Former champ Henderson headlines UFC breakfast card

An Ultimate Fighting Championship card in Seoul headlines a light weekend in the mixed martial arts world.

It's the only show for any of the major MMA promotions and it's far from a primetime event.

Don't worry about making a decision between fighting and football on Saturday, though. The event will begin with the preliminary card at 2 a.m. on Saturday, with the main card beginning at 5.

Benson Henderson is scheduled to fight Jorge Masvidal in a welterweight bout in the main event of a card that will stream exclusively on the UFC's online platform, Fight Pass.

It's a huge fight for Henderson.

To say the future is unknown for Henderson, the former lightweight champion, would be putting it mildly.

Not only is he unsure about which weight class he will compete in going forward, this may be his last fight in the UFC.

He's taking a second fight this year at 170 pounds largely because his three losses over the last eight years have come against essentially the top three fighters in the UFC lightweight division at the moment, Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis and champion Rafael dos Anjos.

The path the belt at 155 pounds, is essentially blocked by those three for the foreseeable future. So Henderson decided to take a shot at welterweight in search of a more navigable path.

He hasn't committed to a weight class, or an organization, for his next fight.

Henderson will become a free agent when his contract runs out after this fight. He has been open in the past about discussing his desire to explore his options and though he has declined comment on his contractual situation leading up to this fight, it's entirely possible his services will warrant at least some semblance of a bidding war between UFC and Bellator, its chief competition in the United States.

He's marketable and still quite relevant among the best fighters in the world, making this a good time to be on the market.

Henderson's value would likely be significantly deflated, however, should he lose to Masvidal on Saturday.

Masvidal is also a former lightweight who has moved up to welterweight, so the size difference shouldn't be as pronounced as it was when Henderson was dwarfed by Brandon Thatch before submitting him in February.

Henderson was supposed to take on Thiago Alves on Saturday, but Alves was injured earlier this month and forced to pull out. Masvidal was due to take on Dong Hyun Kim, and was bumped up to the main event slot to fight Henderson.

It wasn't the only change to the card.

The co-main event was to be a heavyweight bout between former PRIDE Fighting Championships star Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and Anthony Hamilton. Filipovic, however, abruptly retired earlier this month.

It was soon after revealed he had admitted to taking human growth hormone after he was tested by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which runs the UFC's drug testing program.

Filipovic became the first fighter issued the mandatory two-year suspension for first-time offenders under the policy, which began in July.

Also on the card, Masvidal's original opponent Kim, will fight Dominic Waters in a welterweight bout.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.