{"id":310910,"date":"2019-04-25T09:32:39","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T16:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=310910"},"modified":"2019-04-25T09:32:40","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T16:32:40","slug":"benson-henderson-is-very-thankful-to-be-far-away-from-ufc-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/benson-henderson-is-very-thankful-to-be-far-away-from-ufc-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"Benson Henderson is ‘very thankful’ to be far away from UFC drama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson is now firmly embedded as a member of the Bellator roster. In fact, he’s set to return to the cage at Bellator 220 this weekend, where he’ll take on Adam Piccolotti in a lightweight contender bout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he prepares for this imminent challenge, Benson Henderson is happy to have put some distance between himself and the drama that is currently plaguing the UFC lightweight division. He’s witnessed the heat between reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champion Conor McGregor, and the difficulty top contenders like Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson have had getting title shots, and he’s thanking the Lord that he’s no longer in the thick of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thank the Lord I don\u2019t have to deal with that part of the job,\u201d Henderson told MMA Fighting<\/a> ahead of Bellator 220. \u201cAnd I never really dealt with it in the first place, I wasn\u2019t one of those guys that was like, \u2018Aw, I gotta deal with this.\u2019 But whatever, it\u2019s like water off a duck\u2019s back. It\u2019s no big deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut man, when you\u2019re on a six-fight, seven-fight win streak and you can\u2019t get a title shot call, or it just doesn\u2019t go your way. There\u2019s a bunch of stuff, but it\u2019s just like the politics of it, you\u2019re not known for what you do inside the cage. You\u2019re more known for what you do outside the cage. That very much irks me, because I\u2019m pretty boring outside the cage. I\u2019m a blue collar, I go to work, I bust my ass in the gym, but I\u2019m not somebody who\u2019s going to say something outlandish just for the sake of getting a few more Twitter followers or I\u2019m not gonna pose naked for more Instagram followers. I\u2019m not one of those guys that says something stupid just for the sake of getting more attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benson Henderson continued, sharing his belief that the current landscape of the UFC is causing fighters to underdog unnatural transformations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think in the UFC that\u2019s exactly the route you have to go. You have to say something incredibly stupid, you have to wear sunglasses inside to get the attention,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cYou have to start wearing fur coats. I see these younger guys, when they get into the UFC, they\u2019re pretty normal, straight-laced, good guys, just hard workers, that\u2019s how they got to the UFC. And then they go on a two-fight, three-fight win streak and all of a sudden they\u2019re wearing fur coats to media interviews and wearing sunglasses inside. It\u2019s like, who is this guy? Where\u2019d you come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, we\u2019re all growing, we\u2019re all changing, you\u2019re not going to be the same person at 29 that you were at 24, but that being said, you\u2019re going to become somebody who wears a fur coat in the middle of July, like, come on, be serious there, kid. It is what it is, so I am very happy, very thankful that I don\u2019t have to deal with that for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article first appeared on <\/em>BJPENN.COM<\/em><\/a> on 4\/25\/2019. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson is now firmly embedded as a member of the Bellator roster. In fact, he’s set to return to the cage at Bellator 220 this weekend, where he’ll take on Adam Piccolotti in a lightweight contender bout. 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