Benson Henderson not ready to reflect on legacy while Bellator title aspirations remain

You could forgive a fighter as accomplished as Benson Henderson if he wanted to take a moment to ponder his legacy.

Not only has the 36-year-old Arizona resident racked up numerous accolades over the years, but he’s been a significant factor in three different major MMA promotions. Henderson held 155-pound gold in both the fondly remembered WEC and in the UFC. He currently competes in Bellator, where he hasn’t yet won a title but is on a four-fight winning streak.

As far as Henderson is concerned, though, the time for talk about what his legacy might be is when his career is done – not know when there still could be another championship in his future.

“For right now, I’m still fighting, still just trying to do my thing,” Henderson recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “I don’t try to make it grander than it is and put it into big words and do this and do that. When I’m done fighting, I’ll be able to have all the time in the world to think about it and give it scope and meaning and put fancy words to it and build it up bigger than it is.”

One thing Henderson is willing to grant is a point of pride in the consistency of effort he’s brought to his fighting career. Henderson has been been in events big and small, has headlined and has been on undercards. But no matter how big the spotlight, his mindset remains the same.

“It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s a local Arizona podunk jiu-jitsu tournament, or whether it’s a world title fight, in wherever, Korea. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the back of a 7-Eleven, whether it’s fighting on the prelims. Every fight I have, everything I do, I give everything I have. As soon as I commit to something, I give everything. Some guys don’t do that. That’s the only way I know how to do it.”

Henderson can tell you one thing about his track record, though: If it’s up to him, his fighting legacy will end with him and not be something that gets passed along through generations of his family. “Smooth” has four children, and he doesn’t want to see them pick their father’s career path.

“My boys are going to be astronauts,” he said. “They’re going to go to Mars. The first humans ever to set foot on Mars, the first brothers ever to go to space together. But no, I don’t necessarily want them to become fighters. … I don’t want my kids to be fighters at all.”