Benson Henderson Recalls His 3-Year-Old Kid Forced Him to Let Go of “Bad Habit” That Had Even “Scared” His Mother: “I Had to Cut It Out”

Published 03/14/2023, 2:00 PM EDT

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has been in the news after recently announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts on March 10, 2023. He retired as the 3rd ranked Bellator lightweight fighter. He recently made an appearance on ‘The MMA Hour’, hosted by MMA journalist Ariel Helwani.

Benson ‘Smooth’ Henderson retired with an MMA record of 30 wins and 12 losses in a career that last for almost 17 years. He has a background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and bagged the bronze medal at the 2014 World No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Championship. He is a former 1-time UFC lightweight champion and fought the likes of Jorge Masvidal, Michael Chandler, Rafael dos Anjos, and Frankie Edgar, just to name a few.

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Henderson decided to hang up his fighting gloves after missing out on the opportunity to win the Bellator Lightweight Championship following his loss to Usman Nurmagomedov at Bellator 292. His recent appearance on the ‘MMA Hour’ prompted Ariel Helwani to recall ‘Smooth’ fighting with a toothpick when he was fighting under the UFC banner.

Benson Henderson remembers fighting with a toothpick

Ariel Helwani asked ‘Smooth’ if he remembers having toothpicks during his fight with Nate Diaz. The 39-year-old claims that he had toothpicks in many fights and believes that it was a bad habit. He said, “For a lot of fights, I had a toothpick. It was just a bad habit. I would literally go out for lunch or dinner or breakfast or whatever. You know you have toothpicks in a restaurant. I’d have it in, I’d practice. You know, whatever.”

He mentioned that he would leave the toothpick in his mouth for fights, but he had to stop doing it. It was due to the fact that his son started to imitate him. “After my first kid …seeing him at two years old (or) three years old, running around with a toothpick in his mouth because he sees me with toothpicks. I had to cut it out.” Henderson proceeded to replace the toothpick with chewing gum.

‘Smooth’ once swallowed a toothpick

Helwani also asked Henderson if he ever got injured while having a toothpick in his mouth. He denied that any such event occurred. But he recalled a story when he swallowed a toothpick by accident. ‘Smooth’ said, “I never got injured …I graduated college, and I went home to surprise my mom.”

He added, “I surprised her as she was coming down the stairs and I had a toothpick like I always do. And I was a little bit older and mature enough to realize how dumb that was, how not smart that was, and how crazy it was. But I scared her and I swallowed my toothpick.”

Henderson then mentioned that his mother got scared when she saw the toothpick. “She got really scared …the level of frightenedness on her face was hilarious and it was super funny.” However, he didn’t suffer from any serious injury because of that.

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Benson Henderson was one of the best MMA fighters during the early 2010s. He was arguably one of the most recognizable fighters in modern history. Henderson’s toothpick habit did make him a unique character in the MMA scene.

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What are your thoughts on Benson Henderson’s toothpick incident? Let us know in the comments down below.

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Written by:

Himanga is a UFC author at EssentiallySports. He interned as a WWE author at Sportsmanor before joining EssentiallySports to pursue his interest as a sports journalist. Himanga is a big fan of UFC's Conor McGregor and considers him the most entertaining combat sports athlete of the 21st century.

Edited by:

Vineet Nandwana

Benson Henderson Recalls His 3-Year-Old Kid Forced Him to Let Go of “Bad Habit” That Had Even “Scared” His Mother: “I Had to Cut It Out”

Benson Henderson remembers fighting with a toothpick

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‘Smooth’ once swallowed a toothpick