Issue 184

November 2019

The seasoned fighter discusses the drive to get better, the perils of stagnation and his desire to deliver “one more gold album”

You scored a split decision victory over Adam Piccolotti at Bellator 220 in April. How did it feel to continue that winning streak in Bellator? 

I just envisioned me getting my hand raised. I wanted to showcase this hard work I have been putting in with my coach Eddie Cha. There were a few new series I was working on the ground with my jiu-jitsu. I have been working on this series for a year or year and a half now. I feel the fight is always won behind the scenes. The fight is won or lost when the camera is not there, when there is no crowd, when it’s just you and it’s time to bust your butt and put in that hard work. When the crowd is there and the camera is there, that is your time to show off to the world. Hey, it’s Friday night at 9pm you guys could be doing other things, you could be doing anything else in the world, but you are choosing to tune in to watch me. That is an honor. That is a privilege. Now watch this. Watch what I can do. That’s how I see it. I want to entertain and show off what I have worked on. 

With all you have accomplished in your storied career, it’s pretty scary when you say things like that you haven’t reached your full potential in the striking department. What have you done recently to continue to improve and take your game to yet another level? 

It’s everything. The striking with Coach Eddie, he is a large part of it. At this stage in my career, obviously I am pretty well-rounded and I have a ton of experience but I still feel, for sure, that my striking has the most room for improvement. I can get better everywhere but my striking is where I can improve the most. Working with Coach Eddie I was able to put in the work leading up to this last fight. I just put in the hours and worked on the fundamentals and work on technique or work on something brand new. It’s hard to have growing pains but everyone should grow as an artist, whether you are mixed martial artist or a performing artist or a recording artist, it doesn’t matter. Show us your growth and change. It’s the recording artists that have the same album for the third, fourth or fifth album, they don’t have many more albums after that. It’s the same album. Why would I buy a new album if I can listen to your first album and it sounds the same? You aren’t growing or changing or getting better. That’s the hard part and that’s why they are called growing pains. Sometimes you take a step back to take two steps forward. Look at guys like Anderson Silva and BJ Penn, they still need to grow and still need to get better. I need to do the same thing. I need to add new wrinkles and folds to my stand up and my ground game. I am really excited to take the fight to the ground and find out. 

You’ve had your fair share of platinum albums and big hits but you are saying you don’t want to be Aerosmith?

You don’t want to be the same old that’s for sure. Especially as a mixed martial artist, if you are the same old that’s going to get you hurt and that’s going to get you beat up. That’s going to make you real sad, real quick. If you are the exact same fighter and you don’t add anything new or different that’s how guys get hurt. That’s how guys look really old really quick. You watch them fight and they look good but they look the same as four or five fights ago, they didn’t add a counter punch or a kick counter defense, they didn’t add this or that, so, as a fighter, you have to grow, you have to improve. Your opponents and their camps have hours and hours of scouting in on you. I’m just trying to keep getting better.

After a rough start in Bellator you have gone on a winning streak. After the past few fights many people said we are seeing a more classic Benson Henderson. Clearly, they are talking about the results but after your recent comment, do you take that a as compliment or not so much?

Oh, for sure. Any time you get your hand raised, for me, winning and getting my hand raised is of the utmost importance. Whether it’s the classic or the new technique, it doesn’t matter. What somebody might miss, the devil is in the details, God is in the details. To use an analogy, the New England Patriots might run a similar offense that looks the same on the surface year in and year out but a super smart defensive coordinator breaks it down they see they change certain details. They might motion a wide receiver or move someone to this side or that side and such. It looks the same to the casual fan but you don’t realize unless you are a bright defense coordinator that they made minor changes that can have a major effect on the game. They are more dangerous because they have a tight end down the middle instead of a slot receiver or something like that. There are tiny differences that make the classic Patriots look the same on the surface but there are key changes. You might have the classic, old Benson Henderson but there are nuances to it that allows me to have new-found success.

You hit on something there. That really is the difference in any sport at the highest level. It’s millimeters, it’s split seconds it’s one percent better. That really is what separates the upper echelon of any sport. Do you agree? 

For sure. Absolutely. You get to the world championship level in any sport – fighters, sprinters, golfers, the difference between winning and losing is tiny. We are talking tiny, tiny. It’s a tenth of a second. It’s a tenth of a tenth of a second. There is a lot that goes into it. In fighting, I know it looks like just punching and kicking and sometimes you can boil it down to the basics and that’s what it is, but there are nuances that make the best in the world the reason they are the best in the world. They pay attention to those details and they make sure they are on the top side of that.

I don’t like to talk retirement but how many albums are left in the studio for Benson Henderson?

Man, I am trying to get one more gold album, that’s for sure! I want one more gold belt! As far as how many albums, I am just trying to get better. I’m not counting the albums or the fights. I am just taking it year by year, playing it by ear. This fighting stuff and this making weight stuff is pretty rough and it’s pretty hard on the body. I won’t be doing it much longer, I do know that for sure. I won’t be one of those guys that is 39 or 40 and still fighting. I will hang it up way before then.