In the final event of its 10 year history, World Extreme Cage fighting produced one of their best fight cards in their history. With only four fights scheduled, all of them needed to be entertaining in order for the swan song of the company to be a success.
World Extreme Cage fighting, or WEC, is one of the three main major mixed martial arts brands. Strikeforce is the smallest, hosting events on NBC occasionally.
Their biggest asset at the moment is a heavyweight named Fedor Emelianenko. Hailing from Russia, this heavyweight is one of the biggest names in the business.
The final MMA brand is UFC. UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, has been the most popular and successful of the three brands. Featuring the largest cast of fighters, UFC draws people in to its pay per view events regularly.
In order to increase business, UFC recently bought out WEC. They will absorb all the fighters on WEC’s roster, as well as the personnel working for WEC.
Along with the fighters come new weight classes. WEC specialized in lower weight fighters, so a new bantam weight classification will be added. Also, title unification bouts will be held to unify the weight classes both brands share.
MMA is essentially an all out fight. Unlike boxing, almost anything is allowed. Kicks and elbows are legal, and grappling is just as important as striking.
This means it takes a more complete fighter to be the best. Most fighters come from a certain background, and must expand their skill set in order to compete.
Competitors are grouped by weight, as most sports similar to MMA are. The bouts are three five-minute rounds, unless it is a championship, where the round count is raised to five. The winner is determined by a panel of judges, or the opponent is knocked out or submitted.
In WEC’s final event, the first two fights were in the lightweight division. Donald Cerrone topped Chris Horodecki via triangle choke and Kamal Shalorus beat Bart Palaszewski by split decision.
In the third fight of the night, the bantam weight title was one the line between holder Dominick Cruz and Scott Jorgensen. Throughout the fight, Cruz’s 5’8” frame proved crucial.
His unorthodox striking style kept Jorgensen guessing, and he never guessed right. Cruz won in a unanimous decision, all three judges scoring the bout 50-45. Cruz carries this title over to UFC, where he will become the first ever bantam weight champion.
In the final fight in the history of the WEC, lightweight title holder Ben Henderson took on Anthony Pettis.
The fight began with Henderson getting the best of the striking, giving him the first round. The second round went to Pettis after he was on the back of Henderson for the majority of the round. The third round was much of the same, with Pettis winning the round.
Henderson came back strong with a few takedowns, securing the round and leveling the score. In the fifth round, Pettis attempted a kick after jumping off the cage, and succeeded.
It dropped Henderson, giving him the round and the match. Pettis will fight the winner of Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard to unify the UFC and WEC belts.