The Weekly Wrap: Oct. 10 - Oct. 16

The Weekly Wrap walks readers through the last seven days in MMA, recapping and putting into context the week's top story, important news and notable quotes.

Top Story

In a frontrunner for “Fight of the Year,” surging lightweight Benson Henderson preempted a grudge rematch between World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone by taking a unanimous decision victory over Cerrone at WEC 43 on Oct. 10 in San Antonio.

The victory earned Henderson the WEC interim title and a fight against Varner, who drew vociferous boos from the live crowd every time his face was shown on the arena’s big screen. The showdown with Varner was originally targeted for a Dec. 19 show in Arizona, but Henderson’s camp requested the bout be held off until January due to injuries he suffered.

Henderson vs. Cerrone was a close, action-packed bout that earned both principals $20,000 “Fight of the Night” bonuses, an amount Zuffa officials increased from the originally allotted $10,000 because of the hard-fought nature of the contest. Both fighters executed concerted flurries of offense at different points in the 25-minute match, with the first round looking to be the deciding factor. Cerrone sunk several close submission attempts in that frame, while Henderson kept Cerrone pinned on his back for a good portion of the round, dropping some heavy punches while standing inside his guard.

Cerrone had great difficulty battling back from Henderson’s dogged takedowns and remarkable resilience until the fourth frame, when “Cowboy” seemed to find his rhythm, beat Henderson to the punch and stayed out of compromising positions. Cerrone cranked Henderson’s arm at stomach-churning angles in a dominant fifth round. Henderson indicated after the fight that he was badly dehydrated from a poor weight cut and required emergency room treatment and an IV following the bout. He also suffered a left eye injury.

The verdict was left to interpretation. Three official judges scored it unanimously for Henderson, with all three giving him rounds one, two and three for a 48-47 nod. Meanwhile, three Sherdog.com judges scored it unanimously for Cerrone, giving him rounds one, four and five. The outcome sparked debate about the weight submission attempts should carry in a judging context. Cerrone did not dispute the decision in post-fight remarks.

The bout headlined another lineup of solid MMA output by the WEC, which now enters a one-show-a-month slate through 2010, with a shift to pay-per-view planned. WEC 43 drew a small crowd of 5,176 to the AT&T Center in San Antonio. The show was originally set for Youngstown, Ohio, but was moved due to an undisclosed injury to Henderson.

As watchable as its fights were, WEC 43 did not put up high television ratings. The event drew an average of 419,000 viewers on Versus, down from 670,000 for WEC 42, headlined by Miguel Torres vs. Brian Bowles in August.

It was the first WEC event since DirecTV dropped the Comcast-owned Versus network last month over a rights fee dispute. The WEC re-aired the Cerrone vs. Henderson fight on its Web site. While the WEC lost millions of DirecTV homes, about seven percent of its potential audience, it also gained millions of homes on the Dish Network, which recently picked up Versus.

In his WEC debut, undefeated former University of Oregon wrestler Dave Jansen made a case for being at the top of the promotion’s lightweight mix. He edged out a split decision win over grizzled veteran Rich Crunkilton, who fought for the first time in 18 months after recovering from injuries. Team Quest’s Jansen traded wrestling scrambles and submission attempts with the UFC veteran in the first round and resorted to holding top positions and takedowns as he tired down the stretch. The bout was clouded by some absurdly quick stand-ups by referee Jon Schorle, who failed to notice a clean knee to Crunkilton’s groin in the second round.

Two of the WEC’s top featherweight talents, Raphael Assuncao and Wagnney Fabiano, went in drastically different directions after their performances. Assuncao kept a solid pace in outpointing Tri-Star fighter Yves Jabouin, while Fabiano was tapped out in a frontrunner for “Upset of the Year.” Mackens Semerzier, 28, a late replacement, submitted the Nova Uniao black belt and third-ranked featherweight with a triangle choke in the first round. He caught Fabiano attempting to descend into his guard while stacking Semerizer against the fence. The Miguel Torres-trained Semerzier notched the win and a $10,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus in only his fourth professional fight.

Also picking up wins at WEC 43 were Damacio Page (first-round rear-naked choke over Will Campuzano); Scott Jorgensen (round one technical knockout over Noah Thomas); Deividas Taurosevicius (split decision over Javier Vazquez); Charlie Valencia (unanimous decision over Coty Wheeler), Eddie Wineland (unanimous decision over Manny Tapia); and Anthony Njokuani (second-round TKO of Muhsin Corbbrey). Njokuani’s right hand and ground-and-pound won him the “Knockout of the Night” bonus.