In any sport, there are people who are worth talking about separately, having examined their biography in more detail. One such fighter in the mixed martial arts world is Benson Henderson, a former UFC and WEC lightweight champion.
Birth
The athlete was born in the city of Colorado Springs on November 16, 1983, but his formation as an individual took place in Washington state. Benson's mom is a U.S. citizen, but has Korean roots, and her father is African American. By faith, Benson Henderson is a Christian.
Sports career
Back in school, the guy was engaged in freestyle wrestling and taekwondo. In the period 2005-2006, he was even included in the symbolic team of the best martial artists.
At the amateur level, Benson Henderson held three fights according to the rules of MMA and turned into professionals on November 18, 2006. The debut turned out to be successful - Dan Gregary was defeated. Until 2009, our hero took part in battles of regional significance, but already in January 2009, Benson Henderson made his debut in World Extreme Cagefighting. Already in the third fight in this promotion, the American won the title of interim champion, and the fight itself was recognized as the best for the entire 2009th year. Henderson won the full title in early 2010, and successfully defended three months later. In December 2010, Benson lost to Pettis and lost the belt of the WEC champion.
In 2011, fighter Benson Henderson went under the wing of the UFC. At the 144th tournament held by this organization, Smooth (Benson's nickname) defeated Frankie Edgar and took the lightweight championship belt. The fight itself was recognized as an evening fight and both athletes were awarded $ 65,000 each.
Possession of the UFC belt lasted only a year and a half, and already in the summer of 2013, Benson lost to his old offender Anthony Pettis with a military arm.
Continuation of the career of a fighter
After this defeat, Henderson won two consecutive victories over Josh Thompson and Rustam Khabilov. However, then two defeats followed by Jorge Masvidala and Brandon Thatch. As a result, Benson moved to the second largest promotion in the world, Bellator, where in his first duel he met in the octagon cage with the current champion of the welterweight organization, Russian Andrei Koreshkov, whom he lost by unanimous refereeing.
Henderson spent his last fight at the moment on August 26, 2016 and defeated Patricio Freire by technical knockout in the second round (the opponent suffered a leg injury, could not continue the fight and was forced to refuse).