Benson Henderson Returns to Welterweight, Meets Jason Jackson in Bellator 253 Co-Main

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will move up to 170 pounds to face Jason Jackson in the Bellator 253 co-main event.

Sherdog.com confirmed the booking with a promotion official following an initial report MMAFighting.com. Bellator 253 takes place on Nov. 19 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, and is headlined by a featherweight grand prix semifinal between Darrion Caldwell and A.J. McKee.

Henderson made his Bellator debut at welterweight in April 2016, when he dropped a five-round verdict to then champion Andrey Koreshkov. “Smooth” returned to 155 pounds after that and has since gone 5-3 in the California-based promotion. The 36-year-old MMA Lab stalwart is coming off a first-round KO loss to Michael Chandler at Bellator 243, his first stoppage loss since 2014.

A former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Jackson enters the matchup with Henderson having won five of his last six professional outings. The Sanford MMA representative has won back-to-back decisions over Kicchi Kunimoto and Jordan Mein under the Bellator banner to run his career record to 12-4.