The first ever Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship event is scheduled for October 20th, 2023 and the main event for ADXC 1 is set to be an exciting welterweight matchup between Benson Henderson and Neiman Gracie. Both men are much more known for using their elite grappling in order to succeed in MMA, so naturally they’ll be competing in a no gi match. Henderson and Gracie have competed in plenty of grappling matches over the years, but they’ve focused almost exclusively on their MMA career since they became professionals in the sport.
Henderson started his career all the way back in 2006 and over the years that followed he reached the highest levels of the sport. He became a WEC lightweight world champion before moving to the UFC when that promotion ended and winning the lightweight title there too. He moved to Bellator towards the end of his career and fought for both the lightweight and welterweight world title there, although he wasn’t able to add that belt to his extensive resume. He eventually retired from the sport in 2023 with an impressive 30-12 professional record, cementing his place as one of the legends of his weight class.
Unlike Benson Henderson, Neiman Gracie has spent the majority of his career fighting for just one promotion. Although he started out in World Series of Fighting (now known as PFL) in 2013, he was quickly picked up by Bellator after winning his first 2 fights there. He has since gone on to challenge for the Bellator welterweight title and although he was unsuccessful, he currently holds a 12-4 professional record and is working his way back up to another title-shot in the division.
Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship announced that Benson Henderson and Neiman Gracie would be meeting in the main event match at ADXC 1 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
