Benson Henderson gets immediate Bellator MMA title shot on April 22nd

Earlier this week it was announced that former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson had signed with Bellator MMA rather than re-signing with the UFC given that his contract was up.

Henderson released a statement via his website announcing his signing, which included a ‘thank you’ to UFC President Dana White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta.

In the wake of his announcement, Dana White graciously bid Henderson farewell, wishing him the best in Bellator MMA. White revealed that the contract offered by the UFC was one that had quite a bit of incentive, with the deal being most lucrative if Henderson were to reclaim the UFC lightweight championship, while the one offered by Bellator was more of an ‘up-front’ deal.

While there was no immediate word given on whether or not Henderson would be getting an immediate title shot, we now have our answer!

According to ESPN, ‘Smooth’ will be challenging Andrey Koreshkov for the Bellator MMA welterweight championship on April 22nd at Bellator 153 in Connecticut.

Henderson will look to extend his 2-fight win streak and claim the Bellator MMA welterweight championship, while Koreshkov will look to extend his 5-fight win streak that most recently saw him claim the Bellator MMA welterweight championship in July as he picked up a unanimous decision win over Douglas Lima. Throughout the course of his 19 fight professional career, Koreshkov’s only loss came at the hands of ONE FC welterweight kingpin Ben Askren.

So far no other bouts for the card have been announced, but given how big of a name Henderson is in the MMA world, it can be expected that the bout will headline the event.