Benson Henderson lectures Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor in impassioned post-fight speech

On Saturday night, in the co-main event of the action-packed Bellator 208 card, former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson picked up a dominant decision win over longtime Bellator lightweight contender Saad Awad.

In his post-fight interview with Bellator MMA commentator John McCarthy, Benson Henderson could have taken a moment to call for another Bellator title shot, or perhaps a rematch with fellow lightweight contender Patricky Freire. Instead, however, the former champion used his post-fight interview as an opportunity to admonish UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor for their infamous UFC 229 post-fight brawl.

Speaking to the crowd, an impassioned Benson Henderson reminded the world that their are often children watching fights, and scolded the UFC lightweights for setting a poor example.

“For me you guys, it’s doesn’t matter what you do,” he said (transcript via FightSports.Tv) “You can be a reporter, a camera guy, a fighter. It doesn’t matter what you do in life. It’s about how you conduct yourself, how you act.”

“Your sons, your daughters are going to watch what you’re going to did,” he continued. “It’s going to be on TV. How do you explain that? ‘Oh he talked to me bad, so I jumped off the cage.’ How are you going to explain that to your kids? ‘Oh, he said something to me.” Your son’s going to be five years old and he’s going to say, ‘This kid said something to me at school.’ What are you going to say? Go beat them up? No! Watch how you conduct yourself. You’re a professional athlete. You’ve got hold yourself to a higher standard.”

What do you think of this fiery post-fight speech from Benson Henderson? Do you think Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor will take heed of his words?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/14/2018.