WEC 53

WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis
Information
Promotion World Extreme Cagefighting
Date December 16, 2010
Venue Jobing.com Arena
City Glendale, Arizona
Attendance 6,348[1]
Event chronology
WEC 52: Faber vs. Mizugaki WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis Final

WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting that took place on December 16, 2010 at Jobing.com Arena in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.[2] The event was the first time that Zuffa has hosted an event in Arizona. This was the final WEC event, due to the merger with the UFC.

Contents

Background

This event was unique in that the WEC and AMP Energy allowed fans to choose the location of the event.[3] The fans were given 30 options and the finalists were Milwaukee, Nashville and Phoenix.

During the live telecast of WEC 50, Phoenix was announced as the winner of the contest.[4]

Maciej Jewtuszko was expected to face Ricardo Lamas at this event[5], but Jewtuszko had to withdraw as he suffered a broken hand during training. [6] Lamas ended up fighting Yuri Alcantara.[7]

This was the final WEC event before merging with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2011.[8] Dominick Cruz defended his title for the last time and the winner of the bout was recognized as the first ever UFC bantamweight champion.

The winner of the WEC lightweight championship fight between Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis was scheduled to face the winner of UFC 125's Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard title fight in 2011 to unify the WEC and UFC lightweight championships. However, the Edgar/Maynard fight ended in a split draw (necessitating a UFC 136 rematch, which Edgar won.) Though Anthony Pettis won the final WEC lightweight title bout, he opted not to wait for the Edgar/Maynard winner and instead fought Clay Guida at The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team Dos Santos Finale, losing by unanimous decision.

This event was named Sherdog's 2010 Event of the Year.[9]

The event drew an average of 615,000 viewers on Versus.[10]

Results

Preliminary card

Barão defeated Cariaso via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:47 of round 1.
Alcantara defeated Lamas via KO (punches) at 3:26 of round 1.
Castillo defeated Kerr via KO (punches) at 1:25 of round 1.
Wineland defeated Stone via KO (slam) at 2:11 of round 1.
Pickett defeated Menjivar via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28).
Roller defeated Varner via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:55 of round 1.
Downes defeated Zhang via unanimous decision (29–28, 30–27, 29–28).

Main card

Shalorus defeated Palaszewski via split decision (30–27, 28–29, 29–28).
Cerrone defeated Horodecki via submission (triangle choke) at 2:43 of round 2.
Cruz defeated Jorgensen via unanimous decision (50–45, 50–45, 50–45) to retain the WEC Bantamweight Championship and become the first UFC Bantamweight Champion.
Pettis defeated Henderson via unanimous decision (48–47, 48–47, 49–46) to become the final WEC Lightweight Champion.

Bonus Awards

Fighters were awarded $10,000 bonuses.[11]

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ "WEC 53 scores 6,348 attendance in Arizona, seventh-highest mark in history". mmajunkie.com. December 17, 2010. http://mmajunkie.com/news/21798/wec-53-scores-6348-attendance-in-arizona-seventh-highest-mark-in-history.mma. 
  2. ^ "WEC: Henderson vs. Pettis". wec.tv. September 27, 2010. http://www.wec.tv/index.cfm?fa=eventdetail.fightCard&eid=3857. 
  3. ^ "WEC and AMP Energy allow fans to determine location of December's WEC 53 event". http://mmajunkie.com/news/19393/wec-and-amp-energy-allowing-fans-to-determine-location-of-december-fight-card.mma. 
  4. ^ ""Hometown Takedown" sends WEC to Phoenix; Henderson likely for WEC 53 card". MMAjunkie.com. August 19, 2010. http://mmajunkie.com/news/20344/hometown-takedown-sends-wec-to-phoenix-area-henderson-likely-for-card.mma. 
  5. ^ "mmanews.pl knows the next opponent of Maciej Jewtuszko". mmanews.pl. October 20, 2010 (in Polish). http://www.mmanews.pl/2010/mmanews-pl-znamy-imie-kolejnego-przeciwnika-macieja-jewtuszko-na-grudniowa-gale-wec/comment-page-1/. 
  6. ^ "Maciej Jewtuszko has broken his hand". mmarocks.pl. October 28, 2010 (in Polish). http://www.mmarocks.pl/2010/10/28/maciej-jewtuszko-zlamal-reke/. 
  7. ^ "Ricardo Lamas meets newcomer Yuri Alcantara at WEC 53 in December". mmajunkie.com. November 4, 2010. http://mmajunkie.com/news/21268/ricardo-lamas-meets-newcomer-yuri-alcantara-at-wec-53-in-december.mma. 
  8. ^ "Dana White To Announce UFC Merger With the WEC". Bloody Elbow. http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/10/28/1779797/dana-white-to-announce-ufc-merger-with-the-wec#comments. 
  9. ^ Sherwood, Jeff. "Sherdog’s 2010 Misc. Awards Event of the Year". Sherdog. http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/Sherdogs-2010-Misc-Awards-29168. Retrieved April 25, 2011. 
  10. ^ http://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/events/wec-53-henderson-vs-pettis
  11. ^ Morgan, John; Stupp, Dann (December 17, 2010). "WEC 53 bonuses: Wineland, Roller, Pettis and Henderson earn $10K awards". MMAjunkie.com. http://mmajunkie.com/news/21790/wec-53-bonuses-wineland-roller-pettis-and-henderson-earn-10k-awards.mma. Retrieved April 25, 2011. 
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