Bellator has emerged as the latest high profile organization to show an interest in signing former UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson after he revealed after the final fight of his current deal that he was interested in testing his worth on the open market.
“I think that my guys have reached out just to see if he is actually a free agent because sometimes they have an exclusive negotiation period,” Coker said in an interview with Sherdog.com. “So we’re going to wait and see wait his contract status is. If he is free, then yeah we’re going to start talking to him.”
Coker’s note of interest comes just days after Asian promotion Road FC revealed that they would be interested in signing Henderson to fight for $200,000 – more than $100,000 more than ‘Smooth’ earned for his latest split decision victory over Jorge Masvidal in the Octagon this past weekend.
Bellator have signed a number of other respected UFC fighters in recent times including the likes of Phil Davis, who made his debut in style by winning their one-night light-heavyweight tournament back in September, Josh Thomson and Josh Koscheck.
“We’d love to have a fighter like Henderson on the roster,” Coker said, “But we’re gonna do it the right way and make sure that he’s free to actually have a conversation.”
