Benson: I don’t think toothpick is illegal
Benson Henderson: “It’s as dangerous for me to have a toothpick in your mouth as it is to have a 200-pound man punch me in the face hard or try to kick me in the face.”
Benson Henderson again created some controversy with fans after his fight when it appeared he had again fought with a toothpick in his mouth. Today Henderson spoke with Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour where he addressed ‘toothpick gate’:
“I don’t think it’s illegal,” Henderson told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I don’t think it’s against the rules.”
Henderson, who beat Thatch by submission with a rear-naked choke in the fourth round, doesn’t think it was dangerous and said he has been doing it since he was a high school wrestler.
“It’s as dangerous for me to have a toothpick in your mouth as it is to have a 200-pound man punch me in the face hard or try to kick me in the face,” said Henderson, who moved up a weight class to fight Thatch on just two weeks notice. I’m more worried about that, to be honest.”