Benson Henderson: American Champion

In any kind of sport, there are people who should be talked about separately, as detailed as possible considering their biography. One of these fighters, attracting attention in the world of mixed martial arts, is Benson Henderson - the former UFC champion and WEC in the lightweight division.

Birth

The athlete was born in the city of Colorado Springs on November 16, 1983, but his emergence as an individual passed in the state of Washington. Benson's mom is a US citizen, but has Korean roots, and his 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 of 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 the MMA and moved to the professionals on November 18, 2006. The debut was successful - Dan Gregary was defeated. Up until 2009, our hero took part in the battles of regional importance, but 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 was recognized as the best in the entire 2009 year. Full title Henderson won in early 2010, and three months later successfully defended. In December 2010, Benson lost to Pettis and lost the belt of the WEC champion.

In 2011, the fighter Benson Henderson moved under the wing of the UFC. At 144 tournaments held by this organization, "Smooth" (Benson's nickname) defeated Frankie Edgar and took his champion belt in lightweight. The fight itself was recognized as a fight of the evening and both athletes were rewarded for $ 65,000 each.

Owning the belt of the UFC lasted only a year and a half, and in the summer of 2013 Benson lost to his old offender Anthony Pettis fighting in hand.

Continuation of the career of the fighter

After this defeat, Henderson won two victories in a row over Josh Thompson and Rustam Khabilov. But then there were two defeats from Jorge Masvidal and Brandon Tatch. As a result, Benson moved to the world's second-largest promotion Bellator, where in the first match for himself, he fell in the cage of an octagon with the current champion of the welterweight organization Russian Andrey Koreshkov, who was defeated by a unanimous decision.

His last battle at this time Henderson held August 26, 2016 and defeated Patricio Freire by TKO in the second round (the opponent got a leg injury, could not continue the fight and was forced to refuse).