A funny thing happened to Benson Henderson during the 19 minutes he spent in the cage Saturday with Brandon Thatch.
People started rooting for him.
Somewhere en route to his submission victory in the main event of UFC Fight Night 60, the 5,800 fans on hand in Broomfield, Colorado—who’d ostensibly turned out to see the local boy, Thatch—began to cheer Henderson instead.
Support built on social media, too, and by the time Henderson cemented his improbable comeback with a rear-naked choke down the stretch in the fourth round, it elicited in an uncharacteristic outpouring of love for the 31-year-old former lightweight champion.
Coupled with victory itself, this palpable shift in public opinion made Henderson’s 170-pound debut all the more magical. It was as though he’d been instantly transformed from malcontent to lovable underdog, from a guy nearly out of options to a man with a lot of moves still left on the board.
He seemed to realize it at once, dropping his pre-fight pretense that the move up in weight was only temporary, and calling out top welterweight contender Rory MacDonald. That fight won’t happen, UFC executives say, but here’s hoping we get to see Henderson stick around the 170-pound division for a while, nonetheless.
At welterweight, he might not fly as high as he did at 155 pounds. He likely won’t become champion, but the new division serves up a suddenly robust collection of fresh challenges.
Win or lose, watching Henderson try to make his way at this heavier weight class would certainly also provide one element notably missing from much of his tenure at lightweight: It would be fun.
If Saturday night was any indication, it might also win him some fans.
While undeniably talented, Henderson had always been a mercurial figure at 155. Even—maybe especially—during the 18 months he ruled as champion in 2012-13, he earned a reputation as a play-it-safe fighter who used his size, elusiveness and wrestling ability to sucker opponents into grueling (and occasionally dull) wars of attrition.
His fights almost always went the distance yet rarely produced definitive outcomes. At best, we came to see him as a master of stealing rounds—a guy who played the margins of MMA’s unified rules like a master. At worst, we whispered that he won a bunch of bouts he probably should’ve lost.
There may not have been anything to outwardly dislike about him—though the frequent proselytizing, media accosting and toothpick chomping didn’t help. Moreover, there just wasn’t much to like about Henderson.
Worse, he’d all but run out of real estate at lightweight. Dropping the title in his second career loss to Anthony Pettis during the summer of 2013 effectively shuffled him to the back of a very long line of contenders. Things did not go much better for him from there, as he conceded back-to-back losses in 2014-15.
Turns out, by ditching his natural weight, Henderson simultaneously shed much of the baggage that dogged him at 155 pounds. When he’s in there slugging it out with the big guys, you have no choice but to grasp his greatness, to appreciate his style.
Perhaps—as it occasionally seemed Saturday against Thatch—competing at welterweight also forces him to be more aggressive. Maybe he has no choice but to fight with a little more urgency (and a little desperation, too) when he’s outsized and outgunned. Maybe he feels suddenly free of the pressure of the lightweight title hunt and able to let his tremendous hair down.
He overcame a fast start and a significant size disadvantage against Thatch by dragging the inexperienced rookie into deep water and exploiting his glaring weaknesses. There’s no telling whether he’d be able to do the same against one of the 170-pound class’ very best, but watching him try would be a special treat.
It beats anything he could do at lightweight right now.
At welterweight, Henderson looks suddenly, unexpectedly renewed.
That alone should be more than enough reason for him to see how far he can ride this new wave of popularity.
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