Prior to a razor-thin, split-decision win over former Strikeforce title holder Gilbert Melendez, Benson Henderson acknowledged making 155 pounds isn’t always easy, in an interview with ESPN Friday.
Therefore, he’d love to give his body a break by taking a fight at welterweight, preferably against divisional kingpin Georges St-Pierre. Henderson stated:
I’m getting older … I’m 29 now, almost 30. At my age it’s getting hard for me to make the weight class at 155. So, I wouldn’t mind having a break and having one fight at 170 — having a St-Pierre fight.
With the win over “El Nino” at UFC on Fox 7 Saturday, “Bendo” tied BJ Penn‘s UFC record of three consecutive successful title defenses.
A fight with GSP is certainly an intriguing one, as both fighters are elite grapplers with impressive striking to boot. However, UFC President Dana White shot down “Smooth’s” request for a dream matchup with GSP back in February (via MMA Fighting).
St-Pierre has won 11 in a row, has the UFC welterweight record of eight title defenses in a row and seems to be destined to fight red-hot contender Johny Hendricks next, though a superfight with Anderson Silva always seems to be a possibility (via MMA Fighting).
Henderson’s timing is also a bit of a head-scratcher considering he recently told Fighters Only magazine that he’d love to fight UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo in Brazil at 155 pounds.
Still, “Smooth” compares his desire to compete at welterweight to the way Silva makes an occasional trip up to light heavyweight, something he has only done three times in his career (via ESPN):
Like the way Anderson Silva does it — have a fight at 205 every once in a while and always make 185, his weight class … I’d be okay with that — staying at 155, making weight at 155 for the rest of my career. But every once in a while, having a super fight at 170 — St-Pierre and I squaring off. I’d be cool with that.
The superfights are apparently on hold for Henderson either way, as White announced at the UFC on Fox 7 post-fight press conference that the winner of TJ Grant vs. Gray Maynard would fight for the lightweight strap next (via MMA Junkie).
Grant has won four straight bouts since dropping down to lightweight, while Maynard is just 1-1-1 in his past three fights.
However, two of those bouts were title bids against then-champ Frankie Edgar, fighting him to a draw at UFC 125 in January 2011 and suffering a Round 4 knockout at UFC 136 in October 2011.
Most recently, “The Bully” won a lackluster split decision over perennial contender Clay Guida at UFC on FX 4 last June.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com and contributes MMA videos to The Young Turks Sports Show.
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