Well that doesn't look too bad after --- Gaaaaaaaaaah...
The WEC showcased once again why it deserves to stick around Saturday night with yet another superb headline fight. The Benson Henderson/Donald Cerrone scrap was another in a long line of stellar battles, but probably the first one not taking place in the bantam/flyweight divisions in a while (discounting Cerrone/Varner from last year). There's no doubt this was a war where both fighters improved their stock, but some controversy has come up regarding the decision.
After escaping at least five deep submission attempts that seemed destined to make him tap, Henderson was declared the winner on all three cards, 48-47, through use of controlling wrestling and strong striking from the top. Many experts, such as the boys over at Sherdog, had the fight the other way for Cerrone. In all cases, the consensus seems to be that Henderson clearly won rounds 2 & 3, while Cerrone took the championship rounds (4 & 5). The cause of the controversy is the opening stanza, which was not only evenly contested, but difficult to score due to the difference in styles between the two fighters.
Ben Henderson, shown here not tapping, in what would be a theme for the night.
The round started with a missed kick and slip by Cerrone, which opened the door for attack. Henderson, however, overzealously rushed in and left him self open for a tight guillotine. Cerrone held this for about a minute before transitioning to a triangle choke that, while not terribly deep, could have been enough to drop a potentially gassed opponent. The only problem is that Henderson wasn't gassed, and after punching his way out of the hold, bounced to his feet looking as fresh as when the round started, despite having spent the solid part of two minutes being choked. He then took Cerrone down and controlled him from the top for the last 2 minutes of the round, squashing any offense or escape attempts Cerrone attempted. Judges, and the folks over at BloodyElbow, presumably scored the round 10-9 for Henderson, while others gave Cerrone the 10-9 edge. This would be a deciding factor in a fight that many scored 38-38 afterwards.
Some will point to the fact that Cerrone's submissions won the round for him. At no point did Ben Henderson have a shot of ending this fight in the first round, while Cerrone made it look like the fight would be over within 2 minutes via tapout. However, Henderson never appeared remotely concerned with the submission attempts, as even when his neck was in a tight guillotine, he calmly and slowly worked his way out and back to his feet. This was a recurring theme of the night, as Henderson often found his arms being put in directions not meant for human limbs, but calmly escaping rather than tapping.
Flash back between this picture and the one above for 25 mins, and you have a pretty good idea of how the fight went...
After Cerrone failed to get the tap, he was controlled by Henderson, who rained down blows on his opponent. In this, Henderson showed to be slightly more effective in the round than Cerrone. While the submission attempts scored points, they proved no more effective than a wrestler taking down an opponent and working his lay'n'pray. When Henderson got out, he controlled Cerrone in a less dominant fashion, but was able to inflict a little more damage with his strikes. As a result, it appeared that Henderson was the more effective fighter in Round 1, and deserving of the 10-9 nod.
However, it's easy to see how the round could be looked at differently. The subjectivity ofscoring is one of the great things about MMA - how do you score a submission attempt vs. effective punches? Ground'n'pound vs. leg kicks? Takedowns vs. offense from the guard? Henderson/Cerrone is a great example of this, and the discussion it raises is one of the better aspects of MMA, even if fighters occasionally get screwed as a result.
So where does the WEC go from here? It has lost its biggest potential lightweight bout in a rematch between hated rivals Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone, at least for a few months. That fight would have been the easiest to sell, but I think the outcome of Saturday night's fight helps the WEC in the long run. Henderson gets promoted to top tier status, and he shouldn't be too hard to sell. He's an interesting guy who can sell an interview, and his walkout music has been "Our God (Is an Awesome God)." Since the two have trained together in the past, there are a lot of different ways to frame the kid and make his title unification fight with Varner a big deal. You know, if Varner is actually healthy in the near future. To be fair, he'll have more time to recover as Henderson will need time to recover from his injuries sustained in this fight.
As for Cerrone? He'll probably get a mid level up and comer (maybe Shane Roller?) in his next fight, and a deserved shot at the belt if he wins. That title shot will be a big money card for the WEC - either the Cerrone/Varner deathmatch everyone had been hoping for, or a rematch of last Saturday's potential Fight of the Year. At any rate, the WEC is in a good position, providing the UFC doesn't fold them first.
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