As first reported exclusively last week, newly signed Strikeforce star Dan Henderson has confirmed that his first Strikeforce appearence will be against current Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields. 

Henderson also looks to be backing off of his desire to fight Shields, current light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi and Fedor Emelianenko in his first three Strikeforce outings. 

"Looks like the first one will be Jake Shields," Henderson recently stated at a press conference. "To begin with, I'll start out at 185 lbs and hopefully fight well there. Win the title and stay there to defend it. I'm not looking to hop around too much at least with the first two fights, but we'll see. Who knows what will happen. I just want totake it fight by fight and make sure that I win each fight."

Henderson is expected to take on Shields in April on Strikeforce's next CBS Saturday Night Fight's card. Shields, a natural welterweight, is likely to be the underdog going into the fight despite a winning streak of 13-fights dating back to 2005. 

While he is confident that the match up is clearly in his favor, Henderson is careful not to overlook the Ceaser Gracie product.

"Obviously he has the same strategy in almost every fight, really -- try to get it to the ground and be on top," Henderson said. "He's got some nasty guillotines and some good submissions and I think for me, style-wise, it's a great match-up. I never overlook anybody and Jake is dangerous. I need to go out there and make sure I come up with the right game plan and stick to it. Try to make the fight exciting. Jake is one of the best at putting people on their back."