Sherdog’s Top 10: Five-Round Fights

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9. Donald Cerrone vs. Benson Henderson
WEC 43
Oct. 10, 2009 | San Antonio
The first of three meetings between Cerrone and Henderson was an instant classic. Long before Henderson became first the World Extreme Cagefighting titleholder and later the UFC lightweight champion and long before Cerrone slowly morphed into the action-fighting, anybody-anywhere- anytime king, both fighters were raw bundles of athleticism, a few skills and a whole boatload of naked aggression.

At WEC 43, the promotion’s interim lightweight title was on the line, with champion Jamie Varner, who had already beaten Cerrone once, sidelined due to injury. Five rounds were on the docket for two of the most tireless and conditioned fighters in all of MMA, and they needed every minute of it to sculpt a masterpiece.

The basic dynamic of the fight pitted Cerrone’s outstanding guard against Henderson’s reckless, wild and exceptionally dangerous striking from top position. It was a fruitful matchup: Cerrone constantly attacked with triangles, armbars, sweeps, upkicks, guillotines, omoplatas and just about everything else under the sun, all of them smoothly chained together in slick combinations. Henderson responded with vicious, brutal shots to the head and body, all of which he threw with the meanest of intentions. Cerrone fought off most of Henderson’s takedown attempts, but most was not all, and he spent large portions of the fight on his back, unable to make use of his venomous striking repertoire.

It came down to a close and controversial decision. All three judges scored the bout 48-47 for Henderson; many media members and fans had it for Cerrone; and FightMetric’s scoring system called it a 48-48 draw. It cried out for a rematch to settle the score, and Henderson guillotined Cerrone with quickness only six months later. “Cowboy” had to wait almost five years for revenge, which he got in a close decision in January.

Few would object to seeing them settle it once and for all in a fourth matchup.

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