Sherdog’s Top 10: Non Pay-Per-View Main Events

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2. Donald Cerrone vs. Benson Henderson
WEC 43 | Oct 10, 2009 -- San Antonio
Versus
Before Henderson became famous for winning title fights by the skin of his teeth, he was just another promising title hopeful riding a modest two-fight winning streak under the World Extreme Cagefighting banner. Cerrone, meanwhile, had gained a level of notoriety thanks to a controversial, split technical decision loss to then-lightweight titlist Jamie Varner in a bout which would spark a heated feud.

With Varner sidelined due to injuries suffered in that bout, the Zuffa-owned promotion paired Henderson and Cerrone to vie for interim 155-pound gold. When all was said and done, it was Henderson’s combination of resilience and Gumby-like flexibility that won the day -- and the title -- in a fight that was chosen as Sherdog.com’s “Fight of the Year” for 2009.

Cerrone had his fellow Colorado native trapped in several serious submissions -- including a tight guillotine 30 seconds into the fight, another dire choke in round four and finally a wrenching omaplata/kimura hybrid in the fifth -- but each time “Smooth” was somehow able to escape.

“Every time [Henderson escaped], I was like, ‘Hell yeah! Cool,’” Cerrone said. “I was rooting for him, if that makes any sense. I was like, ‘Hell yeah, you bad [expletive].’ That’s what’s going through my head. Hell yeah. It was just cool, like inspiring, man.”

In between, Henderson was able to land plenty of clever offense of his own from inside Cerrone’s guard to earn unanimous 48-47 scorecards from the cageside judges. It was a bout which sparked plenty of debate about how fights are scored, as many rewarded “Cowboy” for doing good work from his back on their unofficial scorecards.

“That was an absolute war,” Henderson said afterward. “That’s exactly what I wanted coming into the fight. Now I don’t ever want to do it again.”

Number 1 » Alvarez vs. Chandler