Benson Henderson is known as one of the quietest and most reserved fighters in mixed martial arts, so Fighters Only took a trek to the Arizona mountains to discover the training secrets and aspirations of the Lightweight champion.

Hikers in the winding canyons of Camelback Mountain raise little more than a welcoming palm as the world’s number one 155lb fighter flashes by. The busy tourist trail is lively this Friday afternoon as the hot Arizona sun beats down with its relentless regularity. Yet few visitors offer more than a passing glance at the stripped, tattooed torso of the UFC lightweight champion.

For Benson Henderson this is home. Perched high on a sandstone rock, he surveys the metropolis that is the Phoenix valley down below. After traveling around 19,000 kilometers to Japan and back to fulfill his potential at UFC 144 in February, he’s happy to be back on familiar ground.

Like a lot of things in his life, the mountain range boasts spiritual strength for Henderson. He runs here regularly, building up that incredible cardio that is the envy of practically every other fighter in the UFC, while he also spends recovery afternoons meditating here or searching out rattlesnakes and scorpions. Today it’s the former.

Just a matter of weeks on from his unanimous points victory over Frankie Edgar at the Saitama Super Arena on the outskirts of Tokyo, Henderson looks more like a big welterweight than the 155lb champion. His shoulders and arms have swollen and his familiar rippling trunk looks healthy; fleshy and hydrated. He admits that his body is returning back to its natural configuration right now, as he nears the end of the first phase of his next fight camp.

“After all my fights I go through a phase where we put on size, I put on muscle. I go through a six-week heavy-lifting phase, then a four-week explosive plyo phase, then a four-week muscle endurance – caveman training – phase that’s part of my fight camp,” he explains. “I didn’t do that just for Frankie, as some people reported, I do it every time. 

"I’ve actually just come through the rebuilding phase now, where I try to get bigger and put on more muscle. It’s just a way to heal the body, repair all the muscle and pump them up again to get big and strong. It’s kind of like the off-season, that’s all.”

Lifting weights is actually something Henderson enjoys he reveals. But it’s a necessity for a fighter that has to be controlled, he confirms: “My strength and conditioning coach has me going through different phases during camp. Obviously you can’t just lift hard, heavy weights going into a fight. The benefits from it aren’t the greatest. 

“I think [Georges] St Pierre is on record as saying he doesn’t lift weights at all and that biceps curls are just to make you look good for the girls. And while I’m not quite at that point, I also believe lifting weights is definitely not key to having a successful MMA career. That said, you have to do it, you just have to be smart about it. The heavy lifting phases that we do are always after a fight and it’s all about returning your body to that nice strong state.”

All that extra muscle must make for a tough weight cut though, right? “Actually they’re not too bad,” Benson offers. “When I’m not in training camp I eat pretty healthy anyway. So my diet doesn’t really change too much, but I do clean up a lot during camp. I’ll lose five or six pounds just by clearing out my diet, and by that I just mean being stricter with my intake. Then I’ll start cutting weight by reducing my fluid say around 10 days before a fight. Then last two days, I cut out all food and water to make 155lb.”

While he may well be one of the biggest guys in the lightweight division, bulging biceps isn’t what Henderson is famed for; it’s that killer cardio. From his days as champion in the WEC through to his hugely successful 4-0 run in the UFC, Henderson has proven time and again that when the going gets tough, he just gets going.

“My cardio has always been something I’ve been known for,” he accepts with a nod of acceptance. “Of course, it's something I work very hard on. It’s like the old Dan Gable saying, ‘The one thing you can absolutely control in a wrestling match is your cardio.’ You can't control whether you’re opponent has a good fight or a bad fight, you can’t control whether you slip on a banana peel or anything crazy. That’s all out of your control. But your cardio, that’s 100% in your control so I definitely use that as motivation."

“I always want to have better cardio than my opponent. But there is no secret. I do all the same workouts and stuff as the other fighters, but I guess I just aim to do it that little bit longer and that little bit harder.”

Another aspect of Henderson’s makeup that others can only admire with envy is that he’s seemingly impervious to pain. You don’t get the label ‘Bendo’ by tapping out too often, and 28-year-old southpaw admits that it was life as a college wrestler that built his strong mental resolve.

