Trainer: Bocek Poses Threat, Provides Opportunity for Henderson

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John Crouch sees both opportunity and danger in Mark Bocek, the man former WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will face in his promotional debut at UFC 129 “St. Pierre vs. Shields” on Saturday at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

An American Top Team-affiliated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Bocek has quietly rattled off four wins in five fights, three of them by first-round submission. The 29-year-old Canadian last appeared at UFC 124 in December, when he submitted Dustin Hazelett with a triangle choke at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

“That guy’s tough; he’s got a good chin,” said Crouch, who trains Henderson at The MMA Lab in Glendale, Ariz. “As far as jiu-jitsu goes, he’s as good as anybody in the UFC. He has a couple of tricks he uses over and over again. People know he’s going to do it, and he still does it. You don’t want to be on the bottom with him. He has a lot of strong points. We’ve got nothing but respect for that guy.”

Much will be on the line for the 27-year-old Henderson, who can ill afford a second consecutive defeat, especially on a stage of this magnitude. Crouch understands the stakes.

“I think it’s important, but at this point, every single fight is important. They all are,” he said. “In MMA, one loss and people tend to forget about you or write you off. We want to win every fight, and he’s doing what he needs to do.”

Moreover, Henderson still feels the sting of his unanimous decision loss to Anthony Pettis at WEC 53 in December. The setback snapped his 10-fight winning streak and cost him the WEC lightweight championship. It was punctuated by some highlight-reel material from Pettis, who launched himself off the cage in fifth round and knocked down Henderson with the blow all in one motion. Henderson survived, but the strike turned the tide against him.

“Ben has a good perspective on things,” Crouch said. “When you compete at the highest level, you’re going to lose. It was really hard for him. We didn’t do a good job with the game plan, and that was probably my fault. We knew that kid could do something crazy off the fence. We wanted to be closer to Pettis, to make him wrestle us against the fence.”

Based in Toronto, Bocek figures to have most of the record-setting crowd of some 55,000 in his corner at UFC 129.

“I think it’s great. Some people were saying [the venue was] too big [for MMA], but I’m blown away,” Crouch said. “It’s awesome. It’s a great opportunity, even though I don’t think there will be a lot of cheering for us.”