Benson Henderson has a little bit of the wick left to burn, and he wants to make the most of the time that remains before the light goes out.
The former Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting titleholder will toe the line against Peter Queally in the Bellator 285 lightweight main event on Friday at 3Arena in Dublin. Henderson has compiled a 6-6 record since he joined the Bellator MMA roster in 2016. The MMA Lab mainstay last appeared at Bellator 273, where he eked out a split decision over Islam Mamedov in their three-round encounter on Jan. 29. Queally, meanwhile, has won two of his past three bouts. The SBG Ireland rep last fought in November, when he succumbed to punches from Patricky Freire in the second round of their Bellator 270 rematch.
As Henderson and Queally make final preparations for their forthcoming battle at 155 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
38: Years of age for Henderson, who was born in Colorado Springs on Nov. 16, 1983.
9: Henderson wins by submission, accounting for 31% of his career total (29). His methods of choice: five guillotine chokes and four rear-naked chokes. Henderson holds five other wins by knockout or technical knockout (17%) and 15 more by decision (52%).
97: Seconds needed for Henderson to put away Allen Williams with punches at Victory Fighting Championship 18 on Feb. 16, 2007. More than 15 years later, it remains his fastest finish to date.
100: Rounds completed by Henderson as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 22 different occasions and carries a 15-7 record in those bouts.
214: Combined victories between the nine opponents—Freire, Michael Chandler (twice), Anthony Pettis (twice), Brent Primus, Jason Jackson, Andrey Koreshkov, Donald Cerrone, Rafael dos Anjos and Rocky Johnson—who have defeated Henderson. They boast a .704 cumulative winning percentage at 214-90.
33: Years of age for Queally, who was born on Feb. 19, 1989 in Dungarvan, Ireland.
3: Queally victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 23% of his career total (13). His list of victims: Freire, Ryan Scope and David Khachatryan. Queally owns 10 other victories by decision (77%).
1: Stalemate on the Queally resume. He settled for a five-round draw with Kuat Khamitov at Fight Nights Global 80 on Nov. 26, 2017. Khamitov was originally declared the winner, but the Russian MMA Union changed the result upon further review.
8: Countries in which Queally has competed as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 7-3 in his native Ireland, 2-1 in Russia, 1-1 in South Africa, 1-0 in England, 1-0 in Poland, 1-0 in Italy, 0-0-1 in Kazakhstan and 0-1 in the United States.
.638: Cumulative winning percentage between the six opponents—Freire, Myles Price, Islam Begidov, Joe McColgan, Igeu Kabesa and Chris Boujard—who have beaten Queally. They sport a combined record of 67-37-1.
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