He says: “Wrestling made me the way I am. College wrestling is of the most grueling, hard, tough, mentally exhausting, mentally draining, mentally reinforcing things in life. If you can make it through one entire college wrestling season, then that’s an accomplishment right there. 

“College wrestling is the best way to groom an MMA fighter. If you wrestle in college then you can handle a career in MMA. The skillsets you need to wrestle in college are so similar to the skills that you can use for a career in mixed martial arts. If you can replicate that same dedication and devotion to boxing and Muay Thai when you transition over to MMA then you can make a career in this sport. College wrestling is absolutely the best way to prepare for an MMA career.”

But then that’s not the only facet of Henderson’s game he’s trained since childhood. He also has a black belt in taekwondo, along with a brown belt in jiu-jitsu to back up his NAIA All-American grappling credentials.

He says: “Taekwondo helped a lot, but more with the mental aspect really. It helps with my kicks as well, of course, and the dexterity of my legs and the type of kicks that I am really throwing. But mostly it was the mental discipline aspect. I also did some karate and stuff as a kid, but it was the wrestling that set up my real base for MMA.”

And what a base it is. Comfortably one of the slickest transitioners from one fighting style to the next, it’s perhaps also no surprise that Henderson also goes by the moniker ‘Smooth.’ His ability to seamlessly flow from Muay Thai to wrestling then jiu-jitsu and back to striking is outstanding. But, just like his crazy cardio, there is no secret to success or a shortcut to the top. It’s simply all about long hours in the gym and on the mats... 

“The key to MMA is being able to transition from one style to the next,” Henderson says. “To be able to move from boxing to wrestling to the next thing, and doing it fluidly so it just looks like one fighting style, that’s the key. 

“You want to be where there is no individual style, it’s just MMA, so your boxing and your Muay Thai aren’t separate, they’re simply your stand-up. That’s something that my coaches have done a really good job with. That’s something we’ve all worked hard on, to be able to move from wrestling to throwing kicks and then shooting for a double-leg takedown. 

But it's something that you just have to practice and practice and see what works. My coaches are John Crouch and Adam Gillespie, Nico Fernandez, George Garcia and Jarret Aki – and they all do a great job with me.”

Physically, the UFC lightweight champion is a specimen but he freely admits that the mental side of his game has needed some attention in recent years. One of the gentlest and most placid men ever to set foot inside the Octagon, privately Benson Henderson is pretty far removed from being a stereotypical fighter.

A proud Christian, he’s also a regular on the yoga mats and spends hours meditating, but it’s his quiet personality that strikes loudest of all. Benson believes that growing up in the shadow of an extrovert older brother may hold the key to his modest persona.

He says: “I am way more reserved outside of the cage. I do get a little animated and worked up, of course, but that’s my personality in general. As a kid growing up right through high school and college I was way more reserved and it was actually something my coach, John Crouch, spoke with me about too. He said that to be a fighter it’s one thing to win, but you also have to be outgoing. You have to be more talkative. 

“See, I’m a quiet guy by nature. I’m happy walking into the gym and saying maybe five words all night, but the position I’m in I have to be more social. I’m actually trying to be more like my brother, because that was always his role, to be the talkative one. I was always more reserved. But then when I get inside the cage I loosen up a little bit. I’m the same person, but I guess I am more outgoing than normal.”

So how does he make that transition, from gentle Benson to charged champion? “That’s a good question and one that I don’t really know the answer to,” he concedes. “I don’t know what it is. It’s definitely not a light switch thing. I know for some fighters they can just like flip a switch inside their heads and go from Average Joe outside the cage to Superman inside it, but I’m not one of those guys. 

“I feel like I’m the same guy outside the cage as I am inside it. See, I don’t see it as anything other than a sport, a competition, just like tennis or basketball. The quirky thing is that it’s also a fight. You are fighting the guy and there is no way to get away from that, but it’s just competition. I don’t turn into somebody else because I’m competitive enough. 

“You know the guy who plays his wife at sports and never lets her win? Well, I’m that guy. I’m ultra-competitive and I just always have to win. It’s just me.”

