Benson Henderson has had a torn ACL in every Bellator fight

Former UFC lightweight kingpin Benson Henderson has been competing under the Bellator MMA banner throughout 2016. In April, ‘Smooth’ made his Bellator MMA debut as he stepped into the cage as a welterweight to fight Andrey Koreshkov for the Bellator welterweight championship. Unfortunately for the former UFC champ, he dropped a unanimous decision to Koreshkov.

In his second Bellator MMA appearance, Henderson picked up a TKO win over former Bellator champion Patricio Freire in a lightweight title eliminator. Unfortunately for Henderson, in his next fight, which took place in November, he dropped a split decision to Michael Chandler in what many believed to be a ‘Fight of the Year’ performance.

As if three fights in 2016, including two title fights, wasn’t enough for the former UFC champ, during a recent interview, Henderson revealed that he has done it all with a torn ACL.

Champions.co has the quotes:

“I’ve had a torn ACL in all of my Bellator fights,”

“I got the MRI back and the doctor said it was a torn ACL, completely ruptured,” Henderson said. “It felt fine, though. I passed all the tests. I ran, jumped, cut left and right. Doctors said, ‘If you can do that, there’s nothing saying you have to have surgery. We can’t tell you to have surgery’.”

“I tested it again against [Patricio Freire in August] and hurt it some more. Then against Chandler, I actually hurt it a couple more times during training,” Henderson said. “My coaches and my wife said I probably shouldn’t take the fight, or I at least had to have surgery after. So, I was told by my wife I had to have ACL surgery, and that’s what I’m doing.”

With Henderson set to undergo surgery to repair the torn ligament, fight fans very well could see a different Henderson in 2017. With that being said however, Henderson has stated on multiple occasions that 2017 will likely be his last year fighting as he plans to join the military.