Benson Henderson Won’t Back Down From Saying He Wants to Break Anderson Silva’s Record

UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will look to make his second consecutive title defense in December when he faces Nate Diaz at UFC on Fox 5.

It’s still a far cry from Anderson Silva‘s ten consecutive middleweight title defenses, but Henderson has no problem saying that, longterm, he wants to break the long-standing champion’s record before he’s done fighting in the UFC.

Henderson has talked for years about being the fighter to break Silva’s record one day, and he’s received criticism for his outspoken desire to be the best in the history of the sport.

“I think it’s good to have goals. For some reason I caught a lot of slack when I said I wanted to break Anderson Silva’s record and people were saying, ‘Oh, you’re ridiculous for thinking that. You can’t beat Anderson Silva’s record. You haven’t defended your belt one time. You’re silly. What are you talking like that for?” It’s like wow guys, you guys are really mad at me for having longterm goals?” Henderson said when speaking to MMAWeekly Radio on Monday.

Longterm goals led Henderson to reach for the stars and say he would become WEC lightweight champion, and he got there. He then aspired to become UFC lightweight champion, and again Henderson was able to obtain his goal. Now Henderson wants to continue his reign atop the lightweight division, and hopefully one day he’ll reach the mark of 10 consecutive title defenses.

“I want to be the best ever and one of my goals is to break Anderson’s record for title defenses. I’m sorry, I apologize if I offended you somehow, but I do have longterm goals, I like to set my goals high and then go out and get them done,” said Henderson.

To Henderson reaching for the stars is all about working hard to get there, and he’s willing to put in the blood, sweat, and tears to hopefully one day beat Anderson Silva’s UFC record.

“If you want to be a Mundial champion, if you want to be a black belt and win the Pan-Ams, you want to win the worlds, win the Europeans, then you should bust your butt and train like it,” Henderson said.

Check out the full interview with Benson Henderson below where he also talks about facing Nate Diaz and taking a step towards the next level with his first main event on Fox: