‘Smooth’ Henderson Unifies WEC Lightweight Belt; Faber, Brown Also Win

Share on Facebook posted 01-11-10 by John George

Benson “Smooth” Henderson (11-1-0) looked smooth indeed last night as he successfully avoided dangerous strikes from Jaime Varner (16-3-0) and unified the World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight belt by submitting Varner with a guillotine choke halfway through the third round. The fight was the main event of WEC 46, broadcast on Versus from Sacramento, Calif.

Varner was the reigning lightweight champ who had to take a hiatus from fighting after being injured during a fight with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in January 2009. That fight was stopped after Cerrone delivered an illegal knee that rendered Varner unable to continue. The fight then went to the judges’ scorecards, and Varner got a technical decision win.

Henderson, for his part, defeated Cerrone in a five-round unanimous decision win in October to earn the interim lightweight championship title. He blazed to the top of a very competitive lightweight division after having his first WEC fight only a year ago, on the same night Varner was injured fighting Cerrone.

In his fight against Varner, Henderson had a good game plan and executed it well. Varner was the aggressor in the first round, pushing the pace and trying to find a home for his fists. Henderson danced away, landing a hard kick here and there and engaging in clinches when he found himself up against the cage. Varner did a great job surviving those clinches and not getting taken down. I would have given the round to Varner for his ability to dictate the pace and location of the fight.

The second round was similar, though Varner was a little less aggressive, and it was tougher to score. Both fighters evidently had great respect for each other’s abilities, and at times it became a waiting game, with each fighter hesitant to engage. Two of the judges scored the round for Varner, while a third called it a tie. Varner decided to pour it on in the third round, coming out strong with punches. After some clinch work, he tried to shoot for a takedown, got caught in the guillotine, and that’s all she wrote. It was very tight, and Varner tapped very quickly.

It’s expected that Henderson will face Cerrone in a rematch to defend his belt. I’d also like to see Varner get another shot at Henderson. If he does, I bet he won’t make the same stupid mistake again.

Faber vs. Assuncao

Former featherweight champ Urijah “The California Kid” Faber (43-3-0) was back in fine form, finishing super-tough Brazilian fighter Raphael Assuncao (14-2-0) by rear naked choke with just over a minute to go in the third round. Fighting in front of his home town crowd, Faber’s performance got a rip-roaring response from the crown in the Arco Arena.

In the first round, Assuncao looked very strong, tying Faber up in clinches to nullify The California Kid’s faster fists and to try to force a grappling game. Faber managed to land a few punches, but the round was very even overall. Two judges scored it in favor of Assuncao, while the third gave it to Faber.

In the second round, Faber came on strong and imposed his will. He was able to get Assuncao down and get an outstanding guillotine attempt, which Assuncao barely escaped. On the ground, Faber pounded him a little bit for his troubles. Later, Faber managed to drop Assuncao with a punch and dominate him on the ground some more. Assuncao’s guard was excellent, and he used it well to prevent taking too much damage from Faber. Nevertheless, all three judges rightly scored the round for Faber.

After a little bit of clinching and grappling to start off the third round, Faber connected with a punch that dropped Assuncao again, and Faber ended up in the Brazilian’s guard. Faber made good use of his dominant position, landing punches and elbows and forcing Assuncao to make a desperate attempt to stand up. In doing so, the Brazilian gave up his back, and Faber literally jumped on the opportunity. He sank the hooks and the choke in, and Assuncao was forced to tap.

This was a very good, and a very exciting fight. Even in my bedroom, watching on a very small television screen, I could feel the excitement of the crowd as they cheered on their fighter. And Urijah responded, delivering a tremendous performance. He was really brilliant, re-establishing himself as the best baby-butt chin fighter on the planet.

Brown vs. Morrison

Mike Thomas Brown (23-5-0) showed he is still one of the top 145-pound fighters by handily defeating up-and-coming tough guy Anthony “Cheesesteak” Johnson with a rear naked choke in the first round. Johnson was unable to make anything happen from the opening moments of the fight. He threw some nice kicks that Brown blocked. Brown was eventually able to close the distance and get Johnson to the ground, where it was all over for Cheesesteak.

Brown took the lightweight championship title away from Faber by knocking him out in November 2008, and he defeated him again in a rematch that resulted in a five-round decision win. Brown lost the belt to current champ Jose Aldo in November, less than two months ago. In that fight, Aldo outclassed Brown, looking faster and displaying slicker submissions.

I think Brown deserves a rematch with Aldo. I bet he’s smart enough to train differently and come out with a tailored game plan, if he gets that chance. But it seems like Faber will get the first title shot at Aldo, so we may have to wait a while before we see Brown-Aldo II.

The Other Fights

Kamal “Prince of Persia” Shalorus (6-0-1) was powerful, solid and relentless in earning a unanimous decision victory against Dave Jansen (14-1-0) in their lightweight fight. Jansen proved how tough he was by hanging in there over three tough rounds of getting beaten on by a much stronger guy, but he didn’t have any tools that could do any damage to Shalorus.

Deividas Taurosevicius (12-3-0) survived a third-round onslaught from Mackens “Mack da Menace” Semerzier (5-1-0) to win a unanimous decision victory in their featherweight fight. Taurosevicius used excellent wrestling to win the first two rounds, while Semerzier was able to maintain a dominant position and win the third. It was a good, exciting fight.

In the only other televised fight of the night, Mark “The Machine” Hominick (17-8-0) slapped a surprise triangle choke and armbar to submit Bryan Caraway (14-4-0) at 3:48 in the first round. Until he got caught, Caraway was the aggressor and was clearly winning the round. He let himself get too comfortable for a split second, and that’s all it took for Hominick to capitalize. Caraway was visibly very, very pissed off at himself for his mistake, and with good reason.

The four untelevised fights all ended in decisions: Charlie Valencia (12-5-0) won a split decision over Akitoshi Tamura (14-8-2) in a bantamweight bout; Wagnney Fabiano (13-2-0) won a unanimous decision over Clint Godfrey (11-2-0) in a featherweight fight; Eddie Wineland (15-6-1) won a unanimous decision over George Roop (10-6-0) in a bantameweight bout; and Will Campuzano (7-1-0) won a unanimous decision over Coty “Ox” Wheeler (10-3-0) in a bantamweight bout.