If it ultimately proves to be his swan song, Benson Henderson
authored a vintage performance in the
Bellator 273 co-main event on Saturday night.
The MMA Lab stalwart ended Isam Mamedov’s 20-bout unbeaten streak
at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz., winning a
hotly-contested split decision that was a classic Henderson
nail-biter. “Smooth” has shown a knack for emerging on the right
side of the scorecards in such outings, posting a 6-2 record in
Bellator and UFC competition in bouts that end via split
decision.
After completing the final fight on his existing contract, it’s
unclear how long Henderson will continue to make judges’ lives
difficult in Bellator — or anywhere else for that matter.
“I don’t know how much longer I’ll be doing this for Bellator, so I
wanted to soak it all in,” Henderson said at the Bellator 273
post-fight press conference. “I’m not sure if this is going to be
my last fight or not, so I wanted to enjoy it, wanted to enjoy the
‘W,’ enjoy getting my hand raised. I might keep going, I might not,
so we’ll find out.”
Henderson was a prized free-agent signing for Bellator when he
arrived in 2016, but he has only enjoyed mixed results within the
California-based promotion. His ledger includes signature triumphs
over the likes of Patricio Freire and Myles Jury, but he also came
up short in a pair of title bouts while compiling a relatively
pedestrian 6-6 mark overall.
“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 didn’t sound completely ready to call it a career, and he
admitted to having some interest in Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Eagle FC
organization following a post-fight interaction with his opponent’s
corner, which included the ex-UFC lightweight champion.
According to Bellator president Scott Coker, the ball is in
Henderson’s court.
“I know he was thinking about retiring and it’s really going to be
up to him,” Coker said. “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.”
If Henderson does end up re-signing with Bellator, the win over
Mamedov, a Professional Fighters League veteran who hadn’t lost
since 2009, puts him right back in the thick of things at
lightweight. At the very least, it was a much-needed victory for
the former UFC champ following a career-worst three-fight losing
streak.
“Mamedov, the amazing, great fighter that he is, he just beat the
guy who beat me [Brent Primus]. No one else wanted to fight him,”
Henderson said. “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. We
need somebody to fight him. Will you step up? Will you do it?’ I
said I’m a company man — sure, of course. But you know him being on
a 19-fight win streak, him having not necessarily a big name, no
one in the division wants to fight him.
“I want the fight that’s going to take me to the title shot right
away. 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.”