my mind is these guys winning, trying to watch the tape and coming up with the best game plan.”
Of the aforementioned quartet, Edgar has worked with Henry the longest and together they engineered the latter stages of his run to the lightweight title, which culminated in the dethroning of B.J. Penn at UFC 112.
Edgar’s loss to Aldo in July, his second after a failed title bid at UFC 158, is one that still greatly irks Henry. In fact, the coach assumes full responsibility for the loss, while it remains the only contest involving one of his fighters that he has never reviewed on tape.
“This last Jose Aldo fight, which was one of Frankie’s worst, I think I over-trained him,” Henry said. “But still give Jose all the credit – but I’m still beyond devastated from it.
“But, that last month Frankie wasn’t right, and I think a lot of that was down to me. I think I started too early, trained too hard and wanted it too bad, and I think I blew it.”
In Stephens, Edgar has been paired with a fighter who also made his UFC bow all the way back in 2007, but to date has been unable to reach the same heights.
According to Henry, a victory over Stephens will yet again fortify Edgar’s title credentials in a featherweight division enveloped by uncertainty.
Since dispatching of Aldo in 13 seconds at UFC 194, McGregor engaged in a pair of compelling contests with Nate Diaz at welterweight, and it is a matter of continuing debate whether or not he’ll ever return to the bracket.
When news emerged that the Dubliner is to fight Alvarez and get the chance to be the first man in company history to concurrently hold belts in two weight classes, Aldo responded by informing the Brazilian media that he wished to be released from his UFC contract.
“This fight, we’ll see where we’re at. We still want the belt really bad for Frankie. On the one hand, I’m happy for Eddie, but I can’t believe they’re still letting Conor have the belt – it kind of blows my mind,” Henry said.
“You want to stay relevant, fight the best fighters and Jeremy is, by far, one of the best at 145 pounds and will keep Frankie at the top. Let’s say Conor steps aside to go to lightweight, or if Max Holloway beat Jose Aldo. Well, Frankie has never fought Holloway, and that’s an appealing fight.”
Of course, Henry has often vocalized his dissatisfaction at McGregor being permitted to leave the featherweight title dormant for as long as he has, so as to pursue more lucrative and, arguably, compelling endeavors.
His rivalry with Diaz was one of circumstance, and not design, but like many others, Henry has been rendered aghast by UFC’s prioritizing of commerce over meritocracy, particularly when dealing with the Irishman.
By the time McGregor defeated Aldo, Edgar had won five successive bouts, three inside the distance, and despite promises from UFC that he would next face “The Notorious,” the promotion went another way.
McGregor was slated to face then lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196, but a foot injury sustained by the Brazilian scuppered those plans and, in turn, led to the unexpected series with Diaz, which stands at 1-1.
While Henry doesn’t object with McGregor seeking to attain untold wealth and success, he does take issue with him leaving the division over which he reigns in limbo.
“I absolutely don’t blame him for it, but he should just drop the belt, I think that is the only thing that would be fair. It’s just the things he said, that he wasn’t going to be like Jose Aldo and would defend the belt. But look at it, it’s almost a year now.
“On our end with the first Nate fight, he didn’t just lose, he got stomped. Frankie can’t keep fighting the No. 1 guy in the world. Meanwhile this guy loses, still has the belt, but Frankie is out of the title picture.”
Few could quarrel with this logic, and when speaking to Henry it is patently obvious that the relationship he enjoys with his fighters far exceeds merely the professional.
To that end, Henry deeply regrets some of the statements he made regarding McGregor and his coach, John Kavanagh, as they were simply a manifestation of what he felt was a slight against Edgar.
“I’d take a bullet in a second for any one of my fighters,” Henry said. “If anybody says something about my guys, I get really whacked out. I’m pretty embarrassed about some of my talking and I feel bad about what I said.
“I’ve never talked about a fighter in my life, and I wish I could take it back but I can’t. That is not the example I try to set for my son, my daughter and my fighters. Man, some of my interviews about Conor are horrible.”
Akin to the rest of the known universe, Henry’s opinion of McGregor is far from straight forward.
On the one hand, Henry admires McGregor’s fighting prowess, ambition and charisma but, on the other, he finds the apparent preferential treatment he receives from the UFC to be risible.
“Conor isn’t afraid of anything, and I give him a lot of credit,” he said. “What he’s done is amazing. He’s not just MMA-famous, he’s famous around the world. I think he’s an amazing human being and an incredible fighter.
“You’re only going to do what you get away with. If they’re (UFC) letting him do it, he should get all he can.”
As recently as this past week, Dana White declared that Khabib Nurmagomedov would take on Alvarez at UFC 205 but, apparently, the Philadelphian failed to sign the bout agreement on time.
Subsequently, it was announced that they would fight at UFC 206 on Dec. 10 in Toronto.
Nurmagomedov took to social media to display both bout agreements he had received, but it now seems that the undefeated Dagestani was used as a pawn while the promotion hammered out the last details of the contest between Alvarez and McGregor.
Instead, Nurmagomedov will meet Michael Johnson at Madison Square Garden. Henry empathizes with him in light of such bizarre developments.
“I feel bad for Khabib now, but that’s the new UFC,” he said. “I cannot believe they are letting Conor hang on to the featherweight belt for three fights. All the things he cracked on Jose Aldo for, he’s doing now.”
Despite its billing, Henry doesn’t conform to the notion that the meeting between Alvarez and McGregor is one of two champions. In light of McGregor’s inactivity at featherweight, Henry believes he doesn’t have a legitimate claim on the division.
That said, that Alvarez is set to earn a life-changing windfall for his efforts, is very pleasing to him.
“I really don’t look at it as champion vs. champion,” Henry said. “I mean, he’s (McGregor) only champion because the UFC allowed him to be. The UFC lets him be like a five year-old and keep his belt, how much of an accomplishment is that really?
“I’m happy for Eddie and his family, because this is what he wanted. He’s such a great kid and a champion in every aspect of his life.”
Alvarez’s journey to this juncture has been, in many respects, in stark contrast to the one taken by McGregor.
The two-time Bellator lightweight champion had passed his 30th birthday before arriving in the UFC and, even then, there were complications.
He lost his promotional debut to Donald Cerrone via unanimous decision at UFC 178 – the same night McGregor starched Dustin Poirier, incidentally –before eking a pair of split-decision wins over Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis.
In July, he unseated lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos with spectacular first round TKO finish at UFC Fight Night 90. It was career-best performance from the 32-year-old, and the culmination of more a decade in the trenches.
And now, Alvarez finds himself at the epicenter of McGregor’s cash-infused slipstream.
Henry, admittedly of the old school, is delighted to see his student in a place of such prominence, and reiterated his opinion that McGregor’s ability to generate capital is a boon for all the relevant parties.
“It’s an amazing story. Eddie is one of the most underrated fighters in MMA. I am just so proud to be in his and Frankie’s presence.”
“Honestly, if Conor McGregor loses all his money, with all these amazing people around him now, are they going to pay his mortgage? Obviously not. Conor is 100% right doing what he’s doing.”
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