Benson
Henderson walked off into the sunset, undoubtedly content with
all he had accomplished across nearly two decades of
prizefighting.
The former
World Extreme Cagefighting and
Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder retired from mixed
martial arts with a 30-12 record and widely regarded as one of the
greatest lightweights of all-time. Henderson competed for the final
time on March 10, when he submitted to a rear-naked choke from
reigning
Bellator
MMA lightweight champion
Usman
Nurmagomedov in the first round of their Bellator 292 main
event. So ended a remarkable ride that had seen the
MMA Lab cornerstone reach the highest of highs.
As Henderson settles into retirement, a look at some of the numbers
that accompanied him throughout his journey:
39: Years of age for Henderson, who was born on Nov. 16, 1983 in
Colorado Springs. “The Big Chill” was the No. 1 movie at the
domestic box office and Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” was the
No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 11 list at the time.
9: Henderson wins by submission, accounting for 30% of his career
total (30). His methods of choice: five guillotine chokes and four
rear-naked chokes. Henderson hold five other wins by knockout or
technical knockout (17%) and 16 more by decision (53%).
18: Consecutive calendar years in which Henderson fought at least
once. He went 1-0 in 2006, 3-1 in 2007, 3-0 in 2008, 3-0 in 2009,
2-1 in 2010, 3-0 in 2011, 3-0 in 2012, 1-1 in 2013, 2-1 in 2014,
2-1 in 2015, 1-2 in 2016, 0-1 in 2017, 2-0 in 2018, 2-0 in 2019,
0-2 in 2020, 0-1 in 2021, 2-0 in 2022 and 0-1 in 2023.
105: Rounds completed by Henderson as a professional mixed martial
artist. He went the distance on 23 different occasions and carried
a 16-7 record in those bouts.
97: Seconds needed for Henderson to dispatch
Allen
Williams with punches at a Victory Fighting Championship event
in February 2007. It ranks as the fastest finish on his 42-fight
ledger.
552: Days spent by Henderson as undisputed UFC lightweight
champion. He laid claim to the title with a five-round unanimous
decision over
Frankie
Edgar at UFC 144 on Feb. 26, 2012, retained it in three
subsequent appearances and then surrendered it in a first-round
submission loss to
Anthony
Pettis at UFC 164 on Aug. 31, 2013.
124: Significant strikes landed by Henderson in his unanimous
decision over “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 winner
Nate Diaz in
the UFC on Fox 5 main event. It was the highest total of his
14-fight run with the organization.
10: Straight victories for Henderson between June 23, 2007 and
April 24, 2010—the longest such streak of his career.
6: Countries in which Henderson plied his mixed martial arts trade.
In addition to his 22-12 mark in the United States, he went 3-0 in
Canada, 2-0 in Ireland, 1-0 in Japan, 1-0 in South Korea and 1-0 in
Hungary.
.717: Cumulative winning percentage between the 10
opponents—Nurmagomedov, Pettis (twice),
Michael
Chandler (twice),
Brent
Primus,
Jason
Jackson, Patricky Friere,
Andrey
Koreshkov,
Donald
Cerrone,
Rafael dos
Anjos and
Rocky
Johnson—who have beaten Henderson. They boast a combined record
of 233-92.