Henderson warms to welterweight
“It felt really good. There was something to not cutting down, not starving myself to death. Being able to stay at 170 would make it a little bit easier.”
Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson was dwarfed by Brandon Thatch, and before the fight, he spoke about the move up to 170 as being one and done. However, after the brilliant fourth round submission win, he expressed interest in the division, which he moved up to on very short notice.
It’s still up in the air, said Henderson as transcribed by Tristen Critchfield for Sherdog. It’s not truly up to us… It’s up to the UFC a lot of times. They give you a call, talk to your manager, talk to you, and off you go.
It felt really good. There was something to not cutting down, not starving myself to death. What we go through for ourselves to get down to weight … if we had to continue for another three, four, five, six days, we’d probably do some massive damage to our bodies. We kill ourselves getting down. Being able to stay at 170 would make it a little bit easier.
Henderson was game to fight welterweight Rory MacDonald, who lost opponent Hector Lombard after the Cuban fighter failed a PED test. UFC president Dana White said though that MacDonald already had a new opponent lined up, although he did not name him.
White however was deeply impressed with Henderson’s performance, as was the entire sport.
He looked unbelievable against a tough big guy, said White. I was blown away by his performance. It was insane. I’m not a big fan of small guys moving up to bigger weight classes but how can you deny what Benson did tonight?
Ben took some big shots tonight, too. He looked awesome tonight. If he wants to stay at 170, I’m cool with it.