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What to Watch For: Bellator 160
- Updated: August 24, 2016
This was the type of fight Bellator MMA envisioned when it signed Benson Henderson. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight titleholder will meet Patricio Freire in the Bellator 160 main event on Friday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Whichever man emerges with his hand raised will become the No. 1 contender to reigning Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler’s throne. A taekwondo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who was an NAIA All-American wrestler at Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, Henderson made his promotional debut at Bellator 153 on April 22. It did not go according to plan, as he failed in his bid to unseat current welterweight champion Andrey Koreshokov, the lopsided decision loss snapping a two-fight winning streak. Henderson, 32, operates out of the MMA Lab in Glendale, Arizona, where he hones his skills under the director of Royce Gracie protégé John Crouch. Against Freire, “Smooth” returns to the more hospitable confines of the 155-pound division, where wins over Frankie Edgar (twice), Donald Cerrone (twice), Josh Thomson, Gilbert Melendez, Nate Diaz and Jim Miller dot his outstanding resume. Freire has already held Bellator gold at 145 pounds. The 29-year-old owns an 8-1 mark cross his past nine appearances, a decision loss to Daniel Straus the only hiccup. “Pitbull” last fought at Bellator 153 in April, when he submitted Henry Corrales with a second-round guillotine choke. Durable and dangerous in all phases, he has never been finished in his 28-fight career. Freire in recent weeks has engaged the aforementioned Chandler in a heated war of words on social media, this after the Bellator lightweight boss cut down his older brother, Patricky Freire, with a wicked right hand at Bellator 157 on June 24. With the Henderson-Freire showdown as the feature attraction, here is what to …
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