So I just got back from my first-ever time to NYC, even though I was only there for about 26 hours or so I had a GREAT experience…the reason I was out there at all was to meet with a company that may be sponsoring me pretty soon…had a photoshoot to do and met with some of their staff and employees as well as got introduced to their head-honchos…the two guys that I spent most of my time with and got to know were some real cool cats who I thought did a superb job of representing their company, good people…anyways long story short I hope to have some good news to tell all you guys here on smoothben.com within the next week or so…say some prayers for me please…

GOD bless…

p.s.
I snuck up on the empire state building, hehe…
and yeah I got to see the WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE (ground zero) talk about an incredibly sobering sight…

so as i stated earlier and as i’m sure you’ve already heard by now, donald ‘cowboy’ cerrone and i are going to be dancing under those bright lights once again, come april 24th at the arco arena in sacramento…make sure you bring your popcorn because you can’t watch a SHOW without popcorn and believe you me, we are going to be putting on one HECK of a show…
donald is my boy and all, i have mad respect for him and he’s been nothing but upfront and classy to me after our first dance but you can always tell when someone’s gotta ‘itch’ they just have to scratch and i could tell from immediately after the fight that i was going to be that ‘itch’ to cerrone, he and i both knew that we were gonna square off once again inside that soul-revealing blue octagon and i am not gonna lie, i CANNOT wait…NO NEED for over-analyzation or deep contemplation for this scrap, cerrone is gonna bring his A game and try and beat the snot outta me, i’m gonna bring my A game and we’re gonna put on a performance worthy of ‘fight of the decade’ accolades, that’s what he wants, it’s what i want and it’s what you ‘the fans’ are gonna pay for, TRUST me you’re gonna get your moneys worth…

training has been going really well, i’ve been back in the gym now for awhile and working on improving the holes in my game, trying to make them really, really small holes, hehe…after my main training partner, chris gruetzemacher, fights and beats his pile of pudding up on february 13th, i’ll be heading out to san diego to help a good friend, dominic cruz, prepare for his up-coming scrap against world champ brian bowles…

p.s.
on a side note, i FRACKIN’ (b.s.g. whoop-whoop) love what i do for a living, i just wanna give a quick thanks and praise to the ONE who sits most high, thank you for blessing me and please help me be a better son, brother, fiance, friend, coach, training partner and fighter…

was a pretty darn good weekend…my boy chris grutezemacher is looking good, getting ready for his next dance on february 13th, we all had some pretty good sparring sessions…and i got my first cut ever

it’s just a little guy but i was surprised as heck when i got it, i didn’t know what the feeling was, then i saw a drop of blood and i realized i’d finally been cut, hehe…

and on saturday and sunday afternoon i had an appearance to do over at StarPower in scottsdale with the rest of the MTX fight team…i don’t get to hang out very much with all those guys but they’re great dudes and i’m stoked whenever i do get the chance chill with them a bit…they’re funny as all heck, i’m basically just laughing my butt off the whole time, i love it…
i had a few fans tell me that they would’ve come out for some autographs and pictures if they would’ve known about it ahead of time and that’s my fault, i’ll try posting when i’ll be out doing autographs and stuff earlier, as soon as i know about it, sorry guys…

that was my weekend in a nutshell, kinda uneventful but it was pretty darn good by my standards…

GOD bless…

hahahahaha…

so i just got back from a nice little mini-vaca from my hometown (federal way, WA) and then spent sometime with the future mrs. and future in-laws in vallejo, CA…

back home was really cool because even though i worked pretty much the whole time i got a chance to meet and say hey to a lot of new and old fans and friends from back home…it’s really cool seeing the support that i have back home in the good old 253…mama’s home cooking is always worth the trip by itself, some classic rice with kim-chi/pan-chan, absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS…it was good also seeing some of my old buddies that i haven’t seen in awhile, next time i promise i’ll stay for a little longer so that i can actually chill a little bit…

vallejo was good times too…i like it a lot actually cause i get along great with the future in-laws side and it was just nice to get away from working those 17-hour days at my oma’s store, hehe…

now right back to the grind…

i have a huge bulls eye on my back now and need to prove myself as a champion next time i step into that cage…

GOD bless…

Sorry guys that I haven’t posted up a blog sooner but I’ve been CRAZY swamped with radio interviews, magazine articles and all sorts of requests, since after my last W…and mostly, as a lot of you guys can attest to, to responding individually to everyone who’s shown love and supported me on facebook, myspace or Twitter, it really means the world to me but sadly it’s getting to the point where I think I’ll only do a whole lot of replying directly on my smoothben.com website just cause I’ve been getting so many messages, hehe, it’s kinda surreal still….

