Husband and Wife Duo Benson and Maria Henderson Discuss Competing on Same Card

Phoenix, AZ — It’s not entirely uncommon for couples to work together, for better or for worse. It’s not entirely uncommon for couples in professional fighting to share the same occupation, either.

Fighting on the same card? That’s a little more rare. But that’s exactly what Benson Henderson and wife Maria will be doing at Bellator 268 this weekend.

Henderson (Benson, that is) will be facing Brent Primus in a key lightweight match-up. Much earlier on the card, Maria will compete in an amateur fight to kick off the event.

“No, no added pressure that she’s on the card. Just another fight,” Henderson told Cageside Press at Thursday’s Bellator 268 media day. “Every fight, doesn’t matter what the extra circumstances [are], the extra this, the extra— the first time that, the first time this, if your fighting career goes the path that you want it to go, you’ll be excited because it’s your first fight ever. Now you’re excited because it’s your first pro fight. Oh, now it’s your first time on the main card. Now it’s your first this, it’s your first that. There’s always going to be a new this, a new that to be excited for. You can’t necessarily see it that way. Every fight is the fight of your life. The next fight is the fight of your life that’s going to prove everything, that’s going to make it worthwhile.”

That’s regardless of whether the fight is in the back of a 7-11, or a small rinky dink arena. “The next fight in front of you is the fight of your life. That’s how it is for me.”

Maria sees no issues with it either.

“I think my husband trusts me to go get work done. He sees me in the gym a lot, he sees that I’m ok with being mean to other people. So I think he trusts me enough to where we can be on the same card. Maybe someone else doesn’t necessarily have that same sort of confidence in their relationship, but we do. We’ve been training with each other for a really long time and we know what each other is capable of. He’s getting his work done, I’m getting my work done, that’s kind of how we’re seeing it. His thing, my thing, just the same night.”

Benson is slated to take on former Bellator lightweight champion Brent Primus (10-2) on the main card while Maria takes on Collette Santiago (0-1) in the prelims.

Watch the full Bellator 268 media scrum with Benson and Maria Henderson above.