Rather than moping around and feeling sorry for himself, Benson Henderson is jumping back in the saddle and replacing an injured Bobby Green for a lightweight tilt against Jorge Masvidal at UFC Fight Night 63.
The breaking news was confirmed to Fox Sports‘ Damon Martin by UFC officials on Thursday.
ESPN.com‘s Brett Okamoto spoke with Green’s manager, Jason House, and is reporting Green had a torn quadriceps muscle. He is scheduled for surgery on Friday.
Booze had nothing to do with the chorus of boos that rang out in TD Garden in Boston on Sunday night, as Henderson lost a controversial decision to Donald Cerrone. It marked the first time Henderson has ever lost back-to-back fights.
He was also defeated by Rafael dos Anjos last August in a questionable first-round knockout stoppage.
Back-to-back losses certainly aren’t a norm for Henderson, who has long been one of MMA‘s most consistent fighters. After losing to Cerrone, he told UFC commentator Joe Rogan in an emotional post-fight interview that he hoped to jump right back into the fire and compete again as soon as possible.
He will get that opportunity against Masvidal, a talented lightweight on a three-fight win streak.
The bout against Green was supposed to be Masvidal‘s opportunity to crack the top-10 lightweight rankings, but a win over Henderson could also put him in the long line of title contenders.
UFC Fight Night 63 will air live on Fox Sports 1 on April 4 from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. It was announced over the weekend that the card would be headlined by top featherweight contenders Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas. Former women’s bantamweight title contender Liz Carmouche and featherweight star Dustin Poirier will also be in action.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon and FanRag.
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