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

MMAFrenzy.com will have live results from the WEC 43 preliminary card beginning at approximately 7pm ET, followed by live updates from the Versus-televised main card at 10pm.

Discuss the event in the comments below, follow along with our live results, and stop back after the fights conclude for post-event coverage.

WEC 43 LIVE RESULTS

• 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)*

* Decision was met with boos from the crowd and many observers scored the fight in favor of Vazquez.

Click here for more WEC 43 coverage.

Cerrone (154.4) and Henderson (155) meet for the WEC interim lightweight title in the WEC 43 main event, which airs live tomorrow on Versus.

The official weigh-in results for WEC 43 were:

• Donald Cerrone (154.5) vs. Benson Henderson (155)
• Rich Crunkilton (156) vs. Dave Jansen (156)
• Raphael Assuncao (146) vs. Yves Jabouin (146)
• Damacio Page (136) vs. Will Campuzano (135)
• Anthony Njokuani (156) vs. Mushin Corbbrey (156)
• Noah Thomas (136) vs. Scott Jorgensen (136)
• Mackens Semerzier (146) vs. Wagnney Fabiano (145.5)
• Manny Tapia (135.5) vs. Eddie Wineland (135.5)
• Cody “Ox” Wheeler (135) vs. Charlie Valencia (134.5)
• Javier Vazquez (145) vs. Deividas Taurosevicius (144.5)

Ratings for the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter 10 dropped 29 percent to 2.9 million from the series record 4.1 million who tuned in for the TUF 10 debut. [Spike TV]

Pictured: Anderson Silva

A veteran of TKO and a former UFC fighter, Hominick (16-8), who fights out of Xtreme Couture in London, Ontario, last fought in the WEC in February 2008, suffering a first-round submission to Josh Grispi, but rebounded with a second-round armbar submission of Trenell Young in his Affliction debut last July. Taurosevicius (10-3) is an IFL veteran who had won six-straight bouts before suffering a decision loss to Ryan Schultz in his most-recent fight in May 2008.

Corbbrey (8-3) had won three-straight fights since suffering a loss to Jim Miller in August 2006, but was defeated by Nick Diaz in EliteXC last May in latest matchup. Njokuani (10-2) lost to lightweight contender Ben Henderson in his WEC debut in January, but bounced back with a second-round TKO of Bart Palaszewski in April.

WEC 43 is headlined by an interim lightweight championship bout between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson. Click here to check out the rumored fight card for WEC 43.

• The MMAFrenzy.com rumors section has been completely updated. [MMAFrenzy.com/rumors]
• UFC fighters Rousimar Palhares and Thiago Tavares are likely to return in the fall from injuries. [MMAjunkie]
• With just one fight remaining on his current contract, Rich Franklin is ready to renegotiate with the UFC before his next fight. [MMAjunkie]
• Roger Gracie will make his Strikeforce debut against an opponent to-be-named at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg on August 15.
• Featherweight contender Wagnney Fabiano will fight at WEC 43 on September 2 in Youngstown, Ohio. An opponent has not yet been set. [MMAjunkie]
• Bobby Lashley will next fight in September. [MMA Fanhouse]
• Gilbert Yvel vs. Paul Buentello has officially been added to the fight card for Affliction: Trilogy.
• Heavyweight veteran Jeff Monson has signed with Ohio-based NAAFS and will debut against Tony Sylvester at Rock N Rumble III at the Nautica Pavilion in Cleveland.
• A timetable for UFC heavyweight Heath Herring’s return has not yet been set. [MMAjunkie]
• Middleweight Rob Kimmons has signed a new four-fight contract with the UFC. [MMAjunkie]
• Mark Hominick vs. Deividas Taurosevicius and LC Davis vs. Javier Vazquez have been booked for the HDNet-televised “Affliction: Trilogy” preliminary card
• Weigh-ins for UFC 100 will take place on Friday, July 10 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, the same venue which will host the July 11 pay-per-view event. (Note: MMAFrenzy.com will be providing a live stream of the weigh-ins)
• WEC lightweight contender and former champion Rob McCullough is likely to return in the “late fall” [MMAjunkie]
• Diego Sanchez will get the next lightweight title shot against the winner of the August 8 matchup between BJ Penn and Kenny Florian. [Yahoo! Sports]
• Ticket sales for UFC 101 on August 8 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia have surpassed 14,000 for a Pennsylviania record-breaking $3+ million live gate. [MMAjunkie]
• Strikeforce will hold a press conference for the promotion’s August 15 matchup between Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos on July 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
• Luiz Cane wants to fight Rich Franklin. [MMAjunkie]
• UFC heavyweight Antoni Hardonk thwarts a robbery in LA. [Yahoo! Sports]

