Bellator have caught some people by surprise with their announcement that Ben Henderson will be fighting Roger Huerta in the main event of Bellator 196 on April 6th in Budapest, Hungary.
The 34-year-old Henderson’s run in the Bellator organization so far hasn’t exactly gone to plan, with the former UFC lightweight champion having only won once in his four outings so far.
That victory came by TKO against Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire back in August of 2016, but that’s largely been buried under decision losses to Andrey Koreshkov, Michael Chandler and most recently ‘Pitbull’s’ brother Patricky Freire.
Few people would have guessed that his next opponent would be Huerta, who will be competing in the Bellator cage since 2010 when he picked up a win and two losses during a seven month period.
For several years after that Huerta plied his trade in the ONE FC organization, putting together a 2-2 run, followed by a win on the regional scene back in December.
Huerta is best known for his time in the UFC though, where he looked to be on the verge of becoming a major star back in 2007 after racking up a six-fight winning streak, but his performances in the Octagon fizzled out after that and he’s never been able to rediscover that form again since.
Still, at 34-years-old Huerta is hoping that this could be his chance to shine again.
“I’m excited, it’s crazy,” Huerta said on The MMA Hour show. “I’m excited for this fight against Ben, I respect him a lot and he has had an amazing career. I am excited to get back into the Mix,” said Roger. “I’ve had ups and down on this road with MMA. Everything for me now, I know that I am better than I have shown than what I have displayed and I have put in a lot of time, 15 years in this sport. I want to show that I am better than what I have show, especially these last couple of years.”
