Benson Henderson Was Never Asked About Fighting Donald Cerrone

The dreaded injury bug of 2014 has not gone away completely, as news broke last week that former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez was out of his upcoming UFC Fight Night 59 bout against former UFC lightweight champion Benson “Smooth” Henderson. It is always tough when one fighter is injured on such short notice, and the UFC has to scramble to find a replacement opponent.

However, in this situation it was not as difficult. Surging lightweight contender Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone most recently competed at January 3’s UFC 182, where he earned a very one-sided decision win over the then undefeated Myles Jury. Prior to the fight, Cerrone claimed that after the fight weather he were to win or lose, he wouldn’t leave Las Vegas until he had his next fight.

Living up to his motto of “anybody, anywhere, anytime”, “Cowboy” agreed to step in on just thirteen days’ notice to face Henderson in the co-main event of January 18’s co-main event. Everything was good, the UFC had replaced a big fight with an equally big one, and Cerrone got his wish which was to stay active. There was only one problem. No one bothered to ask Henderson if he agreed to the fight or even bothered to tell him about it:

“I didn’t hear about it from the UFC at all. No one officially called me or called my manager or my coach. No one consulted with us or asked us if we would take the fight first,” Henderson revealed when speaking with FOX Sports.

It’s very odd of the UFC to not have talked to Henderson or Henderson’s management about such a big change. “Smooth” even admitted that he actually found out about the fight from “Cowboy” himself:

“It was actually Cowboy who texted me first saying ‘Hey bro, nothing personal, it’s just business, nothing but love,’ and I said ‘Oh, cool’. I had no idea what he was talking about. I go on Twitter and look it up and go ‘Oh, I see, Eddie Alvarez just got hurt.’ So I said ‘See you in Boston in a couple of weeks.’ “”

Henderson not being asked prior to this fight being made official seems like quite a problem. Although it is unlikely that he would’ve, “Smooth” could have declined the fight or asked for it to be postponed. It’s a difficult task for Cerrone, cutting weight again so quickly and barely having time to prepare, but it’s also a difficult task for Henderson. Fighting “Cowboy” on just under two weeks’ notice is a very daring move, but luckily for the UFC “Smooth” shares a similar philosophy to Cerrone:

“That’s how I found out. Anytime, anywhere, anybody in the 155-pound division, let’s do it. I’ll fight anybody tomorrow. Five-round fight? Let’s do it.  I’ll fight anybody. Cowboy on two weeks’ notice? No problem,” Henderson said. “I was a little surprised of the process and how it went down and how I found out. I wasn’t asked or anything, but it is what it is. I like to roll with the punches.”

When these two warriors step in the Octagon on fight night in Boston, it will be the third time the two have shared the cage together, but this time the circumstances are very different. Henderson has won both of their previous bouts, the first one to win the WEC lightweight belt and the second time defending it.

Coming off of a devastating loss to Rafael dos Anjos last August, another loss for “Smooth” would hurt him badly. On the other hand, Cerrone is on the best run of his career right now, riding a six-fight win streak and knocking him off could boosts Henderson’s stock tremendously.

When it comes down to it, the MMA Lab product is just going to do his job, which is to step inside of the cage and fight the man standing across from him and leave the talk of what this fight does for him to the media:

“I leave that up for you to say. I’m not the writer or the pundit, who am I to say? I will say yes, Cowboy’s on a six-fight win streak and I’m off a loss.  They are throwing his name up there a lot for a title shot, so after I beat him I plan on being right back up there,” Henderson said. “Being the former champ, and after putting an exclamation point by beating Cowboy I plan on being right back there.”

Who do you see prevailing in this pivotal lightweight matchup?