Benson Henderson has a lot of respect for what Francis Ngannou has been doing and continues to do.
The UFC heavyweight champion retained his title with a unanimous decision win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 this past Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif. Ngannou, who has been having contract problems with UFC 270, and a knee injury that requires surgery made the win even more remarkable. He will be out of action for most of 2022.. Ngannou also claimed that UFC threatened to sue him over allegedly speaking with Jake Paul’s business associate in an email. This was all in a recent interview that he did on The MMA Hour ..
Henderson is a former UFC champion and will be competing against Islam Mamedov this Saturday in the co-main Bellator 273 event. He was also asked about Ngannou’s goals since leaving 2016..
” “I believe it’s smarter for Francis to do that,” Henderson said Wednesday to MMA Fighting. “Certain people allow certain things to happen to them and they’re either okay with it, or not okay with it. It’s up to each person individually what you’re okay with accepting.
“Ngannou is not accepting this, he’s not accepting that, and I think it’s on him. It’s not a negative thing. It’s a good thing. He needs to be able to defend his beliefs, accept what he has, and receive the respect he deserves.
” A lot of his respect boils down to money, and the UFC is able to show him that level of respect,” Henderson said. “It would not be a big burden, ‘Oh, we’ve got to pay Ngannou. What does he want? $5 million? We don’t have this kind of money. It’s not a bad thing. It’s a good thing for him to go after what he wants.”
For Henderson, the three-fight losing streak that has lasted the longest in his professional career is over. “Smooth,” MMA Fighting’s spokesperson, said that this matchup was formed after a conversation between Bellator brass and Scott Coker. The lightweight wanted to know what he needed to do in order to get back to title contention. He also knew that his fight career would end at the age 38.
The answer was fight Mamedov, one of the promotion’s newest 155-pounders. The Russian just so happens to be riding a 19-fight winning streak. In his Bellator debut, Mamedov defeated former lightweight champ Brent Primus, albeit in a somewhat controversial split decision.
Henderson doesn’t have any excuses for the recent defeats to Primus and Michael Chandler. All he knows is that he needs to go into the Footprint Center in Phoenix, not far from his home, and leave with a win.
” I’m not a big believer in predictions and have always left the cage holding my hand. Henderson stated. Henderson said, “I’ll say that for this one I will leave the cage with my hand raised but I’m going kick him in his head at least twice.” Although he’s quite tough and has good bones, I might be able to kick him twice before he gets tired. I’m kicking him in the head a couple of times and I’m leaving that cage with my hand raised.”
