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Ben Henderson wins UFC Twitter award

November 1st, 2011 at Tue, 1st, 2011 at 12:58 pm by caseyolson

Decatur High School graduate Ben Henderson will get into the cage for the biggest fight of his career Nov. 12 when he takes on Clay Guida at the UFC on Fox event on national television. The winner of the fight will likely get a shot at the 155-pound UFC Lightweight title holder Frankie Edgar in the near future.

Henderson is 2-0 in the UFC after wins over Jim Miller and Mark Bocek. Henderson previously held the 155-pound championship belt in World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) before the organization was bought by the UFC.

Along with the exposure of fighting on national TV next weekend, Henderson will also have an extra $5,000 in his pocket. The UFC announced that he, long with Forrest Griffin, Joe Lauzon and Joseph Benavidez were awarded the “Most Creative Tweets” prize by UFC.com.

Henderson tweeted the following after hearing about the award:

“We did it tweeps, we won…they like us, they really like us…hehehe…”

You can follow Henderson on Twitter @SMOOTHone155

 

Here is the official press release issued by Henderson’s agent:

“Smooth” Benson Henderson awarded Twitter bonus by UFC

UFC Lightweight star “Smooth” Benson Henderson was one of nine fighters awarded a Twitter bonus by UFC President Dana White on Tuesday.  Henderson will be awarded $5,000 for having the most creative tweets among fighters with 10-30,000 followers.
Standing out among Henderson’s tweets were his live tweeting during the UFC 133 conference call and giving fans the ability to participate in the question and answer process.

“It’s really exciting to be recognized by the UFC for doing what I love to do anyways, interact with the fans,” stated Henderson, who is training to fight Clay Guida in the first UFC on FOX card Nov. 12 in Anaheim, Calif.

“The sport of mixed martial arts and the UFC have the best fans in the world and we share a level of interaction between fans and athletes not seen in any other professional sport. I am thankful that the UFC allows utilize social media tools to help with this.”

Henderson holds a 14-2 professional record, and is 2-0 in the UFC after previously holding the WEC Lightweight championship. In his last fight, Henderson dominated Jim Miller. He currently trains at the MMA Lab in Glendale, Ariz.

Fans can follow Henderson through his Twitter handle @SmoothOne155.

Fighters were awarded Twitter bonuses in four divisions, based on the number of followers for each fighter.  Within each division, bonuses were awarded for most total followers, the highest percentage of growth in followers, and the most creative tweets.

All data was tracked and gathered by Digital Royalty.  White selected the winners in the creative tweets category.

Twitter Bonus Recipients
75,000+ followers:
Most Followers: Anderson Silva
Largest Percentage Growth: Anderson Silva
Most Creative: Forrest Griffin

30-75,000+ followers:
Most Followers: Antonio Minotauro Nogueira
Largest Percentage Growth: Antonio Minotauro Nogueira
Most Creative: Joe Lauzon

10-30,000+ followers:
Most Followers: Demian Maia
Largest Percentage Growth: Demian Maia
Most Creative: Benson Henderson

2-10,000+ followers:
Most Followers: Cris Cyborg
Largest Percentage Growth: Cris Cyborg
Most Creative: Joseph Benavidez

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