Ben Henderson was crowned the WEC’s interim lightweight champion on Saturday after earning a unanimous decision victory over Donald Cerrone in an instant classic that headlined WEC 43 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
The matchup started with a frenzied pace and rarely slowed, as Cerrone strung together several submissions early in the opening round that appeared close to ending the fight, but Henderson managed to escape and turn the tide with takedowns and ground and pound to steal the frame. Henderson repeated the formula in rounds two and three, escaping more Cerrone submissions while taking the fight to the ground and largely cominating on the canvas.
Cerrone rebounded in the later rounds, shrugging off several takedowns in the fourth while connecting on the feet before finishing strong in the fifth and final round with more striking and several near-submissions.
With Henderson winning the second and third frames, and Cerrone taking the final two, the bout ultimately came down to the opening round and the judges sided unanimously with Henderson’s escapes and ground and pound, earning him 48-47 scores across the board, the interim title, and a future matchup with lightweight champ Jamie Varner.
Henderson improves to 10-1 with his victory in the “Fight of the Year” candidate, while Cerrone falls to 10-2.
The night’s other notable result took place on the preliminary card but made it onto the Versus broadcast, as newcomer Mackens Semerzier upset Wagnney Fabiano, submitting the former IFL featherweight champ with a triangle choke early in the opening round.
Dave Jansen, Raphael Assuncao, and Damacio Page also picked up main card wins, while Anthony Njokuani, Scott Jorgensen, Eddie Wineland, Charlie Valencia, and Deividas Taurosevicius were victorious on the WEC 43 prelims.
The official results for WEC 43 were:
- Ben Henderson def. Donald Cerrone via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
- Dave Jansen def. Rich Crunkilton via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Raphael Assuncao def. Yves Jabouin via split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28)
- Damacio Page def. Will Campuzano via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 1:02
- Anthony Njokuani def. Mushin Corbbrey via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 1:24
- Scott Jorgensen def. Noah Thomas via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:13
- Mackens Semerzier def. Wagnney Fabiano via submission (triangle choke) — Round 1, 2:14
- Eddie Wineland def. Manny Tapia via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Charlie Valencia def. Coty Wheeler via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Deividas Taurosevicius def. Javier Vazquez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
For the latest WEC news and WEC rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Pictured: Ben Henderson
Latest
Gratz to Henderson, and cheers to the WEC for putting on a he11a good show.
Aside from the ruination [for me] of Fabiano getting hooked, this card had winner all over it.
Have to wonder how much longer we’re going to be seeing the WEC brand, or how long until Mike Brown is declared the first UFC 145 champion…
;)
makes sense that the ufc might pull a merger, i know they are both owned by zuffa or whatever, but the ufc should consider absorbing the WEC’s roster.
considering how the ufc wants to put on a event every 30 days or less and they are running out of matchups.
i would love to see aldo and faber at 155, dare i say aldo-huerta, aldo-gray, faber-huerta, faber-diego? oops, i did.
no more mergers! i want more championships from different leagues, then a super-championship, pride vs ufc etc…
o, wait, there is no pride :-(
dream vs wec vs IFL vs ufc, etc.
how about going international!
UFC should challenge champions of some other country, russia or
brasil vale tudo champ.
i think its a great idea.
You don’t pay attention do you? If you did, you would have known two years ago that there is absolutely no chance of the UFC putting one of it’s champions against a champion from another promotion, unless they are signed with the UFC.
does anyone else think cowboy did enough to earn that victory or is it just me?
well i had henderson winning the first 3 rounds and losing 4 and 5. i heard both Frank and Todd giving round 1 to cowboy. So you’re not alone.
I had ben winning the fight. Cowboy needs some serious takedown defense training. It has been kryptonite for a while. If he could have kept it on his feet we would see a different champ. So no, i dont think that he did enough
I don’t think he did, and neither does he, so there ya go.
I really hope they do the Varner vs. Henderson fight in Phoenix. I’ve only really been into MMA for about four years now but as far as I can remember there has not been a big show here and I know there are a ton of fans in Phoenix. Not to mention some pretty good fighters.
Sounds like it was great card,must have been nice to watch it.Must have been comcastic.I’m a little bitter.Thinking about switching from direct tv to comcast for versus alone….Oh and hockey.
People need to back off the fight of the year BS.
This was NOT fight of the year.
what fight is fight of the year in your opinion lanny? im curious.
i think the nate quarry-tim credeur fight was fight of the year so far. this fight [henderson-cerrone] is 2nd or 3rd.
