Former UFC lightweight champion Benson
Henderson will move up to 170 pounds to face Jason
Jackson in the
Bellator 253 co-main event.
Sherdog.com confirmed the booking with a promotion official
following an initial report
MMAFighting.com. Bellator 253 takes place on Nov. 19 at Mohegan
Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, and is headlined by a
featherweight grand prix semifinal between Darrion
Caldwell and A.J.
McKee.
Henderson made his Bellator debut at welterweight in April 2016,
when he dropped a five-round verdict to then champion Andrey
Koreshkov. “Smooth” returned to 155 pounds after that and has
since gone 5-3 in the California-based promotion. The 36-year-old
MMA Lab stalwart is coming off a first-round KO loss to Michael
Chandler at Bellator 243, his first stoppage loss since
2014.
A former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Jackson
enters the matchup with Henderson having won five of his last six
professional outings. The Sanford MMA representative has won
back-to-back decisions over Kicchi Kunimoto and Jordan Mein
under the Bellator banner to run his career record to 12-4.