[Pictured: Rich Franklin]

Note: Items without bracketed-links ([]) have either been officially announced or confirmed by MMAFrenzy.com

Trilogy is headlined by a heavyweight matchup between top-ranked Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett.

Also confirmed for the pay-per-view main card are Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato Sobral, Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago, and Paul Daley vs. Jay Hieron, as well as Paul Buentello, who is expected to take on the winner of a June 27 bout between Pedro Rizzo and Gilbert Yvel.

The fight card for Trilogy currently features:

PAY-PER-VIEW CARD

• Fedor Emelianenko (c) vs. Josh Barnett
  WAMMA Heavyweight Championship
• Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral
• Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago
• Paul Buentello vs. Gilbert Yvel-Pedro Rizzo winner*
• Paul Daley vs. Jay Hieron

HDNET CARD

• Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon
• Ben Rothwell vs. Chase Gormley
• Deividas Taurosevicius vs. TBA
• Brett Cooper vs. Akbarh Arreola*
• Mark Hominick vs. TBA*

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Lucio Linhares vs. Mikhail Zayats
• Rob Broughton vs. Jessie Gibbs

* Not officially announced

Nelson started with a blitz of punches right at the start of the first round which Imes was able to recover briefly. Nelson finished the bout with a crunching series of blows for the quick KO.

Schultz and Taurosevicius battled hard, with both surviving near-submissions and solid strikes. Ultimately, Schultz claimed the unanimous decision.

Miller’s was a quick finish, after an exciting first three minutes of the first round in which both competitors maintained a high-energy pace. Miller caught McGivern in a kneebar to win his first title.

The preliminary bouts featured athletes from four MMA camps, including Team Quest, Team Bombsquad, World Class Fight Center and Team Prodigy. Lightweight John Franchi (Cortland, N.Y.) of Bombsquad got the night off to an exciting start with a first-round submission victory over Frank Latina (Middletown, Conn.). Team Quest’s Aaron Stark (Portland, Ore.) then scored a unanimous decision over Bombsquad’s Lamont Lister (Philadelphia) in a light heavyweight bout. John Howard (Boston) then knocked out Nick Calandrino (Emerson, N.J.) of Bombsquad with a third-round flurry of strikes in an entertaining matchup of welterweights.

The second set of preliminary bouts began with Matt Horwich (Portland, Ore.) of Team Quest recording a unanimous decision over Joey Guel (Oregon) in a middleweight matchup. Josh Souder (Mason, Ohio) of Team Prodigy then wrapped up a quick TKO over Team Quest’s Zac George (Norman, Okla.), before World Class Fight Center’s Danillo Villefort (Pompano Beach, Fla.) scored a first-round submission victory via kneebar over Mike Massenzio (Paterson, N.J.) of Bombsquad.

The IFL’s next scheduled event is set for August 15 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., when it will unveil its new six-sided ring surface, dubbed “The Hex.”

For complete results from the event CLICK HERE.

• Ryan Schultz (154) vs. Deividas Taurosevicius (154)
• Roy Nelson (264.2) vs. Brad Imes (249.2)
• Ryan McGivern (181.2) vs. Dan Miller (180.5)

PRELIMINARY BOUTS

• Mike Massenzio (185.2) vs. Danillo Villefort (184.7)
• Zac George (155.2) vs. Josh Souder (155.2)
• Matt Horwich (185.7) vs. Joey Guel (185.5)
• Nick Calandrino (170) vs. John Howard (170.5)
• Lamont Lister (205.2) vs. Aaron Stark (205.7)
• John Franchi (155) vs. Frank Latina (152)