PHOENIX — At age 38, Benson Henderson doesn’t know how many nights like Saturday night he has left in his mixed martial arts career.
The former UFC lightweight champion won a thrilling victory over Islam Mamedov at Bellator 273”s co-main. This ended the Russian’s 19-fight streak of unbeaten. It was a close-fought win, in front a large hometown crowd at Phoenix’s Footprint Center. It was a special moment for Henderson, a chance to exorcise the demons of last October after losing to Brent Primus in this same arena, but also the opportunity to fight in front of his two oldest sons for the first time of his career — and do so in vintage fashion.
For Henderson it could also have been the final ride of an Arizona legend.
“I wanted to soak it all in,” Henderson told MMA Fighting at Bellator 273’s post-fight press conference.
“I’m not sure if this will be my last fight or not, so I wanted to enjoy it. It was important to me that I enjoy the “W”, and raise my hand. It’s possible I will keep going. We’ll find out.”
Henderson (29-11) revealed that Saturday night marked the final fight of his Bellator contract. The MMA Lab co-owner first inked a deal with Bellator in 2016 following a Hall of Fame worthy run in the WEC and UFC, which saw Henderson defeat a who’s who of A-list fighters — Nate Diaz, Frankie Edgar (x2), Jorge Masvidal, Gilbert Melendez, Donald Cerrone (x2), and more — while capturing the lightweight title in both promotions.
Henderson has had a somewhat uneven Bellator run. Following Bellator 273, Henderson holds a 6-6 record over his 12 promotional appearances, with wins over the likes of Patricio Freire and Mamedov but losses in both of his attempts at a Bellator belt.
“They paid me a lot of money — I might have under-fought my contract, so going into the re-negotiations, I’m not sure how they’re going to treat me,” Henderson said. “We’ll see, we’ll find out. But I do know that if this is the last one, this was a great way to go out.”
Henderson admitted that he had thought about leaving the sport in the past. He isn’t ready to make an official decision about his next step, but said there is a chance that Bellator 273 ultimately serves as his MMA swan song.
“I don’t know,” Henderson admitted. “I do know that I would like to continue fighting, but other things have to line up. My wife [Maria Henderson] is going to go pro [in MMA] pretty soon. We’ve got four babies. You’ve got to be home to take care of those babies. You know four kids are always sick. One of them, she or I, must be at home to care for the sick child or stay at home to take care of the other.
“Four kids can be a lot to handle, so I may have to take on the role of a stay at-home father. Mommy will go to the kitchen and make sure that the bread .”
is brought home.
When Scott Coker was asked Saturday about Henderson’s future, he echoed the sentiments of many former UFC champions. Coker acknowledged that he has heard rumblings of Henderson potentially mulling retirement as well, but noted that Bellator is open to bringing “Smooth” back if he chooses to continue competing.
” “It’s going to be all up to him,” Coker stated about Henderson. “But to me, he’s already done it all. He’s been fighting a long time, and he’s been a great ambassador for the sport. If he decides to hang it up, I think he’s done everything there is to do, and we would wish him well. But if he wants to fight, we’ll have a conversation.”
Henderson shared a postfight moment with Khabib Nurmagomedov (an ex-UFC champion) who was there to meet Mamedov. Nurmagomedov’s new MMA promotion, Eagle Fighting Championship, made its U.S. debut on Friday and has signed several well-known free agents in recent months. Henderson suggested that Nurmagomedov might be available for a chat if he continues fighting. However, there are still many details to work out before this becomes a possibility.
If Henderson does choose to hang up his gloves, he’ll do so with his legacy intact as a former world champion and one of the best lightweight fighters of his era.
But if Henderson does end up re-signing with Bellator to continue his pursuit of the promotion’s 155-pound belt, he expects to return straight into the thick of the title picture.
“I would certainly hope so,” Henderson said. Henderson said that Masedov was an amazing fighter and he beat him [Brent Primus].. [He’d won] 19 has fought in three consecutive fights. He was the only one who wanted to face him. They asked the Brazilian guys, they didn’t want to fight him. They asked the Irish guys, they didn’t want to fight him. They said, ‘Hey, we can’t find anybody to fight this guy. He needs to be stopped. Will you step up? You said, “I’m a company guy. You know that he is on an 19-fight win streak and that despite not being a well-known fighter, nobody in his division would want to face him.
” I want to fight the man who will take me to the title. I wanted the quickest shot possible — and they said Mamedov, so I said yes. I bet on myself. Like I’ve done so many times in my career, I put all the chips on myself, I worked my butt off and bet on myself, and this bet paid off — I got my hand raised.”
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