Following his 2nd straight win at welterweight that completed his UFC contract, it didn't take long for suitors to start expressing interest in acquiring a former champion in Ben Henderson. South Korea-based promotion Road FC has earlier thrown their hat in the ring, looking to capitalize on Henderson's popularity in the country. As expected, Bellator has now expressed their interest as well.

Bellator President Scott Coker says he would be all for signing Henderson, but he all maintains that he wants to do it the proper way.

"I think that my guys have reached out just to see if he is actually a free agent because sometimes they have an exclusive negotiation period," Coker told Sherdog. "So we’re going to wait and see wait his contract status is. If he is free, then yeah we’re going to start talking to him."

"We’d love to have a fighter like Henderson on the roster," Coker said. "but we’re gonna do it the right way and make sure that he’s free to actually have a conversation."

Bellator has signed numerous UFC vets who completed their contracts (Davis, Thomson, etc), and also put out offers that ultimately bumped up salaries even if Zuffa eventually matched it (Melendez).

Ben now is in an interesting situation being a former champion on a nice run. It makes him valuable to Bellator and other organizations, which could conceivably lead to a significant pay raise regardless on which promotion he ends up with.