Ben Henderson’s BJJ black belt debut was successful. The UFC lightweight champion competed in a state championship in Arizona, and managed to get the finish in two of his three fights, getting the gold medal.
The performance of “Bendo” was aknowledged by Augusto Tanquinho, who accompanied him in the competition and coached his training partner at The Lab academy.
“I knew he was going to follow through from the hard trainings we had. He is a super athlete, who trains a lot. He likes Jiu-Jitsu and training in kimono, and fights without pressure. He’s the UFC champion, but win or lose, he wants to compete. He moves well, and has a lot of gas. He didn’t concede any points, I think not even an advantage. His performance deserves a perfect 10!
In the Semi Final fight against Geoff Real, Henderson finished his opponent, who has no left hand. According to Tanquinho, the champion received criticism about his Jiu-Jitsu on the internet.
“On the internet, they said that he does not have the level of a black belt and that he beat a guy who had only one hand. Besides having an excellent level of Jiu-Jitsu, he put his reputation on the line in the championships. Few UFC champions would. For that alone deserves respect.” said Tanquinho
