UFC boss: Definitive loss leaves Benson Henderson's road back to title lengthy

MILWAUKEE – If Benson Henderson (19-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) is determined to once again call himself UFC lightweight champion, he may need a little help from the man who just took his belt, Anthony Pettis (17-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC).

UFC President Dana White admitted that with Henderson now 0-2 in his career against Pettis, not to mention after suffering a first-round defeat to “Showtime” at this weekend’s UFC 164 event, “Smooth” may find the path to a third fight a little longer than he might hope.

“That’s definitely the case,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Henderson, the former WEC lightweight champion who also surrendered that title to Pettis in the pair’s 2010 initial meeting, earned the UFC belt in February 2012 with a unanimous-decision win over then-champ Frankie Edgar. The bout was so closely contested that UFC officials booked an immediate rematch, which Henderson also won.

But at Saturday night’s UFC 164 event in Milwaukee, Pettis looked unbeatable, stuffing Henderson’s takedown attempts before blasting him to the body with thunderous kicks and eventually earning a first-round verbal submission with a slick armbar from his back.

White believes the action was so one-sided that fans won’t be interested in seeing the pair fight again anytime soon and recalled Anderson Silva‘s 2011 knockout of Vitor Belfort – and the promotion’s subsequent refusal to pair them up again too quickly – as an example of Henderson’s predicament.

“We had the fight with Ben and Frankie where some people thought he won,” White said. “There’s no f—ing denying who won this fight, and it was a first-round annihilation, kind of like the Vitor-Anderson thing, you know what I mean?”

For his part, Henderson remained relatively upbeat at the evening’s post-event press conference. His right arm was damaged in the fight-ending submission, but he didn’t yet know to what extent. And unlike after the first loss to Pettis, Henderson kept his emotions in check. However, he insisted the sting was no less painful than the first time around.

“I did my crying and blubbering backstage,” Henderson said. “I figure you guys have enough film and footage of me crying, so I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll go ahead and do that backstage so you guys can’t film me and then play it over and over and over.’”

For complete coverage of UFC 164, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Benson Henderson)