Henderson and Cerrone put on fight of the year at WEC 43

Ben Henderson definitely made good on his Rocky Balboa promise. Last night’s WEC interim lightweight title bout may not have been the most technical display of mixed martial artistry but it was easily the most-exciting back-and-forth, end-any-second, go-either-way battle not featuring Clay Guida this year. Definitely a Fight of the Year candidate.

Henderson, a 3-1 underdog, survived multiple submission attempts – guillotines, triangles, D’arce chokes, armbars, omo platas, kimuras, the kitchen sink – to earn the five-round unanimous decision victory over Donald Cerrone.

“Survived” is the operative word as Henderson appeared on the verge of being choked out or having his arm separated from his shoulder on several occasions – at one point he spent an uncomfortable, mesmerizing minute locked into a deep arm-triangle choke that had me holding my breath, while a fifth-round kimura mangled his arm into such a horrifying position that there was an audible gasp from the audience when he was able to give the ref the thumbs up before escaping and popping to his feet as fresh as a daisy. I’m sure Henderson – henceforth and forever to be known as Bendo – requires no oxygen and that when he went to the hospital after the fight for x-rays they came back negative because he has no bones.

Of course, Bendo didn’t earn the unanimous decision – one that many believe should have gone in Cerrone’s favour but that was at worst a split decision for Henderson – based on his ability to take a licking and keep on ticking.

The pair traded blows standing throughout, with neither having a clear advantage, while the second and third rounds saw Bendo stand comfortably in Cerrone’s open guard and drop bombs onto his face and chest while only suffering the occasional glancing upkick. Bendo was also able to shoot in and land takedown after takedown after takedown that would have impressed Georges St. Pierre and clearly frustrated the Greg Jackson-trained Cerrone.

The judges all came back with the same score, 48-47, in Bendo’s favour and Cerrone agreed, acknowledging at the post-event press conference, “Some people will say it might have gone the other way, but he definitely won the fight.”

With the win, Henderson moves to 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the WEC. Cerrone drops to 10-2 (3-2 WEC). The win also sets up a WEC lightweight title unification bout with champ Jamie Varner, who’s been sidelined by injuries since he beat Cerrone at WEC 38 but expects to be back as early as December. No word yet on whether Bendo will be ready by then, although I expect not after the beating he took.

Now, I’m not going to go through the remainder of the card fight by fight, but I will discuss a few notables, starting with the featherweight match-up between 4-1 favourite Wagnney Fabiano and WEC newcomer Mackens Semerzier, who took the fight on just two weeks notice.

A preliminary card bout that made the TV broadcast, the fight was the first of the evening to plant my jaw on the floor as the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Fabiano tapped out to a triangle choke at 2:14 of round one against the BJJ purple belt. Fabiano was the IFL’s 145-pound champ and was riding an eight-fight winning streak coming into the night. As my BJJ buddy Gabe pointed out, it was kind of like watching Matt Serra knock out Georges St. Pierre, that’s how stunning an upset it was.

Wrestler and WEC newcomer Dave Jensen earned a unanimous decision over WEC vet Richard Crunkilton in a “Weebles wobble” sort of back-and-forth battle that was the most entertaining fight of the night until the main event. At one point, Jensen survived a near-disastrous arm-triangle choke and then nearly ended it himself with a kimura attempt a few moments later in the third round, and both fighters took punishment that had them dazed on their feet at various times.

And all the David Loiseau-esque spinning back kicks in the world couldn’t help Montreal’s Yves Jabouin get past top-10 featherweight Raphael Assuncao. Assuncao earned a split decision over the flashy WEC first-timer, who displayed an electric stand-up game, with strikes from all angles. But Assuncao was able to stand and trade blows as well as work a smart ground game that included a nearly successful guillotine choke late in the second round.

Here are the full results:

Benson Henderson def. Donald Cerrone via unanimous decision

Dave Jansen def. Rich Crunkilton via unanimous decision

Raphael Assuncao def. Yves Jabouin via split decision

Damacio Page def. Will Campuzano via submission (rear-naked choke) – round 1

Anthony Njokuani def. Muhsin Corbbrey via TKO (strikes) – round 2

Scott Jorgensen def. Noah Thomas via TKO (strikes) – round 1

Mackens Semerzier def. Wagnney Fabiano via submission (triangle choke) – round 1

Eddie Wineland def. Manny Tapia via unanimous decision

Charlie Valencia def. Coty Wheeler via unanimous decision

Deividas Taurosevicius def. Javier Vazquez via split decision