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UFC ON VERSUS

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC on VERSUS on March 21 live from the FirstBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific!

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DREAM 13

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of DREAM 13 coming to you from the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan on March 22. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 3 AM Eastern/12 AM Pacific!

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STRIKEFORCE: CHALLENGERS

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of STRIKEFORCE: CHALLENGERS on March 26 live from the SavMart Center in Fresno, CA. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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UFC 111: GSP VS. HARDY

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Hardy live from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on March 27. The event will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy and feature a heavyweight showdown between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin! Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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UFC FIGHT NIGHT: FLORIAN VS. GOMI

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi live from the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, NC on March 31. The event will be headlined by a lightweight battle between Kenny Florian and Takanori Gomi. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 8:00 PM Eastern/5:00 PM Pacific!

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BELLATOR XIII

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Bellator Fighting XIII live from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida on April 8. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 7:30 PM Eastern/4:30 PM Pacific!

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BELLATOR XIV

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Bellator Fighting XIV live from the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on April 15. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 7:30 PM Eastern/4:30 PM Pacific!

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STRIKEFORCE: NASHVILLE

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Strikeforce: Nashville live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN on April 17. The event will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Jake Shields and Dan Henderson and feature the US debut of Japanese submission god Shinya Aoki! Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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MFC 25: VINDICATION

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of MFC 25: Vindication live from the Edmonton Expo Center in Edmonton, Alberta on April 17. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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“If you go by the rules, you end up being an accountant.”

Robert Evans

WEC: HENDERSON DECISIONS CERRONE

Last Updated (Monday, November 29 1999)   |   Sunday, October 11 2009

hendersonwec2aBen Henderson earned a close but unanimous decision over Donald Cerrone in a scintillating fight to become WEC Interim Lightweight Champion and set up a unification battle with Jamie Varner (Photo: WEC)
The most time honored fight sport adage is ‘styles make fights’.  For that reason, no one knew quite what to expect in Saturday’s WEC Interim Lightweight Championship battle between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson.  Henderson was known for his dominating wrestling skills, while Cerrone has a reputation as a punishing striker.  Instead of being a clash of styles, however, it was an instance where the differing approaches of the two competitors complimented each other perfectly.  The result was a ‘fight of the year’ candidate bout that Henderson won by a narrow—yet unanimous—decision.

Henderson opened the fight with a takedown, but quickly got caught in a guillotine choke attempt.  He extricated himself from this predicament only to find himself in a triangle choke that appeared for a moment to be a potential fight ending submission.  That would not be the case, however, and Henderson would take control in the last half of the round with his powerful takedowns and ‘ground and pound’ punching assault.

Rounds two and three were all Henderson, as he took Cerrone down almost at will and began to pummel him on the ground.  Cerrone managed a couple of submission attempts from the bottom, and did what he could to keep Henderson off of him with upkicks but nowhere near enough to salvage either round. 

The tide would turn again in the fourth round, as Cerrone began to time Henderson’s takedown attempts.  He became much more difficult to get to the ground, as well as administering punishment of his own after stuffing takedowns with punches and knee strikes.  Later in the frame, Cerrone came close to ending the fight when he locked in a nasty and unorthodox choke that WEC commentator Frank Mir described as ‘almost an inverted rear naked choke’.  After some tense moments, Henderson was able to escape.  Cerrone would also control the final round, evading Henderson’s takedowns while scoring with his striking.  He had another potential fight ending submission attempt in the fifth round, as he locked in an arm bar and appeared to have good leverage as he twisted Henderson’s arm into a nasty angle.  Nevertheless, Henderson was able to escape and finish off the fight.

The decision itself was somewhat surprising, with Henderson winning all three judges’ scorecards by identical 48-47 scores.  He’d clearly won rounds two and three, while Cerrone was the obvious winner of rounds four and five.  This meant that all three judges had given the edge to Henderson in the first round, favoring his takedowns and ground punching attack over Cerrone’s two early submission attempts.  (The Savage Science scored the fight 48-47 for Cerrone).

Henderson will now face WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner to unify the titles.  Varner entered the cage after the decision was announced to ‘cut a promo’ on the winner, and suggested the fight take place in December in Phoenix, Arizona though neither the date nor venue has been finalized.
Earlier in the evening, Portland, Oregon based Dave Jansen worked the Team Quest gameplan to perfection in earning a unanimous decision victory over Richard Crunkleton, Jr.  Crunkleton gave a good account of himself, and was particularly effective in the standup exchanges.  Still, he was no match for the superior wrestling and ground control of Jansen. 

Prior to that, Raphael Assuncio took a split decision victory from Montreal based WEC newcomer Yves Jabouin.  In the opening bout of the televised event, Demacio Page made short work of Will Campuzano as he gained a tapout victory to a rear naked choke in the early part of the first round.  
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written by J. West , October 11, 2009
great round by round commentary of last night's fights! You guys even make the commercials interestingsmilies/grin.gif thanks.
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