Hot on the heels of Ben Henderson signing for Bellator the promotion has announced that he’ll be getting an immediate welterweight title shot against current champion Andrey Koreshkov at Bellator 153 on April 22nd.
Former UFC lightweight champion Henderson only recently made the move up to 170lbs in the Octagon and found immediate success, defeating Brandon Thatch by third round submission in his short notice welterweight debut in February of last year at UFC Fight Night 60, then building on that with a split decision win against Jorge Masvidal at UFC Fight Night 79 in November.
The Masvidal victory was the last in Henderson’s UFC deal and while they made him a lucrative offer to extend his almost five year stint with the company, ‘Smooth’ had opted to test his worth on the open market and said Bellator made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
In Koreshkov he faces a 25 year-old Russian who’s tasted defeat just once in his 18 fight career, a TKO loss to Ben Askren in a welterweight title fight back in 2013.
Korseshkov had won the Bellator season 7 welterweight tournament in order to book that fight with Askren, and since then he’s gone five fights undefeated, including winning the season 10 170lb tournament, and then finally getting the title wrapped around his waist after defeating Douglas Lima in the summer of last year.
