‘Pitbull’ set to face Henderson

Lightweight bout is main event at Bellator 160 on Friday night at Honda Center.

The increasing depth of Bellator MMA will be on display Friday at Honda Center in Anaheim when the organization stages a lightweight fight between one of its top athletes, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, and former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson.

A win by Freire could lead to him having a chance to avenge his brother Patricky’s loss to welterweight champion Michael Chandler.

Meanwhile, Bellator President Scott Coker’s focus Friday is on Bellator 160. The main event matches Freire (25-3), a former featherweight champion, against Henderson (23-6), who will make his second Bellator appearance after a welterweight title loss.

Spike TV will televise the card at 7 p.m. PDT and undercard fights at Honda Center begin at 5. The televised card includes a featherweight bout between Long Beach’s A.J. McKee (4-0) and Cody Walker (7-4).

“Benson Henderson is a legend in the sport, and this fight can help my legend,” Freire said. “When this fight was offered to me, I didn’t even know Michael Chandler was on the table for me. Michael Chandler is a bonus, but all my attention is on Benson.

“He likes to use his distance. That’s his comfort zone. I plan to make him uncomfortable,” with relentless pressure.

Henderson made no excuses about the extra weight he carried in his welterweight title loss to Andrey Koreshkov this year.

“I’m a fighter. I have full faith in my abilities,” he said. “I have a good track record [fighting] at 155, so I should be good.”

The MMA card will be followed Saturday at Honda Center by a Spike TV-televised boxing card headlined by former two-division champion Robert Guerrero.