Ben Henderson came out and beat Jim Miller at UFC on Versus 5 in convincing fashion. Now it seems that win has given him the confidence to take on anybody in the UFC lightweight division.
On Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Henderson said he would like to face a plethora of UFC lightweights.
“I want to fight everybody,” Henderson said on Tuesday. “Literally. I want to beat everybody on the 155-pound roster in the UFC. I want to smash everybody. I want everybody put on notice. I’m not coming for a belt. I’m coming to beat you.”
Henderson has never been the man to call out anybody, but the whole lightweight division has been put on notice.
This new-found confidence has come after a dominating performance over who most likely would have been the No. 1 contender in lightweight division.
“My job is to fight,” Henderson said. “I will say if Dana, Lorenzo [Fertitta], Sean [Shelby] and Joe give me a title shot, I will take it and I will have a great performance,” said Henderson. “But if it’s not a title shot, that’s fine too. Going against the No. 1 contender, after you have that sort of performance against the No. 1 contender, what else is there? Not a close decision, not squeak by … what’s the next logical step? There’s the winner of the title fight.”
Clay Guida versus Henderson has been the fight that has made a lot of people going crazy. The fight makes a lot of sense to Henderson.
“If you think about it, Guida beat the No. 1 contender in Pettis, and I beat Jim Miller who was No. 1 contender,” Henderson said. “So I guess it does make sense for him and I to match up. I have no problem with that. Guida, we know, will fight anyone. But why fight someone if you can get the next title shot? Why take an extra fight if you can get the title shot?”
This would be a great opportunity for both Henderson and Guida. One sticking point though is that Guida has been vocal about facing Henderson stating how he beat Anthony Pettis. Pettis beat Henderson at WEC 53 by unanimous decision.
Title shot or a fight with Guida next, either way the fans win big here.
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