When the Bellator brass decided to put new free-agent signing Benson Henderson in a title fight with Andrey Koreshkov, there was the potential for its reigning champion to receive a huge boost in profile.
As it turns out, that's the new reality for the 25-year-old, who successfully defended his welterweight title by unanimous decision Friday.
Damon Martin of Fox Sports tweeted out the scorecards:
Andrey Koreshkov wins 50-45 across the board. Benson Henderson's Bellator debut ends in a defeat.
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) April 23, 2016
The Russian got off to as good of a start as he could have hoped for. The first round was marked by his ability to control the distance as he hit Henderson with big shots when he attempted to close in.
A flying knee nearly ended Bendo's night in the opening round, but Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com acknowledged the diversity of the champion's strikes:
Woooow. Andrey Koreshkov takes it to Benson Henderson in R1. The knee to the head hurt him, that body work was the story to me though.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) April 23, 2016
Koreshkov took that momentum with him into the second round as he continued to land strong strikes to the legs and body. However, Henderson had moments when he was able to find his range.
Those little moments weren't enough to turn the fight in his favor, though. He continued to struggle to mount any offense of note against the bigger Koreshkov. Chuck Mindenhall of MMA Fighting commented on Henderson's struggle as a welterweight:
Koreshkov doing a very public intervention with Benson Henderson about his bad welterweight habit.
— Chuck Mindenhall (@ChuckMindenhall) April 23, 2016
As the rounds progressed, the question became less about whether Bendo could turn things around and more about whether he could survive.
Ultimately, Henderson was able to survive the full five rounds with Koreshkov, but the Russian made sure it wasn't competitive. Just like that, Henderson's highly anticipated debut ended with someone else's hand being raised.
For a company that represents the only real rival to the UFC giant, Bellator has to be fairly happy with the result. A 32-year-old Henderson winning would have been all right. It would have given Bellator a champion with name recognition, but Koreshkov's win speaks to the promotion's ability to develop its own talent.
Koreshkov didn't hesitate to acknowledge the impact the fight could have on his career.
"Yes, I agree that this fight is going to be called the biggest fight in my career." he said, per Zane Simon of Bloody Elbow. "And the reason for that is that my opponent, Ben Henderson, he has a really huge name recognition and following. And that makes this fight so big from a fan's perspective."
The win will make Koreshkov one of the hottest fighters in the division. The Russian has now compiled six wins in a row, including a win over Douglas Lima for the welterweight title in July.
His only loss came at the hands of Ben Askren, who defeated him in the fourth round and remains undefeated.
In a division that includes former UFC talent Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley, there's still an opportunity for Koreshkov to build his stardom further.
The question after this fight will be what Henderson does next. The 32-year-old has a few options, including the opportunity to head down to lightweight to contend for the belt under the Bellator banner. Henderson’s reign as a champion in the UFC came in the division, and the organization has a deep crop of 155-pounders who would provide an interesting challenge.
It isn’t clear how long Henderson intends to hang around, though.
The 32-year-old has alluded to retiring at the age of 33 in the past to pursue enlisting in the military; however, he recently changed his tune when he learned that there is no age requirement for enlisting.
“I thought I would have to leave MMA, but I talked to a few recruiters and they let me know that there [aren’t age limitations],” he told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour on Monday (via Chuck Mindenhall of MMAFighting.com). "It was something I felt pretty strongly about and I’m finding out there are other ways to go about doing it, but I can do it while still having an MMA career."
That’s now an MMA career that includes a loss in his debut with a new promotion. It was hard to believe that he could walk away from the sport after back-to-back UFC wins in 2015, but this loss puts him in a position of urgency regarding his immediate Bellator future.
