Benson Henderson

By FCF Staff

Benson Henderson’s next fight will reportedly not take place in the Octagon, as the former UFC lightweight champ has announced he’s signed with Bellator.

Henderson recently entered free agency, after earning a unanimous decision win over Jorge Masvidal in November. After the contract concluded, “Smooth” revealed he planned to test the open market.

On Monday, Henderson announced his Bellator deal on his official site. Here is some of what he had to say:

I’d like to officially announce my move over to Bellator MMA.
I’m beyond excited for this next phase of my career, it’s a big move, like any move when switching employers or jobs after having worked somewhere for such a long time.

I have to thank the BigMan upstairs for putting some amazing people in my life, my wife (first and foremost) and a lot of truly smart and insightful people behind the scenes who helped make the connections and negotiated this deal to bring it to fruition.

I’d be remiss to not thank Dana White and Lorenzo Fertita for the opportunities they presented me, you guys have helped me change my life for the better and to be able to provide my family with the things I didn’t have while growing up. For that I’ll always have the utmost appreciation. Thanks for all the advise you guys gave too, both business wise and personal.

Henderson went on to say that he’s looking forward to working with Bellator execs like Scott Coker and Rich Chou.