Well I understand most people have a tendency to pick what’s freshest in their mind, but my pick would be a fight that was all the back on Jan.4th Jorge Santiago and Kazuo Misaki that was the best of the year so far.
After that probably Diego/Guida & Smith/Radach. Also like the Kitaoka/Hirota fight.
What about Faber v. Brown 2, that was a pretty decent fight, too.
Cowboy took 1,4,5!! I have a great deal of respect for henderson,but Cowboy won this fight!!!!
i agree..i think round 1 could of gone either way. 2&3 to henderson and 4&5 were cowboy’s. either way i think henderson or cerrone will destroy varner and that’s all i want to see! great fight
Round 1 is definitely the deciding round, and could go either way. Watching the event live, I scored round 1 for Henderson, I haven’t rewatched the fight yet, though. I feel like you have to count sub escapes for something, not as much as sub attempts, but they still count for something. So you have Henderson’s escapes, plus winning the rest of the round and he gets round 1 in my opinion.
Just re watched the first round, and I still give it to Henderson. First 1:35 goes to Cerrone, from 3:25-2:35 was very little action, then around 2:35 Henderson shot for a takedown, worked until he got it, and pretty much controlled the rest of the round while Cerrone did very little off his back.
Cowboy had Henderson in danger several times. He put him in several tight submissions and also stunned him three or four times with big shots.
Henderson controlled rounds two and three but never had Cowboy in danger from either submissions or strikes.
Cowboy also finished much stronger and took the last two rounds.
In a close fight, I have to give the nod to the guy who actually puts the other guy in danger and who would probably win if the fight kept going — in both cases that was Cowboy. Plus I gave him rounds 1,4, and 5.
I didn’t agree with the decision. Great fight, but Henderson didn’t do enough to overcome the subs and the number of times he got stunned from shots. Plus his shots looked desperate and ineffective the last two rounds.
i think cerrone won this fight. But it doesnt matter what i think the judges thought different. honestly throughout the fight it looked as if henderson was out 5 different times. and both his shoulders looked liked they poped out. gotta give props for surviving
I’m glad that Henderson won because he’s one of my WEC fav’s.
-I knew that Cerrone was in danger of overlooking Henderson because of all the talk between him and Varner. Henderson IMO is a better fighter than Jamie Varner and i knew if Cerrone didn’t take him seriously which i think he didn’t Cerrone would lose.
-The first round i gave it to Henderson, i know that sub attempts count for something but you have to think that in a title fight when a guys is almost 99% of tapping and gets out of a sub the way Henderson did and still ends up winning the round, you have to think that the judges take that into account. Yes Cerrone attempted subs but from his back and remember that the fact that Henderson was on top makes a big difference in the score cards.
-Round two for sure went to Henderson and in that round i felt that a few times if Henderson would have been more agressive he could have problably scored a ref stoppage when he was in the gurad postured up dropping punches, if he would have unleashed a flurry of punches connecting or not connecting it still would have looked better in the eyes of the ref to stop the fight IMO.
-I think that Cerrone edged’d out round 4 but round 3 went to Henderson. Henderson proved that he is a super tough and well conditioned guy and as much as i am not a fan of the Cowboy the dude also showed why he’s at the top in the WEC’s 155 division and showed well rounded skills for a guy that is known for his stand-up, you would have thought that his strong side is his sub game.
This fight really delivered and was a very entertaining back and forth fight, a lot better than what i expected but just as good as i hoped for.
I think that this fight give Ben Henderson all the momentum and motivation in the world and Jamie Varner being rusty and having that long layoff combined with the dismay of fans and other fighters combined with the pressure to defend his title against a young and very skilled not to mention incredible conditioned athlete like Henderson will overwhelm Varner come fight time IMO. Varner is a very good wrestler with the addition of having decent stand-up with ko power but if this turns into a wrestling match than i give the edge to Henderson because the dude is stronger more explosive and not only can escape subs but is more conditioned than Varner and add the ring rust that Varner will have that night i would be very impressed and surprised if not only Varner wins but somehow finishes Henderson which i think is possible but unlikely.
Great night of fights, i was just surprised that Wagnney Fabiano got “Paul Dalye’d” and lost the way he did but great fights though.
I agree with my boys jcohl and BigChris2328 about the WEC merging with the UFC, hopefully that will be something we see next year!
Just as an FYI, for all of you who felt that Cerrone won this fight, the man himself issued a statement saying that in HIS opinion, Henderson earned that decision…