Benson Henderson will step into the PFL smart cage next month and a former teammate finds some humor in this PFL Brussels fight coming about. The former WEC and UFC lightweight champion battles Patrick Habirora on May 23rd, 2026 as Professional Fighters League emanates from ING Arena in Brussels, Belgium.
James Nakashima is the ex-training partner in question and the former ONE Championship combatant recently captured gold in Canada as he recently claimed the Unified MMA lightweight belt. When asked if Henderson’s PFL clash was something that he was aware of and if he had any particular thoughts on ‘Smooth’ fighting an unbeaten, surging prospect here in Habirora, Nakashima said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“No, I don’t; I rarely get on social media. So I didn’t know. Me and Benson don’t ever contact. I love Benson, but we were just friends in the practice room. That was it. It didn’t go on beyond any of that. So, I hardly only stay in contact with a couple people from The [MMA] Lab, but Benson’s he’s; fighters don’t ever retire. I guess that’s kind of what I’ve heard and that’s funny.”
Benson Henderson trains as hard as anyone but it’s funny he’s coming back, according to nakashima
Continuing his expression regarding how Benson Henderson is a bit of a microcosm of fighters having that difficulty to fully hang up their gloves, Nakashima continued [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“I don’t know. I just feel like fighters never retire. As long as they keep calling and Benson’s training. Benson, for any one workout, Benson will train as hard as; he can go as deep and as in the water as anybody, anyone. Benson’s a dog. So that’s cool to hear that he’s fighting again. Like I said, that’s funny because I always think that’s funny whenever fighters say that they retire and I don’t know, they always come back.”