After shutout of Henderson, Coker thinks Bellator's Andrey Koreshkov is in 170's top 3

After his dominant title defense over former UFC champ Benson Henderson this past Friday, Andrey Koreshkov’s stock took a major upswing.

And his boss, Bellator President Scott Coker, thinks his welterweight titleholder ought to be considered among the best two or three 170-pounders on the planet. (Check out the video highlights of his win above.)

In the main event of Bellator 153, which took place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., with a main card on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie, Koreshkov (19-1 MMA, 11-1 BMMA) defended his belt with a 50-45 sweep of the scorecards against former UFC lightweight champ Henderson (23-6 MMA, 0-1 BMMA). The bout was Henderson’s first for Bellator since coming over from the UFC as a free agent.

The 6-foot-1 Russian consistently created trouble for Henderson, and Coker believes the height had a lot to do with it.

“He’s a big man, and Benson was just short all night,” Coker said. “He couldn’t catch him with the big shot and couldn’t catch him with hardly any shots.”

Koreshkov won the welterweight title this past July with a decision win over Douglas Lima, and had a stiff test in Henderson for his first defense. In fact, Henderson was a 2-1 favorite to win the fight.

But in the end, it really wasn’t close, and that’s why Coker thinks the rest of the world should sit up and take notice.

“(Henderson) fought hard, he fought valiantly, but at the end of the day Koreshkov is a beast,” Coker said. “And that’s why he’s our champ. He can fight anybody. I think he can fight anybody at 170, any league. I’d say top two or three (in the world), in my opinion.”

For more on Bellator 153, check out the MMA Events section of the site.