The Art of Wrestling: #UFC’s Benson Henderson by Dethrone

BensonWings

I don’t have a lot of favorites in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) but Benson Henderson is certainly one of them. I started enjoying his fights when he was in World Elite Cagefighting (WEC). He had a thoroughly entertaining fight with “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone. Ever since then, I’ve followed his career quite closely and looked forward to any event. He fought smartly to soundly defeat Nate Diaz at UFC on Fox 5. Henderson wore a new shirt to the ring. Considering my penchant for reviewing merchandise, I figured this was a good topic.

It was easy to notice that Henderson’s shirt played off of his back tattoo (above for those who are blind) by having an angel wielding a sword. The idea of taking from the fighters tattoos is definitely something that has happened in the WWE with Edge. The feathers on the angel are layered well because of the black and white contrast. The feathers however don’t have a grey tone like Henderson’s tattoo which makes them easier to print but does hold back the depth. The feathers and wings are a perfect show of contrast, if it weren’t for the fact that the background is a dark grey. Even if they lightened it up to a heather grey, it’d be a much better contrast from the image to the background.

The armor is colored a flat gold which keeps a contrast but doesn’t provide much of a pop because of the flatness. The black that helped to provide depth for the feathers, helps to dull the gold even more. They also use it in a heavy handed way on the skirt armor but more sparingly on the other pieces of armor.

The last main part of the shirt is the print at the top of the shirt. I have noted my affinity for Gothic lettering more than once. I think it is a good choice considering that Dethrone is inspired by medieval monarchies. They use white for Dethrone and the flat gold for Royalty Co. It’s a solid and standard use for multiple colors. What I don’t like is the giant black blob underneath the lettering and above the right hand wing. It would have looked less like a blob if the black were trimmed for the background dark grey.

The rear of the shirt just has a stamp for Dethrone and “Smooth” Ben Henderson on it which is nice. Overall, I dig this shirt a lot. Now I hope Henderson can take out his next challenger. -Kevin

One Response to “The Art of Wrestling: #UFC’s Benson Henderson by Dethrone”

  1. jumpingpolarbear 2012-12-25 at 4:06 am #

    Benson is a beast. His wrestling and physical strength will make it hard for anybody to take his belt away!

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