Ben Henderson, World Extreme Cagefighting’s former lightweight champion, hopes to unleash a winning streak when he makes his debut this month in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
by Ellis Song
photos courtesy of Ben Henderson
It was the fifth and final round of the most important fight in the lightweight champion’s career. With a minute left on the clock, Ben Henderson, the reigning World Extreme Cagefighting’s (WEC) titleholder in his class, found himself backed up against the cage, as challenger Anthony Pettis angled toward his left and launched himself off the cage with his right leg. While airborne, Pettis swung his right leg through and connected with a kick to the left side of Henderson’s face. Henderson fell and endured a beating for the rest of the round. After the judges rendered their decision, the champion was no longer a champion, and the man they call “Smooth” failed to secure a victory for the first and last time in a WEC cage.
The flying kick from this December 2010 fight would become the highlight reel of the year among mixed martial arts (MMA) fans, as it’s rarely seen in the sport. More importantly, as a result, Henderson lost his WEC lightweight champion title during the promotion’s last card before it was absorbed into the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The UFC, which shares the same parent company as the WEC in Zuffa, is the world’s largest MMA promotion. But don’t count Henderson out.
The 27-year-old will make his UFC debut on April 30 against Mark Bocek in Toronto, Canada. Henderson, the son of a Korean mother and African American father, spoke with KoreAm last month about coming back from last year’s stunning defeat, why there’s more to a fight than just winning or losing, and his love for all things kimchi.
Can you tell us about where you grew up and your upbringing? I grew up in Federal Way, Washington, and I’m a second-generation Korean American. My mom is Korean, and she met and married my dad who was in the [U.S.] Army stationed right outside Seoul. My parents ended up getting divorced, and I was raised by a single mother and had to struggle and fight for things. My mom is the hardest-working person that I’ve ever met in my entire life. A lot of the positive strengths and attributes that I have, I credit to my mom.
How and when did you start picking up martial arts? My mother put my brother and me in taekwondo when I was 10, and I practiced it for three years. We’re both black belts. After that, I started wrestling in high school. I didn’t get into MMA until graduating from college. I had a strong desire to compete, but there is no professional league for wrestlers. The only option is the Olympics, or you’re done as a wrestler. Right when MMA became more mainstream, I thought I might as well give this a shot. In 2006, I fought my first fight, got my hand raised and fell in love.
How does your mom feel about your fighting for a living? She wasn’t exactly thrilled about it at first. Right after I graduated from Dana College in Nebraska, the Omaha police department and Denver police department had offered to hire me as a police officer. She was proud that I was hired as a police officer, but after my first fight, I told her I wanted to get into fighting. She asked, “How much money did you make?” “Oh, in my last fight, I made $100,” I answered.
And she was not happy at all. She didn’t really understand [that] I wanted to take this seriously and eventually make it to the big promotions. She was nervous at first, but came around to it. Now she’s all aboard and loves MMA.
Is there an origin story to your nickname Smooth? When I started training under my head instructor John Crouch, people said you should have a nickname like “The Warrior” or something silly like that, but I just told people that Ben Henderson was enough.
While I was training [in] Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, my coach commented on my transition by saying, “That’s really smooth.” A lot of wrestlers, when we transition into BJJ, we have a hard time learning how to relax. Our mindset is to attack, attack and attack. And for BJJ, it’s almost the exact opposite. It’s all about being relaxed and calm and capitalizing on small mistakes. For whatever reason, I transitioned well into BJJ and did it smoothly. So my coaches started calling me “Smooth,” and it kind of just stuck.
You were formerly the WEC lightweight champion. What was it like to win the title and to accomplish it relatively quickly in your MMA career? It was cool. It was quick, but I don’t think it was that sudden. I think I took the right steps. My career has taken all the exact steps you’d want to take: being on the undercard, having the next fight televised and then being in the main event. The next fight was fighting for the title, then fighting a pay-per-view. It was all the right baby steps.
You’ve since lost that title and have yet to make your debut in the UFC since the merger. What are you doing to prepare yourself for that first fight in the biggest MMA promotion and how do you plan on reclaiming the gold? I’m doing the exact same stuff. It’s been a proven formula so far.
You were on the receiving end of what is now an MMA highlight reel. How do you plan on moving from that and delivering perhaps your own highlight reel moment? Yeah, I was on the receiving end, but the way I look at it is a lot of guys [have been on the receiving end]. Anderson Silva (the current UFC middleweight champion), the best fighter on the planet, was on the receiving end of a flying heel hook that has only hit two people ever. Georges St-Pierre (current UFC welterweight champion) got knocked out by Matt Serra. It happens. It’s part of the game, and hopefully it doesn’t happen too often, but it happens. You have to take the good with the bad.
How do you think your life will change because of the move to the UFC? I don’t think my life will change. People tend to try to make it seem like the whole world is different, but it’s the same thing.
What are your greatest strengths? God in my life and knowing that there is much more to life than winning or losing. There are a lot more important things, and my faith helps with that. My heart. Physically everyone is able to do what fighters do. The difference is that a lot of those people don’t have the heart to be in the gym every day and bust their butt and try something new, and take themselves to the physical limit every day.
What about your greatest weaknesses? I have a lot of weaknesses and I’m working daily on fixing those. I’m at the gym making those weaknesses smaller and smaller.
Can you tell us about your tattoos? I made a bet with my mom that if I made the state championship finals [in wrestling] in high school, I could get a tattoo. In my senior year, I made the finals and got one done in Korean that means champion. My nickname [has been] Champ since my freshman year of high school. I also have my last name in Korean down my arm. [The words] strength and honor in Korean also run down my right rib cage.
What is your favorite Korean dish or meal? Kimchi jjigae. I love it. I can eat it all day long. I just love rice and kimchi and banchan (Korean side dishes). I can just eat rice and banchan for every meal, and I’m good to go.
Have you ever been to Korea? I’ve never been to Korea. I want to surprise my mom and brother and get them some tickets to go to Korea.
If the UFC has a card in Korea, will you be on that card? Absolutely! I will be on that card.
