WEC 43 - Cerrone vs. Henderson

This Saturday's WEC 43 in San Antonio, TX (at 10 PM ET on Versus) features the headline caste-matchup of Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone vs. "afflete" Ben Henderson for the WEC (interim) Lightweight title. The winner will face current champ Jamie Varner once he's medically able to fight again. Here's the full card...

Main Card

Interim Lightweight Championship bout: Donald Cerrone vs. Ben Henderson
Lightweight bout: Richard Crunkilton vs. Dave Jansen
Featherweight bout: Rafael Assuncao vs. Yves Jabouin
Bantamweight bout: Damacio Page vs. Will Campuzano


Undercard

Lightweight bout: Anthony Njokuani vs. Muhsin Corbbrey
Bantamweight bout: Scott Jorgensen vs. Noah Thomas
Featherweight bout: Wagnney Fabiano vs. Mackens Semerzier
Bantamweight bout: Eddie Wineland vs. Manny Tapia
Bantamweight bout: Charlie Valencia vs. Coty Wheeler
Featherweight bout: Javier Vazquez vs. Deividas Taurosevicius

***I'll be pulling for Cerrone, Assuncao (White Brazilian vs. "afflete" Jabouin), Thomas, Wineland & Taurosevicius.


Sherdog's WEC 43 Preview

Cerrone takes this easily.

Liverlips said:

Cerrone takes this easily.

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Really? I hope that's the case. Henderson was rocked early in his last fight against Shane Roller but came back and tko'd him. It should be a great fight. I'll be rooting for Cowboy.

cerrone lost via unanimous decision.

Highly controversial decision. All the judges of Sherdog.com had Cerrone winning. Here are there scores:

Jordan Breen scores the round 10-8 Cerrone (48-46 Cerrone).
Brian Knapp scores the round 10-9 Cerrone (48-47 Cerrone).
Mike Fridley scores the round 10-8 Cerrone (48-46 Cerrone).


Cerrone clearly lost rounds 2 and 4, but almost everyone gives him every other round and a 10-8 possibility for round 5. This was a highway robbery, similar to Bisping-Hamill maybe even worse

I agree. I felt that the Cowboy pulled it off. It was tied 2-2 going into the 5th round and Donald completely dominated that round. The judges are dumb as hell.

In my 2+ years on CF, I've read over and over again - "Whites dominate MMA. Whites dominate MMA. Whites dominate MMA. Whites dominate MMA."

I was quite skeptical. I didn't automatically become a part of the herd; I had to see if that was indeed true or not. I think it's acknowledged that Chuck Liddell wasn't all that special, no where near the best that the Race could produce, but he was supposed to be the appetizer that would give way to an era of even greater White warriors? That was the hope. Sadly, disappointment after disappointment has followed. I give Liddell credit for brawling (something some Whites are reluctant to do), but he really did need a stronger back/upper body. FEED the man!

What continues to happen is the complete opposite of "Whites dominate MMA." Wishing something to be true doesn't make it true. We can all dream about the baddest White men, with TRUE killer instinct (a rare quality), entering MMA -- but that doesn't appear to be the reality right now. If you're going to enter MMA in the youtube/multiculti age, you better have killer instinct or why get involved at all? You win some, you lose some, but be a veritable lion. Build-up your shoulders' and back.

Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to play organized sports when I was diagnosed with a heart condition at 15. If you're a FULLY HEALTHY White man, seize the damn moment.

Cerrone did lose, and he lost because he was reluctant to brawl. If the GREAT WHITE ERA ever comes to fruition, I will believe it then but I'm afraid more PAIN is just around the corner. We continue to lose to opponents that are beatable and that aren't really on a higher rung of the genetic ladder; It's really frustrating. Let the flaming begin...

strange very strange, non-whites will never dominate mma, never.

Cerrone was ripped off! He won the 1st, 4th & 5th rounds with striking & sub attempts. I will say Donald needs to improve his takedown defense. He was overconfident in his ground game (like against Varner), but couldn't finish the subs. A healthy Varner gets his strap back.

DL, I understand your frustration partner. However, look at all the dominant White fighters like Fedor, GSP, Lesnar, Brown & Bowles. In terms of champions, Whites hold the most belts. Fedor is as dominant of an MMA fighter there's ever been (despite the caste hype of Silva as "best P4P"). Of course there's good non-White fighters, but the majority of top fighters are White.

Fyi, here's the WEC 43 full results...

Main Card

* Interim Lightweight Championship bout: United States Donald Cerrone vs. United States Ben Henderson

Henderson defeated Cerrone via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) to become the WEC Interim Lightweight Champion.

* Lightweight bout: United States Richard Crunkilton vs. United States Dave Jansen

Jansen defeated Crunkilton via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

* Featherweight bout: Brazil Rafael Assuncao vs. Canada Yves Jabouin

(White Brazilian) Assuncao defeated Jabouin via split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28).

* Bantamweight bout: United States Damacio Page vs. United States Will Campuzano

Page defeated Campuzano via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:02 of round 1.

Undercard

* Lightweight bout: United States Anthony Njokuani vs. United States Muhsin Corbbrey

Njokuani defeated Corbbrey via KO (punches) at 1:42 of round 2.

