Day 2 – 12/2/10
Day 1 – 12/1/10
23. Jamie Varner vs. Ben Henderson
When it happened – WEC 46: Varner vs. Henderson (January 10th, 2010)
It was August 2009, and Ben Henderson, fresh off of his Fight of the Year victory over Donald Cerrone, was on top of the World Extreme Cagefighting Lightweight mountain. His victory over Cerrone earned him the WEC Interim Lightweight Championship and a future bout with the injured WEC Lightweight Champion, Jamie Varner. Quite frankly, going into the new year, it was hard to argue that 2010 wouldn’t belong to Ben Henderson.
On January 10th, the encounter between Jamie Varner and Ben Henderson would finally take place. Ben Henderson’s destiny as WEC Lightweight Champion would be fulfilled. While things just seemed right for Ben Henderson, Jamie Varner apparently wasn’t reading the same book. In the first round, Henderson tried his best to grapple with Varner, but the Arizona native denied Henderson in every one of his attempts.
Jamie Varner, noticing that Ben Henderson hadn’t done much to change up his strategy in the first round, began to fire off striking combinations with much success during the second round of the bout. While none of the punches put Ben Henderson in a state of alarm, he hadn’t done anything to convince the judges that he was winning the fight.
The third round came around and Ben Henderson’s dream seemed to be shattered by Jamie Varner who looked to be coasting toward a five round decision at that point. Ben Henderson still hadn’t changed his fighting strategy and Jamie Varner continued to take advantage. At that point some fans had begun to write off Ben Henderson’s chances of winning, but Henderson through sheer determination managed to finally get his hands on Jamie Varner and followed up with a Jumping Guillotine Choke. The surprised Varner tapped out within seconds of being placed in the maneuver and Ben Henderson helped welcome the WEC in 2010 as the Undisputed WEC Lightweight Champion.
Here’s a poor recording of the submission:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVxmeHyiryw[/youtube]
