Benson Henderson News

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson is now firmly embedded as a member of the Bellator roster. In fact, he’s set to return to the cage at Bellator 220 this weekend, where he’ll take on Adam Piccolotti in a lightweight contender bout. As he prepares for this imminent challenge, Benson Henderson is happy to have put some distance between himself and the drama that is currently plaguing the UFC lightweight division. He’s witnessed the heat between reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champion Conor McGregor, and the difficulty top contenders like Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson have had getting title shots, and he’s thanking the Lord that he’s no longer in the thick of it.

Mike Straus - April 24, 2019

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) isn’t the only show streaming live Saturday night as Bellator 220 will go head to head with the MMA juggernaut. While Bellator has a habit of filling up the undercard with local fighters to help move ticket sales, that often times affects the quality of fights the fans get. There’s no denying the strength of the five-fight main card that will stream live via DAZN. However, the prelims fall a bit short of what one would expect from a card of this magnitude.

Cole Shelton - November 13, 2018

Former WEC and UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will continue to fight in Bellator for the foreseeable future. The news of Henderson re-signing was first reported by MMAJunkie. It is being reported that Henderson’s contract is an “exclusive, long-term deal” with Bellator. However, it is not known how many fights the contract is for or when Henderson will return to the cage.

Tom Taylor - October 14, 2018

On Saturday night, in the co-main event of the action-packed Bellator 208 card, former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson picked up a dominant decision win over longtime Bellator lightweight contender Saad Awad. In his post-fight interview with Bellator MMA commentator John McCarthy, Benson Henderson could have taken a moment to call for another Bellator title shot, or perhaps a rematch with fellow lightweight contender Patricky Freire. Instead, however, the former champion used his post-fight interview as an opportunity to admonish UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor for their infamous UFC 229 post-fight brawl.

Chris Taylor - April 1, 2018

Exclusive | Benson Henderson’s plan going forward: “Finishes, finishes, finishes!” Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson (24-8 MMA) has had a rough start to his Bellator MMA carrer.

Tom Taylor - March 29, 2018

Former UFC lightweight champ and current Bellator lightweight contender Benson Henderson has been in some very close fights over the course of his illustrious career. Sometimes, the judges have scored these razor-close fights in his favor. Other times, they haven’t…

Jason Kindschy - March 28, 2018

Another STACKED episode of BJPENN.COM Radio has arrived, Penn Nation! We kick things off with former UFC lightweight champion and current Bellator MMA star, Benson Henderson. Following the announcement that James Gallagher would not be competing at Bellator 196 in Budapest next weekend, Benson answered the call to save the card and now faces another MMA veteran in Roger Heurta. We’ll preview the fight in the usual “Smooth” fashion, discuss what he’d like to accomplish in 2018, and we’ll hear Ben’s interesting take on how to fix judging in MMA.

Drake Riggs - March 12, 2018

News broke today that has completely shaken up the Bellator 196 card that takes place on April 6th in Budapest, Hungary. Originally slated to be a featherweight confrontation between young Irish prospect, James Gallagher vs Adam Borics has now turned into the exact opposite: A clash of former grizzled UFC veterans.

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

Last night, in the main event of Bellator 183, Benson Henderson fought to yet another split decision, this time opposite long-time Bellator contender Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. Though Henderson has won his fare share of split decisions in the past, he lost this one. Whether the judges got it right or not (the MMA community didn’t seem sure), he is now a tough 1-3 in the Bellator cage, and as such, he believes it’s time for a change in his fighting style. “I think that either way, win or lose, I need to stop having close fights,” Henderson told MMAJunkie.com post-fight. “(People say), ‘Oh, it was kind of close, maybe you could have won, you could have lost.’ Like, those close fights are killing me. It’s always nice to win a close fight, win a close split decision, but just being in close decision, close split decision, split decision (all in a row) – those are just too close to have. You can’t have those. You have to have a better performance win or lose. You got to be in more decisive battles. It sucks.”

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

Last night, Bellator MMA returned to San Jose, California with the stacked Bellator 183. In the card’s main event, we watched former UFC and WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson collide with long-time Bellator lightweight contender Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. As is so often the case when it comes to Benson Henderson fights, this one was incredibly close. For three rounds, we watched Henderson relentlessly pursue the takedown, effectively shutting down Pitbull’s offense as he did, while Pitbull denied all of those takedown attempts, depriving Henderson of the opportunity to rack up points in the judges’ eyes.

Russell Ess - September 15, 2017

While the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight lived up to the excitement that many were hoping for, not everyone was thrilled. For example, former UFC lightweight champion and current Bellator star Benson Henderson was not a fan of the matchup or even how things played out in the boxing ring. Henderson spoke with ESPN on why he feels the money fight was bad for MMA and its future.

bjpenndotcom - May 5, 2017

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has earned the reputation as one of the most polite, and well spoken fighters in the world. After fighting out his contract with the UFC, Henderson signed with Bellator MMA in 2016. In his first Bellator MMA fight, the former champ dropped a unanimous decision to Andrey Koreshkov at Bellator 153 for the Bellator welterweight championship. Just four months later, ‘Smooth’ picked up a TKO win over Patricio Freire, also winning his first fight under the Bellator MMA banner. Unfortunately for Henderson, in his most recent fight he dropped a split decision to Michael Chandler for the Bellator lightweight championship.

bjpenndotcom - December 3, 2016

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.

Tom Taylor - November 19, 2016

On Saturday night, Bellator MMA returned to the SAP Center in San Jose, California with Bellator 165. In the card’s main event, reigning Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler attempted to defend his title against former WEC and UFC lightweight titleholder Benson Henderson. Though Chandler would ultimately succeed on this mission, Henderson did not make it easy for him.

Tom Taylor - November 18, 2016

On December 17, when the UFC returns to Sacramento, California, rising welterweight Bryan Barberena will take on highly regarded prospect Colby Covington. If he defeats Covington, he’ll extend his win-streak to three, having taken out Sage Northcutt and Warlley Alves in his last two bouts. Despite the big stakes of this upcoming bout, Barberena recently took time out of his busy schedule for an interview with BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has had his own issues with referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy, but ‘Smooth’ says he would never have considered kicking him, as Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson did on Saturday. Following a crushing uppercut that sent opponent ‘Bigfoot’ Silva crashing to the mat, Nelson finished the fight with some ground-and-pound, causing what ‘Big Country’ believed to be a very late stoppage against a personal friend.

bjpenndotcom - July 27, 2016

Since it was announced that Brock Lesnar failed a pre-fight, as well as a fight night drug test for UFC 200, his opponent, Mark Hunt, has continued to make headlines. In addition to an expletive filled rant, Hunt called for the UFC to give him 100% of Lesnar’s massive $2.5 million purse for the event. As if that wasn’t enough, Hunt took it upon himself to attempt to create a fighters union.

bjpenndotcom - April 23, 2016

Former UFC champion Benson Henderson is just 7 months away from turning 33, an age that will see the former champ step away from MMA. Prior to his Bellator 153 welterweight title fight against Andrey Koreshkov, which Henderson lost in convincing fashion on Friday night, the former UFC champ spoke to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour: