Arman Tsarukyan and Benson Henderson might be from different generations but they just crossed paths for the very first time in a grappling match at ACBJJ 18 on September 19th, 2025. Both men have reached the very top of the MMA world but several years apart, so they were never going to face each other in the octagon. Henderson had a stint as the UFC lightweight world champion but by the time Tsarukyan had made it to the organization, Henderson had long since left and was plying his trade at Bellator instead. Fast-forward to today and Tsarukyan is waiting for his shot at the UFC title, while Henderson has retired from the sport.
Both men are known for being elite MMA fighters who are open to taking submission grappling matches though, and ACBJJ was able to put them together as a result. Tsarukyan was more aggressive from the start and he snapped Henderson down in to a guillotine attempt early. Henderson escaped and started to play guard, but one attempt at wrestling up from half guard led him straight into a D’arce choke. Tsarukyan tried to switch to the back when it wasn’t working but Henderson got back to guard again. Tsarukyan secured a deep underhook to pass and it didn’t take him long to do so after that. Tsarukyan started attacking the far arm with a straight armlock and although he had to switch sides to maintain control, he continued on the opposite side.
Henderson tried to wrestle up again and Tsarukyan latched on to another front-headlock attack, switching to the back much quicker this time. He got both hooks in and locked up a rear-naked choke over Henderson’s jaw, but he slowly worked his way free from both the choke and back control. Tsarukyan attacked the front-headlock in transition again but Henderson got his back to the mat and recovered closed guard. Another wrestle-up from Henderson led into another front-headlock but this time he got to standing, shooting in and being driven to his back. Tsarukyan locked up an arm-triangle in the transition and passed Henderson’s guard to finish it, putting him to sleep just a few seconds later.
The full ACBJJ 18 event replay, including the match between Arman Tsarukyan and Benson Henderson, is available to watch on the promotion’s official YouTube channel:
