Who is Maria Henderson? Benson Henderson’s wife had this to say about her husband’s retirement

Lightweight legend Benson Henderson has enjoyed a stable family life with his wife and kids. His life partner has been an important aspect of his support system in the sport of MMA. The couple has supported each other through the ups and downs of their careers. This article takes a closer look at Maria Henderson's life trajectory and her MMA career.

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Who is Maria Henderson?

Maria Henderson (maiden name Maria Magana) is an MMA fighter and the wife of Benson Henderson. The couple has been married for nearly a decade. They have three sons - Kyong, Kub, and Koah. Their only daughter is named Knightley.

Maria was born on June 20, 1992. However, details of her early life and information about her parents are not available. She is a grappling-heavy fighter with a Brazilian jiu-jitsu background.

The 32-year-old holds a 3-0 amateur and a 1-1 professional MMA record. She is signed to Bellator and made her promotional debut against Mackenzie Stiller at Bellator 293. Unfortunately, Henderson lost the bout by a first-round submission due to an armbar.

'Mouse' has a 75% finishing rate in all her fights, amateur and professional combined. Like her husband, she trains at the MMA Lab under head coach John Crouch.

Henderson opened up about her husband retiring after losing to champion Usman Nurmagomedov at Bellator 292. The former WEC and UFC lightweight champion was very emotional after his loss and retirement, and his wife quoted the move as being "heartbreaking" and "surprising". She said:

"I don't think any of us really expected him to retire yet, because we thought he was going to win the tournament and we thought he was going to beat Usman. I think nine out of 10 times, he beats Usman. It's just, this was Usman's one time and it was a great fight for Usman."

'Mouse' claimed that her husband has what it takes to beat the Bellator lightweight champion. She continued:

"Ben and I've been together - I'm 30 now, and we've been together since I was 18 and my whole adult life has been my husband fighting. And, it's just now he's not fighting, so it was a really big surprise and it really is heartbreaking. And it's heartbreaking how much he killed himself to do this."

Skip to 2:40 for Maria Henderson on her husband's retirement:

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When Benson Henderson proposed to Maria Henderson in front of a packed arena in the UFC

Benson Henderson is the former UFC lightweight champion and is considered one of the greatest 155-pound fighters in the promotion's history. His UFC on Fox 7 win over Gilbert Melendez in April 2013 marked the peak of Henderson's professional MMA career.

With the victory, he became the third champion in UFC history to record three successful lightweight title defenses - after B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar. Meanwhile, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev have been the only fighters to match the record over the last decade.

Henderson used the historic occasion to propose to Maria Henderson (then Maria Magana) during the post-fight ops inside the UFC octagon.

Check out the moment below (0:28):