Ben Henderson impressed with a submission victory against Brandon Thatch in his first fight at welterweight in the main event of UFC Fight Night 60 last night, then turned up the heat by offering to fight the division’s No.2 contender Rory MacDonald at UFC 186 in April.
It wasn’t just a random call-out – early this week MacDonald did have a fight with Hector Lombard shelved at UFC 186 after his opponent tested positive for steroids in a pre-fight drugs test. So, perhaps Henderson could have been the answer to their problems again just weeks after he saved the UFC Fight Night 60 card by agreeing to step in at short notice to replace Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson.
For the record, MacDonald seemed to take Henderson’s call-out in good spirits.
“Jeez man the whole welterweight divisions is calling me out and i thought thats all i had to worry about, now lightweights wanna hit me 2lol,” MacDonald wrote on Twitter.
However, Dana White revealed at the event’s post-fight press conference in Colorado last night that the UFC already have a new opponent set for MacDonald.
“He has a fight lined up already, but is hasn’t been announced yet,” White confirmed.
Henderson was also at the presser and admitted that at the moment he still wasn’t sure whether he’d be looking to make a permanent home at 170lbs.
“It’s still up in the air,” Henderson told the media of his welterweight plans. “It’s not truly up to us… It’s up to the UFC a lot of times. They give you a call, talk to your manager, talk to you, and off you go.”
By the sounds of things White would be more than willing to accomodate him though if Henderson did decide he’d had enough of tough weight cuts at lightweight and wanted to move permanently to the welterweight ranks.
“He looked unbelievable against a tough big guy,” White stated. “I was blown away by his performance. It was insane. I’m not a big fan of small guys moving up to bigger weight classes but how can you deny what Benson did tonight?
“Ben took some big shots tonight, too. He looked awesome tonight. If he wants to stay at 170, I’m cool with it.”
