Lightweight star Benson Henderson is no doubt hoping the old “good things come in threes” adage holds true this weekend.
Henderson is getting his third crack at a third world championship in a major promotion at Bellator 292 this Friday, taking on Usman Nurmagomedov in the opening round of Bellator’s lightweight grand prix.
The last time the former WEC and UFC lightweight champ challenged for Bellator gold was in 2016, when he dropped a split decision to Michael Chandler. Now, Henderson is heading into what he truly believes is the biggest fight of his career — with a chance to solidify his legacy.
“For me, this will be the first time winning a third world title from a third different organization. So yes, it is definitely for sure the biggest fight of my career,” Henderson told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview. “And I’m definitely learning to appreciate the process— to love the journey more, to stop and smell the roses, not just go get the belt and kind of gloss over the details and forget about it or whatever. None of that stuff.”
At 24, winning his first world championship, “I didn’t really process it. It didn’t realize ‘oh, hey, this is a big deal.'” An older, wiser Benson Henderson takes a different approach these days.
Henderson is getting the title fight, and undefeated champ Nurmagomedov, right out of the gate in the grand prix. That’s something he’s appreciative of.
“There’s a lot of champions in the grand prix. There’s eight of us, I think five or six were former world champions in MMA. There’s a lot of tough guys in there, but definitely I appreciate the match-up,” he stated. “If you want to be champion, you have to beat everybody, right? It doesn’t matter if you beat him here or here or here. It doesn’t matter, you’ve got to beat him anyway. I love the match-up though.”
Henderson noted that Nurmagomedov has shown new wrinkles in his game of late. The cousin of UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov broke out his wrestling in his last fight, after showing more of his creative striking earlier in his Bellator run. But it’s experience that may very well be the difference maker for Henderson, who has been fighting the best of the best for well over a decade.
“He’s 16-0 – look up the combined record of his opponents, it’s a little bit telling,” Henderson said in regards to the champ. “He’s still the champion, he’s still the man right now, but definitely you can tell from his opponent’s records that he doesn’t have a ton of experience inside the cage just yet.”
While former foe Brent Primus is also competing in the grand prix, past Nurmagomedov, Henderson doesn’t have his eye on anyone in particular.
“All the guys, they are all tough, top notch. They’re all, like I said, five or six former champs in there. A.J. McKee has the experience of winning a grand prix previously, no one else has that experience. No matter who I face after beating Usman, it’s going to be a tough fight.”
At this point of his career, Henderson says winning another title is huge to him personally and professionally.
“It’s going to mean the world to me. It would mean the absolute world to me. Getting that third belt means everything, absolutely everything. It means all the choices, all the decisions I’ve made leading up to this were the right decisions, the right choices,” the 39-year old told us. “I’ve made some hard decisions and made some hard choices, and getting this third belt is going to put a stamp that it was all worth it. That I worked my butt off enough that I made all the right decisions along the way. This third belt means the world to me — it is everything to me.”
Among those decisions was re-signing with Bellator. There was a point a couple of years back where Henderson was unsure if the promotion would re-sign him. “At one point it was just the last fight of my contract, so I didn’t know if Bellator wanted me back— they pay me a lot of money. So I didn’t know if they wanted to pay me more money or not. Being a high level fighter, I’m not going to go fight for a smaller regional show or market or nothing like that. If Bellator didn’t want me then I was going to be done — thankfully Bellator wanted me for four more fights.”
Of course, these days there are other options outside MMA, including bare-knuckle with organizations like BKFC. Whether Henderson is interested in such and opportunity or not is moot — wife Maria, also a Bellator fighter, has laid down the law.
“My wife is actually not going to let me, not going to allow me — happy wife, happy life — she says I can’t do BKFC unless they come up with a seven figure deal,” Henderson stated.
“That’s super-interesting though. BKFC, bare-knuckle, I’m game for it. I think it’d be great. I think I’d be more like a freakin’ Floyd Mayweather, I’d be much more about that defense. I don’t know if I’d be a star attraction for BKFC, just because I’d be all about that defense, all about that defense.”
Henderson knows it’s not for everyone, however. “That’s a brutal way to make your money there.”
Watch our full interview with Bellator 292’s Benson Henderson above. Henderson faces Usman Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title on March 10, 2023 at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA.