And it’s that drive to win, the dedication to succeed that has landed Henderson the UFC title, and it’s what is driving him forward to achieve even more. He states: “My goal for the rest of the year is to end all my fights. I want to take it away from the judges. I want to fight hard and end fights. 

“As regards to the rest of my career, I want to be known as the best fighter ever, period. No ifs, buts, or maybes, I want to be the best. I know it’s a lofty goal, it’s pretty out there, but being UFC champion is a lofty goal too. Being a young fighter just starting out, if you say ‘I wanna be UFC champion,’ then that’s a pretty lofty goal. But I’ve achieved that.”

World domination is certainly a lofty goal, but then Henderson has put the pieces around him to ensure he gets the best possible opportunity to keep progressing. He’s recently taken over co-ownership of the MMA Lab, his home gym in Phoenix. 

“I’ve been blessed my entire life. I’ve been blessed my entire fighting career and I’m blessed with my business transactions as well,” he says. “I am one of three new owners of the MMA Lab, and I have three great partners in there with me. 

“My coach, John Crouch, he does all the personnel and stuff, while another guy, Joe Irving, handles all the business side of things, so I get to just be, like, the face. Joe does most of the business stuff and he does a great job. He keeps John and I up to date with all the business stuff, he makes sure we’re making money and everything, and so I just get the freedom to focus on my training.”

And, despite not having the array of talent other acclaimed MMA gyms in the US have, the Lab has enjoyed a fine run of success, both with Benson and TUF season eight champion Efrain Escudero. So, what is their secret? “I think the Lab is successful because we’re not afraid of hard work. We know what it is that we want and what it takes to get there: hard work. 

“We also have a strong family atmosphere too, and a part of that is that everybody who trains here realizes it’s about hard work. We’ve also got a bunch of new young guys coming through that are great to work with. They’re hungry and they know that there is no shortcut to the top. 

“One of those guys, who is actually one of my main training partners now, is Chris Mochra. Since I’ve been back in Arizona he’s been one of my main guys and I’d happily put him in with anybody in the UFC at 145lb, besides José Aldo. He’d beat anybody else in the UFC in that weight class. He’s tough and talented and definitely one of many young guys we have at the Lab who are just waiting for that opportunity, waiting for that call.”

For now, though, all those guys are undoubtedly just happy to be working and learning alongside a champion whose ability levels are respect the world over. And yet, perhaps not surprisingly, Henderson himself maintains that he’s got plenty of improving to go before he gets to where he wants to be.

Openly critical about his own skills, despite their obvious effectiveness, he’s picked holes in his Muay Thai, jiu-jitsu and wrestling game in the past and insists he’ll continue to do so. "The thing is that, I don’t believe my skills are effective enough. I’ve been fighting since 2006, which will be six years as a pro in November so, of course, I’ve got a lot of room to get better. 

“There are a lot of guys in MMA who have been boxing for 12 years, their whole lives, whilst I’m just decent or whatever. Wait and see what my boxing is like after I’ve been doing it for 12 or 15 years. I first started jiu-jitsu in April 2006, so wait until I’ve done it for 10 years. I intend on being way better at everything. I plan on being one of the best ever, so, naturally, I have expectations to be phenomenal in every area.”

First up, though, is a return with Edgar, the crestfallen former UFC champion, who has demanded a rematch following their debated distance matchup over in Japan. It’s a test that Benson welcomes with open arms, and a chance, he says, to start a run of stoppage victories. And yet there are a couple of other fighters on the horizon who also appeal to Henderson’s fighting nature.

A return with Anthony Pettis certainly won't need selling to him, whilst UFC 145lb champion José Aldo is another familiar name that keeps cropping up as a future title rival. “I’ll fight anybody, I’ll go up to 185lb or 205lb, I don’t care,” Henderson chortles. “If Aldo wants to come up to 155lb, he’s a pretty young guy, so if he moved up then that’s awesome. To be known as the best fighter you have to beat the best and José has been in the top 10 pound-for-pound list for quite a while, so I’d welcome that fight. Facing him would be pretty good for me and my career too.”

Postscript: Benson lost his title to Anthony Pettis in 2013. He is still fighting, joining Bellator MMA in 2016, and has won his last four fights. He and his wife Maria have two sons.