Benson Henderson isn’t yet ready to return, but he’s getting close. The former UFC lightweight champion is “on the verge” of being medically cleared from the injury he suffered in May, MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani reported Wednesday on UFC Tonight.
Henderson (22-5) has been sidelined since removing his name from a planned bout against Michael Johnson at The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale. Henderson attributed the withdrawal to injury, but repeatedly declined to elaborate on the nature of the damage, stating only that “it was in [the] area” of his eye.
“I probably won’t ever say exactly what it is, you know?” Henderson told MMAFighting.com in late May. “With some of those injuries, you’re hurt, you are injured, but the rest of your body feels perfectly fine. So in that sense, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with.”
Johnson previously speculated that a detached retina was the culprit, though that claim was never substantiated.
Regardless, Henderson appears to be nearly out of the woods now, and he intends to continue where he left off.
“Smooth” is targeting a return to action in November, ideally as the headlining act of the UFC’s introduction into South Korea on Nov. 28. That fight would serve as the last of his current UFC contract. Henderson is Korean-American by blood on his mother’s side, so the booking makes sense.
The 31-year-old ex-champion will return to a curious dilemma, as well. Henderson spent a career fighting as one of the unquestioned best lightweights in the world, even tying B.J. Penn’s hallowed mark with three consecutive UFC title defenses. But back-to-back losses to Rafael dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone caused Henderson to journey up to welterweight, where he met behemoth prospect Brandon Thatch on less than two week’s notice at UFC Fight Night 60.
Despite being vastly outsized, Henderson won the back-and-forth fight with a fourth-round rear-naked choke, then called out Rory MacDonald, paving a potential road to welterweight title contention.
He said this week that he doesn’t care which weight class he returns to, whether it’s 155 or 170 pounds, as long as he returns to a compelling, high-profile fight.