The former World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champ Benson “Smooth” Henderson (12-2) will make his UFC debut on April 30th at UFC 129 where he’ll face UFC vet Mark Bocek (9-3).
The match was confirmed by MMAjunkie.com late Monday, who noted both sides have made verbal agreements to fight.
Henderson is coming off of a disappointing loss to Anthony Pettis in the main event of the very last WEC event, WEC 53 last December. Henderson would lose a unanimous decision to Pettis in one of the greatest fights of the year. Not only did “Smooth” lose the WEC lightweight title, but he lost an opportunity to unify both the WEC and UFC titles. He had been on a 10 fight win streak and is 5-1 as a WEC fighter.
Bocek is a tough submission fighter with 8 UFC bouts under his belt, he’s 5-3 with the promotion. He fought last month at UFC 124 earning a submission victory over Dustin Hazelett at the Montreal event. The win erased a unanimous decision loss to Jim Miller at UFC 111, a defeat that ended a three fight win streak. In Bocek’s last two victories, he’s won the “Submission of the Night” bonus, something Henderson will be very aware of when they both step into the octagon.
UFC 129 is set for April 30th at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontraio. The Henderson vs. Bocek fight should take pare on the pay per view portion of the card. The event looks to have a couple of great fights already without adding these two lightweights as UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre defends his title against Jake Shields, and with former UFC champs Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida also taking part on the card.