‘That’s Cool’: Benson Henderson Not Sure Why He’s Not Getting A Title Shot

The last Bellator lightweight champion was Patricio Pitbull, who has never been dethroned in this division.

He recently decided to vacate the title because his eyes are set on the featherweight division and it allows his brother, Patricky, to fight for the title against Peter Queally at Bellator 270.

However, Benson Henderson disagrees with the promotion’s decision. He thinks he should be in the next title fight and deserves the title shot.

“I’m going to go do my job and make sure I go out there and beat up the former champion, Mr. Primus, and make my statement for: Why in the world would you have a title fight and not have me in it? But whatever. That’s cool. I’ve got to make my case if that’s the way it is. By all means, let’s do it,” Henderson said.

Henderson (28-10) is a former UFC lightweight and WEC lightweight champion. As of June, he was named No. 3 in Bellator’s lightweight ranking.

The 37-year-old made his UFC debut in April 2011 where he faced Mark Bocek and defeated him via unanimous decision.

His name’s been paired with known fighters including Rafael dos Anjos, Jorge Masvidal and Thiago Alves, but he only successfully faced dos Anjos in UFC Fight Night 49’s main event where he lost via first-round knockout.

Henderson signed with Bellator MMA in February 2016. He debuted in April of that year against Andrey Koreshkov, but lost by unanimous decision.

He said plans to earn a dominant victory at Bellator 268 against former champion Brent Primus and guarantee himself as the next title contender in the division.

“(I have to) go beat him up, go have an emphatic finish. I want an emphatic finish. I want some highlight. I want people to talk about it Monday morning: ‘Oh my God, did you check out that last Bellator card?’” he said.

“The fight after that, I’m going to fight for the belt, I’m going to win the belt and get my hand raised, and after that, I might be done. I might do a couple more. Who knows. But I would say what chapter is this? It’s getting close to that epilogue.”

Henderson and Primus will fight at Bellator 268 on October 16.