I’ll post up a blog later on talking about the actual dance between Varner and I but I really want to take some time and just thank all the FANS and MEDIA that have been so awesome to me…THANK YOU…

I hope you guys are enjoying the ride but make sure you buckle up, you haven’t seen nothin’ yet…I’ve been fighting for only 3 years and I have A LOT of room to get better, I WILL GET BETTER…

JAH bless…

it’s true for children and it’s true for fighters as well…anyone who says otherwise must be just the best fighter to ever grace this planet or something…i have a bunch of people to thank and give mad props to, sorry if this gets to be a bit redundant to you guys but these are some really important and special people in my life, who without their help and tutelage i couldn’t be what and who i am today…

as always, first and foremost, gotta give HIM HIS, who sits most high, our LORD and SAVIOR, thank YOU for blessing me everyday of my life and even though i’m a sinner and fall short of deserving YOUR love and blessings YOU do so anyways…it blows me away YOUR depth for compassion, forgiveness and love…

to my family, my mother, brother and soon-to-be wife thank all of you for putting up with my stubborn self, i love you guys and cherish you beyond description, i’m gonna make it because of what you guys have been sacrificing for me for years now…

john crouch, i love you and value your friendship and tutelage above all others, i’ve enjoyed the journey so far with you and look forward to many more years of us growing together…

jason beck, thank you for having the vision and strength to actually make it happen in allowing us fighters the opportunity to shine, without you who knows how this journey would’ve turned out…

jarret aki props to you for getting my lazy butt up and training hard when i don’t necessarily want to, you’re the secret sauce buddy…

jason genet thank you for believing in me and giving me a shot to prove myself, lets go get you your belt back…

to all my training partners at the LAB thank you guys for all your hard work, blood, sweat and tears…you guys more than anybody else know how hard this fighting thing is that we’re silly enough to try and make a career out of, thank you for pushing me and driving me and reminding me, when i need it, how bad i want this…you guys are next, the world’s soon gonna know the names of CHRIS GRUETZEMACHER, VICTOR MEZA, and CHARLIE BROWN, let’s start taking over the world one fight at a time…to EFRAIN ESCUDERO make sure you put it down jan. 11th against evan dunham, let’s show the world where some of the best 55′ers in the game train out of…

to MTXaudio thank you guys for your fiscal support and everything, i couldn’t be living this dream of mine without you guys, thanks for taking a chance on a young buck who no one’s heard of before…

to my other coaches, andy russell and georgie garcia thanks for all your guy’s sacrifice and effort in training my sorry butt, i know i can be a slow learner at times so thanks too for your patience and time, like i said give me a few more years and the world is gonna be ours…

i know i do this sort of thing before every fight and while every blog post is a little different, i’m thanking a lot of the same people and everything but i suppose that right around fight time, when it’s about time to dance, i can’t help but think of all the people who’ve helped me get to this stage and prepare, i don’t want to let them down as badly as my innate desire is to WIN, i walk into that cage every time knowing that there’s a literal whole small village of people behind the scenes who made this possible for me, i want to perform up to my very best to honor their sacrifice/effort/time/work…and it goes way back too, not just to my current coaches and training partners but to my very first wrestling coach in junior high, coach olsen, who made me want to prove to him that i could be tough enough to wrestle and make the team even though i’ve never stepped on a mat before…to my high school coach, mike bressler, who dared me to not only high standards on the wrestling mat but to do more with my life and get out of federal way, to use wrestling to my advantage throughout life…i don’t know if either of my old coaches will ever read this or if they ever think of the impact they actually had on me and the man they helped me grow into but i’d like to definitely put it out there and hope that one day they will stumble across this somehow and see how they’ve affected me and since there’s no way i could really ever repay them use this as a simple way to say, THANKS…the list could go on and on for a LONG time but for now i’ll give a few more quick shout-outs and leave it at that…

leister bowling
chris egan
anthony byers
steve costanzo
darold foster
mr. nordstrom
mrs. brazier
mr. knapton
coach mike olson
ernie abariotes
trevor carritt
chris williams
wynn fangmeier
ryan trotter
alvin ‘kid’ robinson
jane hensley
bryon bruce
tommy owen

and of course to all my FANS, you guys are amazing, i don’t mean to be self-aggrandizing but i think i have some of the best and NICEST fans in all of mma, i truly mean it when i say that this is too HARD a sport to do with out a ton of love and support, here’s to a happy january 10th everyone…

