Korean American Wins & Unifies WEC Lightweight Belt

By KTW
– Senior Editor

[1/11/2010] This past weekend mixed martial artist fighter Ben “Smooth” Henderson, the WEC interim Lightweight Champion, defeated the former Nat’l Golden Gloves Boxing Champ and WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner (16-3) by a Standing Guillotine Choke….to unify the Lightweight Belt.  It was a tough and close fight up until Smooth finally connected on his many submission attempts.

Ben “Smooth” Henderson (11-1) is a 26 year old mixed martial artist from the state of Colorado, USA.  He was born to a Korean mom and African-American father.   Hendo is a devout Christian as his ring entrance song against Varner was a gospel song by Kirk Franklin.   There are some who believe he’s Filipino, but that’s inaccurate.   In an interview last year with Jason Cruz (Northwest Asian Weekly), Smooth states that “I am proud to be Korean.”  In that interview, he also recounted how his mom, a convenient store owner, would cook Korean dishes.  He’s fluent in Korean, and to hold to some of his Korean heritage, “urged by their mother, Henderson and his brother, Julius, took Tae Kwon Do lessons when they were kids.”    Henderson has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and a current purple belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (bjj).

Smooth has now won 10 fights in a row, and 4 straight in the WEC.   Considering the high level of competition for this once relatively unknown mma fighter, his accolades are now standing out and has propelled him further up the top lightweights in the world rankings.  He’s definitely a Smooth Operator in the ring, never seeming to be fatigued and never seeming to be under duress.  He’s becoming known as a great submission escape grappler.   His  next match could be a rematch with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.  There first meeting almost won Fight Of The Year honors in 2009.  Smooth won their first meeting via Decision.

More on Ben Henderson in the Cruz interview HERE<<<<

Subscribe to MMAviewers.com, and receive the Latest Post

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Related posts:

1. Submission Win Of The Night Series: Joseph Benavidez Wins By Guillotine Choke!
2. MMA: Top 20 WEC Ranking
3. WEC 48 Preview and a List Of Places To Watch Faber Vs. Aldo