For UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, his upcoming title defense at UFC 164 against old rival Anthony Pettis is like any other fight.
From the outside looking in, it’s a bigger deal than he makes it out to be because his last loss in mixed martial arts came at the hands of Pettis, but the champ said he moved on. He can’t get the loss back, but getting another chance to scrap with Pettis is something “Bendo” is very much looking forward to.
“It will be nice to just go out with him again, get my hands on him, that’s for sure,” Henderson said on a recent media conference call.
The difference between this upcoming fight and their fist meeting at WEC 52 in December 2010, Henderson said, is the circumstances. For example, their first fight was on a cable network, Versus, and this time it will be on pay-per-view.
Regardless of how the things have played out, though, Henderson said the circumstances won’t matter come fight night.
“You’re going to have a different circumstance every time you fight,” he said. “You have to treat every fight like it’s the most important thing there is because that’s really what they are. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. It’s the most important thing … of your career so far. So that’s how I’m viewing this fight.”
Check out the full UFC 164 fight card below.
UFC 164
Henderson vs. Pettis
Date: August 31, 2013
Venue: HMO Harris Bradley Center
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Main Card:
Benson Henderson (19-2) vs. Anthony Pettis (16-2)
Frank Mir (16-7) vs. Josh Barnett (32-6)
Chad Mendes (14-1) vs. Clay Guida (30-13)
Ben Rothwell (32-9) vs. Brandon Vera (12-6-1)
Erik Koch (13-2) vs. Dustin Poirier (13-3)
Prelims:
Jamie Varner (21-7-1) vs. Gleison Tibau (27-9)
Louis Gaudinot (6-2) vs. Tim Elliott (9-3-1)
Pascal Krauss (11-1) vs. Hyun Gyu Lim (11-3-1)
Chico Camus (12-4) vs. Kyung Ho Kang (11-6)
Prelims on Facebook:
Soa Palelei (18-3) vs. Nikita Krylov (14-0)
Ryan Couture (6-2) vs. Al Iaquinta (5-2-1)
Jared Hamman (13-5) vs. Magnus Cedenblad (10-4)
