UFC in crisis? Benson Henderson calls White House event a ‘clown show’ and things get ugly
· Yahoo Sports
The June 14 UFC card isn’t something everyone is eager to see.
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Netflix and Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions recently made their entry into the MMA scene, and the next event on the calendar is UFC Freedom 250.
There’s a seven-fight card lined up for the White House lawn, with an audience including global dignitaries, VIPs, and military personnel.
Dana White has called it his organisation’s biggest event yet. But Benson Henderson isn’t buying into the hype.
Photo by Taylor Hill/WireImageBenson Henderson isn’t holding back on his criticism of UFC Freedom 250
Benson Henderson, who held titles in both the UFC and WEC, is making a return to MMA at 42 years old. But he’s made it clear that he’s not interested in the kind of event being put together by Dana White.
Henderson is set to headline PFL Brussels against Patrick Habirora this Saturday. And it doesn’t sound like he’d have wanted any part of what the UFC has planned for June 14.
During an interview with talkSPORT ahead of his comeback, Henderson laid into the UFC for organising what he described as a “clown show” in Washington D.C.
“I definitely won’t be tuning in to watch that,” Henderson said. “I feel like my country — the White House is not supposed to be a spectacle.
“And they’re turning it into a literal spectacle, a clown show, a circus, which is cool if you like circuses, clown shows and spectacles.
“There’s a reason why we go to these entertainment events, but they’re supposed to be at entertainment venues,” he continued. “I feel like the highest seats of our house, the White House for our country, is not supposed to be a spectacle, not supposed to be a clown show.
“It kind of makes me sad. I’m happy to have been in the UFC and done my part to help further the sport of mixed martial arts, to help make it legitimate.
“But making it a spectacle, making it a show, making it a clown show, making it a circus on my country’s White House… I think it’s a disservice. It’s a disservice to the White House and it’s a disservice, actually, to mixed martial arts as well”
The lightweight belt once held by Henderson will be contested at UFC Freedom 250 when Ilia Topuria takes on Justin Gaethje.
The two champions will meet in June after Pereira faces Tom Aspinall and Sean O’Malley fights Merab Dvalishvili earlier in the night.
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