Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson Booked for Third Meeting at Karate Combat 43

Anthony Pettis and Benson Henderson will have their trilogy in a slightly different combat sports arena.

The former UFC champions will meet at 170 pounds in the headliner of Karate Combat 43 on Dec. 15 at the Expo at World Trade Market in Las Vegas. The promotion confirmed the pairing following an initial report from MMAFighting.com.

Pettis owns a 2-0 mark against Henderson under MMA rules. The two lightweights closed out the World Extreme Cagefighting era in December 2010, when Pettis took a five-round verdict over Henderson in a bout that saw him unveil his “Showtime Kick.” They squared off again at UFC 164 in August 2013, when Pettis claimed the lightweight belt with a first-round submission victory.

More recently, Pettis went 1-4 under the Professional Fighters League banner from 2021 to 2022. He then tried his hand at the Sweet Science, earning a majority decision victory against Roy Jones Jr. at Gamebred Boxing 4 this past April.

The 39-year-old Henderson left the UFC in 2016 for Bellator, where he went 7-7 with the California-based promotion. He announced his retirement from MMA following a first-round submission loss to Usman Nurmagomedov at Bellator 292 on March 10.

According to the report, Karate Combat is also in talks with the likes of Jose Aldo, Luke Rockhold, Lyoto Machida, Michael Page and Darren Till regarding potential fights in the organization.