There has been less controversy than some expected coming out of Ben Henderson’s title win over Frankie Edgar, but there still are some that feel a rematch is in order. After all, the fight was close and competitive, even if Henderson did deserve the nod.
Henderson was on the MMA Hour yesterday and discussed the idea of giving Edgar a rematch:
“Frankie had a very tough situation,” Henderson admitted. “He had a rough road with two rematches right away after his title defenses. So the fan in me feels that he deserves (the rematch). He had to put himself on the line, I don’t want anybody coming back to me and saying ‘oh, Henderson didn’t want to rematch Frankie because he was scared.’
“I’m more than willing to give Frankie a rematch. Let’s do it. Set it up for tomorrow.”
Henderson was not quite as interested in the talk of a rematch with Anthony Pettis, the last man to score a victory over him. Last week Pettis made it clear (via his manager) that he was disappointed in Henderson’s dismissal of him as a title challenger. Henderson expanded on this during the interview:
“Of course he’s going to go out and say that stuff because he wants his guy to fight for the belt,” Henderson tensely responded. “What did you have Jeremy Stephens ranked before the Anthony Pettis fight? Not in the top ten. What did you have Joe Lauzon ranked before his fight?
“Does someone who has a split-decision over someone who is not ranked, and then has a pretty good win against the No. 10 guy, is he deserving of a title shot because of those two wins? Or is he deserving of a title shot because he beat me last?”
Later in the interview Henderson did make it clear that he does want to fight Pettis again eventually, but it’s not up to him to decide the next challenger.
Video after the jump…
MMA Hour video: