Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis is arguably more famous for his Jackie Chan, Matrix style kick to the head of Benson Henderson, than he is for winning the WEC belt from ‘Bendo’ at the final WEC event before the UFC fully integrated the organization. When Pettis made his UFC debut, talks of him being the number one guy, alongside Jim Miller, were the dominant discussions in regards to the UFC lightweight division.
There were some who said the WEC Lightweights couldn’t hang with their counterparts in the UFC prior to the merger of of the two Zuffa organizations. Donald Cerrone looks to continue to erase that thought from people’s minds as he looks to make his 2011 perfect. Since coming up to the UFC this year at UFC 126, The Cowboy has remained unbeaten in his four fights inside The Octagon, and will look to keep that trend going as he takes on Nate Diaz at UFC 141.
It’s the fight UFC fans have been calling for and, finally, UFC top dog Dana White has given those fans what they want. Following his unanimous victory over opponent Clay Guida at this weekend’s UFC on FOX, the UFC president confirmed that Ben Henderson will take on Frankie Edgar for Edgar’s lightweight belt in early 2012.
Could it be possible to say that one of the most exciting strikes ever thrown in a fight was more a curse than a sign of the potential of a young prospect breaching into the UFC? Anthony Pettis is one of the few lightweights still in the UFC who is struggling to find a win, while guys like Cerrone and Henderson continue to dominate every test the UFC matchmaker throws their way.
Coming off of a brutal knock out win against Will Kerr, Danny “Last Call” Castillo (10-3) will be making his UFC debut against UFC veteran Joe “Daddy” Stevenson (31-12) at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann.
In late October, UFC President Dana White made one of the first big announcements of the UFC/WEC merger. He said the winner of last week’s WEC lightweight title fight between Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis would face the winner of January’s UFC title fight between champ Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard.
In just 53 events many true MMA fans have held a huge chunk of their heart for the exciting fight promotion known as World Extreme Cage fighting.
This past week, we saw the WEC era come to an end. As bittersweet as it was, many extraordinary fights took place as the event ran its course. The two things that stick out in most people minds were Ken Stone being knocked out cold be Eddie Wineland from a slam and of course the crazy cage kick from Anthony Pettis in the main event.
