Benson Henderson is close to kicking his toothpick habit to the curb.
The current Bellator lightweight is known for being a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) title holder. He’s also known for holding a toothpick in his mouth while fighting.
While Henderson has been “Smooth” when it comes to holding the toothpick, he realizes the responsibility of being a father. Henderson told Flo Combat that he doesn’t want his son to pick up the “bad habit:”
“I might have fought with it in once or twice before. But really [it’s] just a bad habit. I would have it in, I’d forget it was in, and I’d go through warm-up, and I’d go through everything and I’d walk in the cage, like, ‘Oh yeah. I have a toothpick in. Oh well.’ I’ve been doing it [chewing on the toothpick] a little less. I don’t have the toothpick now, because I have my little boy running around. One of my biggest fears is he’s going to be like six years old and he’s going to have a toothpick in his mouth because he saw me have it, and he’s going to run around, and he’s going to swallow it and choke and I’ll be like ‘Noooooo!’ I’ve learned my lesson, and now I don’t do the toothpick as much, especially because of my son.”