GOD bless…

your friendly neighborhood cage-fighter,
benson

So definitely the story of my 2009, and probably my 2010 also, is how my girlfriend found out I was going to propose to her…just so there’s not too much anticipation the story ends with her saying yes and agreeing to spend the rest of our days on this planet together…

So my girlfriend has all my bank account info because I trust and love her that much and as alot of girlfriends/wives she takes care of a lot of the plane ticket buying/paying big bills/purchasing whatever surprise stuff comes along and she happened to be NOT snooping around (hehe) my bank account and saw a purchase for a lot of money and called me up DYING (more like wanting me to DIE) to know what I spent so much money on??? I made sure I double-checked with her and asked if she ‘really wanted me to tell her???’ she said yes and I said ‘ok, it’s your engagement ring, there you go’ she cried for like 10 mins and told me how much she loved me, it was awesome even though it was all over the phone with her living 300 miles away…a definite story to tell our kids and grand-kids…

The other part that is awesome was that I had been talking with her mom for some time planning everything out on how I was going to surprise her on Christmas eve…I think her mom was more upset than I was, haha…I’m just happy the woman of my dreams said yes and will make my life a living day-dream…

I love you Kathryn Elizabeth Henderson, …

Man no matter how many times I visit las Vegas it still always throws me for a loop how crazy it is…sitting in the airport, waiting to head back phx, kinda just reflecting on my latest venture out here to sin city…flew out here for WEC 45, some great fights too let me tell you, and one of the first things I run into is a couple of security guards yelling at a gentlemen telling him that they caught him (using some ‘blow’ in the bathroom) and to just relax but then he bolts off on the security guard mid-sentence, ensuing chase and resulting drama was so entertaining I thought I should be paying someone, hehe…so yeah I guess just having that little episode as a opening act into this trip was pretty eye-opening…

The fights were great, I’m just gonna assume that you tuned in and watched WEC 45 cause honestly I think everybody now-a-days is recognizing the fact that the WEC is consistently putting on some of the most action-packed, entertaining fights in the mma world, true I’m a little biased but am sticking to my guns on that assumption, and not give a fight recap or anything…

Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, goodness gracious that boy can put on one HECK of a show, he’s a straight up ‘Terminator’, he did make me a bit nervous with another slow start in the first round but when he gets his rhythm you BETTER be on your game…on a side note I sat next to Donald’s parents and grandparents during the fights and man are they straight up good, class act people, grandma Geraldine is absolutely AWESOME…

I keep and KEEP telling people to not sleep on Anthony Njokuani (sorry if I butchered your last name buddy) but how long till he gets his due, well I believe with his 3rd straight K.nock O.ut O.f T.he N.ight bonus award people will start giving him his due…AND you can definitely tell that he’s been working on his wrestling with the slick hip toss he hit on horodescki…I could be wrong but Anthony’s only two losses have been to myself and ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, I would LOVE to see that rematch between Donald and him and could see the WEC hyping that fight with all it’s underlying story lines…

My boy Scotty Jorgenson (don’t know if that’s with an ‘e’ or ‘o’) threw DOWN with Takeya Mizugaki…I was really happy to see him get the nod from the judges…my goodness you can throw everything and the kitchen sink at Mizugaki and he just keeps on plugging away and going forward, it’s AWESOME, hehe…

Oh yeah and I ran into my boy and fellow alumni member of THE Dana College, Brian Tsutsumi, we wrestled together at Dana and in kind of a ‘what a small world’ coincidence he was here in Vegas coaching his team, Pacific College, at a wrestling tournament…BIG shout out to Pacific and the Grand Canyon University wrestling team (who help me train and stay sharp with my wrestling), good luck during the rest of your season…

Until next time folks…

JAH bless…

Your friendly neighborhood cage-fighter…