* Bantamweight bout: United States Scott Jorgensen vs. United States Noah Thomas

Jorgensen defeated Thomas via KO (punches) at 3:13 of round 1.

* Featherweight bout: Brazil Wagnney Fabiano vs. United States Mackens Semerzier

Semerzier defeated Fabiano via submission (triangle choke) at 2:14 of round 1.

* Bantamweight bout: United States Eddie Wineland vs. United States Manny Tapia

Wineland defeated Tapia via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

* Bantamweight bout: United States Charlie Valencia vs. United States Coty Wheeler

Valencia defeated Wheeler via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

* Featherweight bout: United States Javier Vazquez vs. Lithuania Deividas Taurosevicius

Taurosevicius defeated Vazquez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).

It was a very entertaining fight which Cerrone clearly won on points to anybody objective that watched it. I hope these MMA judges don't get as bad as the boxing judges but it may have already happened.

Deadlift why do you bring the same topic up every single time a white fighter loses? In fighting there is no guaranteed 100% winner. You lose some you win some. Right now i would say whites win about every 7\10 fights against other races. Ya Chuck Liddel slipped a lot in recent years and has lost to black opponnents, same with Forrest. But no black man will come close to stopping GSP and Fedor is going to dismantle Rodgers. Have confidence buddy.

When you take into account that even BJ Penn and Lyoto Machida are half-white, Anderson Silva is technically the only MMA champion who does not have a White parent. Saying Whites dominate MMA may be an exagerration, but they're the most successful relative to the other races. Similar to boxing. It's not about winning every single fight, it's about whose at the top with the most titles.

Btw I'm surprised you'd pick a 2nd rate WEC Lightweight Contenders match (not champion, who is white Jamie Varner btw) to rant. Especially seeing as how it was a controversial decision which many if not most feel the White fighter was robbed. With all due respect to these guys, it's debatable how any of these guys would do in the UFC LW division. I don't think any of them touches BJ

celticdb15 said:

Deadlift why do you bring the same topic up every single time a white fighter loses? In fighting there is no guaranteed 100% winner. You lose some you win some. Right now i would say whites win about every 7\10 fights against other races. Ya Chuck Liddel slipped a lot in recent years and has lost to black opponnents, same with Forrest. But no black man will come close to stopping GSP and Fedor is going to dismantle Rodgers. Have confidence buddy.

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You must be thinking about someone else! I'm NOT the aussie poster.

Forrest Griffin lost a couple fights in a row and I DIDN'T post anything about those fights. I think that the Griffin story could still end up as a positive story.

Just like boxing, maybe the Europeans will save face for the Race in MMA. Some Americans don't look like they're fighting to win. I like the heavyweight division, but in a better world, that would be an even deeper division as well. I sure hope Brock Lesnar can inspire others.

Guest, we try to back all the White fighters we can. I think Varner retains his strap, but wanted Cerrone to win (against "afflete" Henderson). I think BJ would take most these guys (at LW), but he hasn't had the same success at 170. Good analogy to champions of all major WEC & UFC weight classes having at least 1 White parent (except Silva, and for now, Henderson).

DL, don't forget GSP's dominance at WW...and he's not European. I think Mike Brown's going to have a long reign as well.
Edited by: DixieDestroyer

Just to settle this, whites comprise:

2 of the top 3 fighters in MMA
3 of the top 5
5 of the top 10 (and there are two half white/half Asians)
10 fo the top 18 (according to Yahoo rankings)

Perhaps more importantly, there are only 3 blacks in the top 20-30 fighters and one (Rampage Jackson) just announced his retirement.

So, yeah whites won't win them all (and Cerrone certainly got screwed on the cards) but we still win most of them. Plus, its a global sport.

Great overview LL. My top 5 P4P are Fedor, GSP, Machida followed by Silva & Penn. My overall top 5 are Fedor, GSP, Lesnar, Machida & Silva.

BTW, I like (a healthy) Varner's chances of retaining the WEC LW strap over mixed (Korean/black) Benson Henderson. Also, I like Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt's chances against Silva in a rematch. Hendo won round 1 of the Silva fight & has a heavy right, awesome G&P & an iron chin.We all saw what Nate the Great did to the best BJJ/sub-specialist in MMA!

my p4p rankings would go fedor, silva, gsp, then penn. i wouldnt put machida in the p4p discussion until he at least defends his title. i would love to see machida fight mousasi. that guy is just a beast and i think he will become the UFC LHW champ if he ever signs with the UFC.

I have not seen Mousasi fight live yet. I am looking forward to seeing him fight on 11/7 on the Strikeforce card. The guys got alot of buzz as being the next big thing and maybe someone who can beat Anderson Silva.

The "Dream Catcher" Mousasi is 26-2-1 with quality wins over Renato Sobral (KO), iron-chinned Mark Hunt (sub/kimura), BJJ/ADCC ace Ronaldo Souza (KO), Denis Kang (sub) & Evangelista Santos (TKO). His last loss was in over 3 years ago (to Akihiro Gono via sub). I think he wipes the mat with (caste-pushed) Sokoudjou. I also agree with G301, that Mousasi could best Silva (if he ever came to the UFC).