Benson Henderson is a renowned American mixed martial artist. Performs under the auspices of Bellator in the welterweight category. Former UFC lightweight champion.
Biography
The future athlete was born in November 1983 on the 16th in the small American city of Colorado Springs. His parents are pious people, and the boy was brought up in conditions of severity, restraint and high morality. Today he himself is a Christian and often mentions this in various interviews, emphasizing personal high moral principles.
He began to take his first steps in sports at school. In late grades, he became interested in freestyle wrestling, and already in college, exotic taekwondo was included in his list of interests. In 2005, he won several competitions for which he got into the symbolic team of higher educational institutions of the United States of America. The following year, his success in sports was also noted and he again got into this prestigious list among students.
Professional career
Henderson began competing at the highest level after several successful fights at the amateur level. Three consecutive victories caught the attention of professional tournament organizers, and Benson was invited to take part in one of them. The debut fight of the novice fighter took place in the American North Platte on November 18, 2006. The first top-level contender was Dan Gregary, whom Henderson dealt with with extraordinary ease. He was awarded the victory after Gregary's surrender.
Henderson's next fight took place three months later, with Allen Williams as the opponent. In this competition, Benson again won the victory easily, after a minute and a half of the battle he dealt a crushing blow to the opponent and the fight was stopped by the decision of the judges. The victory was awarded after a technical knockout. The young athlete entered the next fight just a month later. The meeting with Rocky Johnson brought Benson's first professional defeat. He did not last even a minute, already at 47 seconds the judge stopped the fight and Rocky got the victory.
After this unfortunate misunderstanding, Henderson again took a break for almost three months and returned to the ring in June 2007. The win over David Dagloria kicked off Benson's ten-match streak, which ended only in 2010.
In total, during his career, the famous fighter entered the ring 32 times, 25 of which ended in his victory. The last fight to date took place in September 2019 in Dublin, Irish. Henderson, by decision of the judges, defeated the American athlete Miles Jury.
Personal life and family
Benson Henderson is married. He proposed to his chosen one, Maria Magane, right in the octagon after the end of another fight with Gilbert Melendez in April 2013. In marriage, they had two sons.
