Rarely does one wish a five round MMA bout went seven rounds. That was the case at the conclusion of the main event for the interim lightweight title at WEC 43 in San Antonio.
Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Ben "Smooth" Henderson slugged it out and displayed a captivating exhibition of submission fighting in a war sold to fans as an MMA bout.
Fortunately, I was there to cover the event for The News, in what many MMA outlets and even ESPN are calling the fight of the year thus far. It's too bad the event coincided with last week's LSU vs. Florida and Texas vs. Colorado college football games.
Fans who missed the fight can watch re-airs on Versus several times in the coming weeks (TWC 77,
Dish 151).
I had Cerrone winning the first, fourth, and fifth rounds with Henderson winning the second and third. The judges saw if differently, as Henderson was awarded the decision victory with all three judges giving him the first three rounds and Cerrone the last two.
Despite the loss, Cerrone was in good spirits at the post-fight press conference. He knew he participated in something special after seeing the standing ovation from fans at the AT&T; Center.
Henderson was not able to make the press conference because he required further medical examination. His smile might have been bigger than Cerrone's when it was not only announced that they made fight of the night, but the WEC brass doubled their bonus because it was such an extraordinary bout.
The Cerrone-Henderson bout demonstrates yet again that fights of the
year tend to come from lower weight classes. One can look at recent
MMA history and see this.
In 2007, the lightweight battle between Roger "El Matador" Huerta and Clay "The Carpenter" Guida is often referred to as being one of the best fights of that year, if not the best. Other lightweight bouts that year including Roger Huerta vs. Leonard "Bad Boy" Garcia at UFC 69 in Houston and Clay Guida vs. Tyson Griffin at UFC 72 are often brought up in the discussion.
In 2008 two fights stand above all others: The WEC 34 Miguel Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda bantamweight showdown and the DREAM 3 Eddie Alvarez vs. Joachim Hansen lightweight grand prix affair.
It seems that the endless energy associated with these lighter weight classes leads to breathtaking fights.
Another notable bout from WEC 43 included an incredible upset. WEC newcomer, Mackens Semerzier beat world top five featherweight, Wagnney Fabiano at his own game. Semerzier secured a triangle choke on the Jiu-Jitsu black belt, forcing him to tap.
Along with Semerzier, another fighter to look out for is bantamweight, Damacio Page. The New Mexico native has fought well in neighboring Texas with victories at WEC 39 in Corpus Christi and WEC 43 in San Antonio.
At WEC 39 in Corpus, Urijah Faber got more applause than any fighter, and he didn't even fight at that event. Well, at WEC 43 the appearance of another fighter who didn't fight that night garnered the most fanfare.
Fresh off the Dancing with the Stars set entered UFC legend, Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell and his dancing partner, Anna Trebunskaya. No, they didn't dance, although that week on the show they performed a Two- Step which would have worked with the Texas crowd. Instead they met fans and enjoyed cage-side seats.
Along with Chuck Liddell appearing on DWTS, there is another sign of mixed martial arts joining mainstream culture. A brand new Simpsons episode last week was entirely dedicated to the sport. Marge Simpson participated in an MMA bout, secured an armbar, and even called for her opponent to tap out. I was as pleasantly surprised and amused to see this submission as I was Semerzier's on Fabiano.
There's one more thing to note this week. This Saturday night UFC 104 will be held at The Staples Center in Los Angeles. The main event features a title bout between Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Machida will be looking to successfully defend the UFC light heavyweight belt, something no one has been able to do for two years in this stacked division.
The Dragon has declared to the world that karate is back, but much more will be needed to show it's here to stay.
David Estrada Jr. is a Mixed Martial Arts columnist for the Port Arthur News. He can be e-mailed at
DavidEstrada@DavidEstrada.com
