WEC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz scored a split decision over challenger Joseph Benavidez on Wednesday to retain the 135-pound title in the main event of WEC 50 in Las Vegas.
Both fighters ended up bloodied after going toe-to-toe for much of the 25-minute headliner, but Cruz’s reach and takedowns proved to be the difference in earning a split decision with scores of 47-48, 48-47, and 49-46.
The WEC 50 co-main event saw lightweight contender Anthony Pettis stuff the takedowns of Shane Roller to keep the fight on their feet, where he connected with strikes before finally forcing Roller to tap to a triangle choke with just 9-seconds left in the bout.
In other WEC 50 action, Scott Jorgensen likely earned the next shot at the bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Brad Pickett, featherweight Chad Mendes remained unbeaten with a unanimous decision over Cub Swanson, and lightweight Bart Palaszewski scored a second-round TKO of Zach Micklewright.
The official WEC 50 results were:
MAIN CARD (Versus)
- Champ Dominick Cruz def. Joseph Benavidez via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 49-46)
WEC Bantamweight Championship - Anthony Pettis def. Shane Roller via submission (triangle choke) – Round 3, 4:51
- Chad Mendes def. Cub Swanson via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28
- Scott Jorgensen def. Brad Pickett via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Bart Palaszewski def. Zach Micklewright via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 0:31
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Maciej Jewtuszko def. Anthony Njokuani via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:35
- Javier Vazquez def. Mackens Semerzier via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:35
- Ricardo Lamas def. Dave Jansen via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Fredson Paixao def. Bryan Caraway via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Danny Castillo def. Dustin Poirier via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
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Pictured: Dominick Cruz
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I wanted Jorgensen to win but I seriously thought Pickett deserved the win and his boxing looked way better than expected
how do you think Picket won then.. Scottie landed cleaner shots and had better position every time it went to the ground.. not sure of your logic, but i woulod like to know
I had the Jorgenson-Pickett fight 29-28 Pickett myself. I had the first 10-9 bc Pickett had a knockdown at the beginning. The second was eitherway in my opinion. Pickett’s striking may not have hit more often but it did stop a lot of Jorgenson’s set-ups for takedowns and to me that counts as cage control. Plus, he stuffed one takedown and then worked an escape on the successful takedown. I’ll admit it was a coin-flip but I went with Pickett on the first view. The third was admittedly all Jorgenson. Seeing the fight again I still could go either way on the second round.
Started watchin rite as this dec was bein given. As chrisl explains it, it sounds pretty normal for Jorgensen, he usually starts slow then really builds up steam in the 3rd
I want to know who which judge gave the fight to benavidez so I can ask him for some of the drugs he/she was on when the saw the fight last night. Cruz won that fight without a doubt and it should have been unanimous.
Cruz is young, in shape, talented and he11a weird looking when he fights. I think the way to stop his movement is to simply attack him and push the pace on him. SOmehting benavidez probably regrets not doing. I’m glad cruz won, he’s a good champ.
FOTN was no doubt jorgensen vs pickett. That was a great fight!
I can’t wait to see pettis vs henderson
Remember, the scores are handed in after each round. And you can’t go back and change your mind on it after you’ve seen the rest of the fight. Benavidez did a lot of stuffing takedowns and had some really solid shots and somewhat controlled the fight. I thought the first round could have been given to Benavidez. And I think Cruz only absolutely controlled one or two rounds. There were three that you could make a case for Benavidez winning.
that’s a good point bsbiz
but IMHO i just think cruz clearly won rounds 1,4 and 5 with the takedowns and that’s not including that rounds 2 and 4 could have also been given to him. Just thought it was a unanimous decision.
I wasn’t aware of the fact that the judges turn in the score after every round. I think that’s great that way they can just go round by round which is the way it should be.
Which is why you get some odd results like that sometimes. You can make cases for a few rounds, which could lead to a split decision. In the end, close rounds can go either way, and many of those rounds were really close. In the end, the right man won, and that is the most important thing.
Another amazing WEC card, these guys do not disappoint. Have never finished a WEC card and went meh. Scotty gettin a title shot is awesome. Pickett will easily bounce back and be in title contention soon. Pettis man, that dude keeps getting better and better. To be able to stuff and take down a former 3-time All-American from Ok State is pretty amazing. Looking forward to WEC 51.
WEC always has great fights.
The Pettis fight was great. I wish they would show some replays of those crazy kicks, like when he touched the ground and kicked in the back of his head.
The Chad Mendes / Cub Swanson was very disappointing. Talk about “Lay and Pray.” I know wrestling is a big part of MMA but damn! Was he waiting for the ref to start counting? Then Mendes has the nerve to talk about his stand-up after the fight.
Of course I’m a little biased, rooting for So Cal. If it was the way around, I’d be all about the Octagon control playing to the opp. weakness.
The Jorgensen fight was awesome. It’s up the with the Garcia/Chang Son Yung fight. Pettis looked great! He’s a well rounded fighter especially for how young he is. The training he did with Ben Askren
really paid off for him.