In UFC 144 Benson Henderson fought Frankie Edgar for the Lightweight title in Saitama, Japan. Benson emerged victorious in a unanimous decision after five hard-fought rounds, picking up his share of the fight of the night prize money, too.

Benson says: “I was surprised by the crowds in Japan. In my training camp we actually thought about it being quiet so we would actually have the music turned down and we’d empty out the gym and stuff to try and recreate that, so all I could here was the coaches and stuff. But surprisingly the crowd was awesome in Japan. 

They were going crazy and were really loud. I was digging it. Looking back it was really surprising how noisy they were after what everybody had said about Japan, but they were cheering like crazy. I love that world. I like the crowd to get excited as I feed off that and they feed off me. It’s like a cycle; we get each another excited. I love to get the crowd going.” 

UFC 150 saw a rematch which also went the distance; Benson won again, on a split decision. After successfully defending his title against first Nate Diaz then Gilbert Melendez, Benson Henderson lost his title to Anthony Pettis in UFC 164.

Benson Henderson On The 'Showtime Kick'

What was it like to be on the receiving end of what many still call the greatest move in MMA history? Benson Henderson tells you here

In WEC 53 Anthony Pettis delivered a final minuteflourish to remember, in a move that is now immortalised as the 'Showtime kick'. What was it like to be on the receiving end of what many still call the greatest move in MMA history? Benson Henderson tells you here.

“That defeat was crushing, I think that much was evident at the time. I was very, very sad when it happened and it still upsets me to this day. I’m still not happy about it," Benson admits. "Even my UFC belt doesn’t take anything away from that loss. I’m still really upset about it. But it’s something that you either grow from, or you let it define you and crush you. 

“Like when Georges St Pierre lost to Matt Serra. He got knocked out but he didn’t let that be the end of his career. He rebuilt from it and now he’s one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet. He built on that, came back from it and he’s the champ right now. And I feel like I’ve done the same thing. 

"One thing I didn’t do after my loss was do what a lot of guys do and blame everybody else; change my trainers and bring in new sparring partners, or move gyms. I kept all the same coaches and training partners, everything stayed the same, but what did happen is that inside the cage I became a little more aggressive

“The kick is something on its own, the kick was amazing and even I’ve seen it a thousand times now, so hats off to him, it was cool. But the fight was pretty close, it was a close fight, pretty even, and most of the judges had it two rounds apiece. I personally think I was ahead going into that round, but perhaps the judges never scored it like that because I wasn’t aggressive enough.

In some of the earlier rounds I was trying to be elusive, but it never played out that way, they gave the rounds to him. I used to fight to hit and not get hit, as I don’t like getting punched in the face too much. But I came out of that fight having learned not to be too elusive and to definitely be more aggressive.” 

John Crouch Talks Benson Henderson

After Benson Henderson claimed the UFC lightweight crown his trainer John Crouch explained the regime that made a champion.

Q: How long have you been working with Benson?

John: “I have been training with Ben for five years now."

Q: When you first started training him, what where his strengths and weaknesses?

“Ben's strengths, when he started, were his wrestling, cardio and his mental approach. His weakness was really just inexperience... he had not done jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, or boxing, so those things were very new to him.”

Q: His BJJ defense is excellent, how fast did he pick that up?

“Ben is a very relaxed person, he doesn't get stressed too easily. This helped/helps him a great deal when it comes to his submission defense. Even though he was inexperienced in jiu-jitsu, he was able to defend himself against high-level jiu-jitsu guys in a very short time. It came to him very naturally.”

Q: He seems to have incredible submission skills also, especially a very tight guillotine. How often does he work on that move?

“We drill the guillotine and some variations on it sometimes, but we don't really focus on it too much. Mostly we drill it when we teach it to the younger fighters, but the more experienced fighters do work on the finer details.”

Q: What does a typical day training Benson consist of?

“His schedule is very different depending on if he is in camp or outside of camp. Outside of camp he practices every day with the MMA Lab fight team at our group practice and will supplement that with his strength and conditioning training three times a week. He trains in a jiu-jitsu class almost everyday and takes his Muay Thai and boxing private classes every week as well. In camp he ramps that up to three to four training sessions a day, six days a week, for six weeks.

Q: He has stated he still feels he needs to get better at all areas of his game. As his coach, where would you like to see him improve?

“I would like to see Ben, and our whole team, coaches too, improve everywhere! Our goal as a team is to improve every day. We want to able to win a fight wherever the fight takes place and, to do that, we have to be fantastic in all areas. If we are not working hard to improve every piece, then we are failing in our jobs and someone will make us pay the price. We are going to do everything we can, as fighters and coaches, to improve in every area that we can.”

Q: Every time we see him fight, he seems to improve more and more. What do you think is the next plateau for him as a fighter?

“I don’t believe there is a plateau for him. I think that as long as he maintains his love of learning, and continues to embrace that, there is no stopping him.”