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Benson Henderson: A Case for a Hall of Fame Career

December 3, 2015 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris

Benson Henderson was victorious in the main event at UFC Fight Night 79, defeating Jorge Masvidal in a five-round split decision. The victory puts Henderson at 2-0 as a welterweight in the UFC. However, the fight is also notable because it could very well be Henderson’s last fight inside the Octagon. Henderson has confirmed that this was the last fight on his current deal, and it looks like he wants to test the free agency market. While it’s still very possible Henderson could remain with the UFC, I wanted to take a moment to spotlight a standout career of an amazing champion. Henderson is undoubtedly one of the greatest lightweight fighters ever, and he has all the makings of a UFC Hall of Fame career based on his UFC and WEC history.

Ben Henderson is a fighter who has always defied expectations and done well in the underdog role. In 2009, Henderson played the underdog role well in the WEC. After the reigning champion of WEC’s lightweight division, Jamie Varner, was sidelined with an injury, Henderson was given the opportunity to face Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone for the interim belt. Cerrone was by far the favorite. He had a heated rivalry with Varner that was sizzling at the time, and smart money was on a rematch between Cerrone and Varner. Henderson was more or less as a step for Cerrone’s eventual rematch with Varner for the title. Except Henderson disagreed with that notion. Cerrone threw everything he had at Cerrone. He attempted submissions, but Henderson refused to quit. Henderson frustrated Cerrone with an amazing pace and his takedowns. After five rounds, it was quite possibly one of the best fights of the year. With this performance, Henderson had gone from being a virtual unknown in the sport to a superstar basically overnight.

With the interim title in hand, the next logical step was for Henderson and Varner to unify their titles. The two had a previous relationship with each other and had trained together before in Arizona. While Henderson did seem to struggle in the earlier rounds, he managed to catch Varner with a guillotine choke to earn the submission win. Henderson had started January 2010 and was now the top lightweight of the WEC. After their first Fight of the Year level bout, Henderson and Cerrone were bound to face each other in a title rematch. And so it was at WEC 48, the promotion’s first and only PPV event, that Bendo and Cerrone would have their rematch. After their first fight, which was a five-round war, many expected a similar tough and likely close fight. The odds for the fight were basically even. Instead of a closely fought, back-and-forth war, Bendo took care of business quickly. He got Cerrone to the mat and submitted him yet again with his patented guillotine choke. With this win, Henderson had established himself as one of the top lightweight fighters in the world as well as a dangerous submission artist.

During his time as the top lightweight dog of the WEC, Henderson and some of the other WEC lightweights faced a lot of criticism. Fans, pundits, and even fighters argued that the WEC lightweights were second-class lightweights and could not compete with the top lightweights in the UFC. Some bemoaned when Henderson or other WEC lightweights would make it into top rankings brackets. Eventually, it did become time for the WEC to be merged into the UFC, and that included the lightweight division. The WEC lightweight champion would essentially become the top contender to the UFC lightweight title. However, in order to earn that shot, Henderson would have to face another obstacle in the form of the young and rising star Anthony Pettis. It was a tough fight that was close on the cards going into the last round. Pettis and Henderson had a back-and-forth fight for the ages, but it was Pettis who would earn the victory. It was mainly in thanks to his stunning off the cage kick that landed on Henderson called the Showtime Kick. Pettis took away Henderson’s title and all his momentum as well. Meanwhile, Henderson had to endure the humiliation on being on the receiving end of one of the most devastating and amazing MMA highlight reel moments of all time.

This is one of the reasons why Henderson should be so admired and respected. A loss to a fighter could be devastating, but it could also be career changing. It is sometimes through a loss that you see what a fighter is truly made of. That is exactly the definition of Benson Henderson. Benson Henderson may have lost the glory to Anthony Pettis, but he was not content being a footnote in MMA history. He took that humiliation from the loss to Pettis and channeled it into an incredible run that took him to the UFC lightweight title.

As fate would have it, Pettis would not end up receiving his lightweight title shot, at least not right away. Due to a log jam in the division so Frankie Edgar could face Gray Maynard in a rematch, Pettis was forced to fight again, and he lost to Clay Guida of all people. Meanwhile, Benson Henderson went on a warpath. He stormed into the UFC lightweight division as a man on a mission. First he beat Mark Bocek, and he followed that up with then really the consensus No. 2 guy at lightweight in the UFC in Jim Miller. Henderson looked like he had a new spark and motivation. He was able to fight at an unbelievable pace that overwhelmed his opponents. Even Jim Miller could not deal with Henderson’s unbelievable submission defense. And so Benson Henderson was set against Clay Guida, who was fresh off the Pettis win, at UFC on FOX 1. In another Fight of the Year Candidate, Henderson won yet again. It took a year, but Henderson was back in a spot that could see him fighting for UFC gold, while Pettis had to get back in line.

Henderson’s run as UFC lightweight champion was not without controversy. I believe he did legitimately win the title against Frankie Edgar at UFC 144. His reign was marred by a close split decision in a rematch against Edgar at UFC 150. That win was followed up with a dominant and decisive victory over Nate Diaz at UFC on FOX 5. That was when Diaz was in the midst of one of the best runs of his entire career. Following that fight, Henderson was then set against the reigning Strikeforce lightweight champion, Gilbert Melendez, who had finally joined the lightweight roster. Melendez had been a competitive and top lightweight outside the UFC for several years, and many argued he was one of the top lightweights in the world. The two did have a close fight. I scored the fight in favor of Melendez, but many saw it as Melendez’s victory. Still, the judges sided with Henderson, who had tied BJ Penn’s title defense record in the UFC lightweight division.

Henderson’s seven-fight winning streak was finally snapped after he was matched up yet again with his old rival Anthony Pettis. In a moment that seemed unbelievable before hand, Pettis ended up winning the fight by submission of all things. Submission seemed to be the one way Henderson could not be beaten, but it happened.

Since that loss, Henderson bounced back with wins over former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson and Rustam Khabilov. But then Henderson suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in his career. He lost to now current UFC lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos by knockout and his old rival Donald Cerrone. For whatever reason, it seemed Henderson had hit some sort of a slump. Specifically, it seemed like he was missing that fire, or that spark, that drove him to becoming the top lightweight fighter on the planet.

That fire came back at UFC Fight Night 60. After some injuries and late replacements, Benson Henderson was matched up against the rising welterweight prospect Brandon Thatch. Henderson was moving up to welterweight for the first time in his MMA career. Thatch is a huge welterweight, and with all those factors in mind, Henderson was set as the underdog for the fight. However, just like in that first fight with Cerrone several years before, it seems these are the situations where Henderson truly shines. Despite Thatch likely getting the better of the third round, Henderson’s amazing stamina and cardio held up as he took Thatch into the deeper waters. Utilizing his superior grappling, he ultimately chipped away at Thatch in what I proudly call my favorite fight of 2015.

That fight is why I love Benson Henderson. When Henderson has the eye of the tiger, he truly rises to the occasion unlike anything I have ever seen. I was live in attendance to watch his victory over Guida, which was amazing to witness in person. When Henderson is on, he has this ridiculous energy. The way he can constantly move forward at an aggressive pace without ever getting tired, and how he could survive some of the nastiest submission attempts, was amazing to watch. There will never be another Benson Henderson in this sport.

Previously, Benson Henderson talked about becoming champion and likely retiring from MMA at 33. Henderson recently turned 32, so by that he has about a year left. That being said, fighter retirement plans and ages rarely go as planned. But based on Henderson’s accomplishments and standout performances, I would have no problem if he were inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame somewhere down the line.

article topics :

Benson Henderson, UFC, Jeffrey Harris