Aldo coasts past Faber; Henderson wins easily
Two titles were on the line during World Extreme Cagefighting’s first pay-per-view card on Saturday night.
Neither champion was ever seriously threatened.
Jose Aldo won a unanimous decision over Urijah Faber and Ben Henderson submitted Donald Cerrone in only 1:57 at WEC 48 in Sacramento, Calif.
Aldo retained the featherweight title by controlling Faber with a steady dose of leg kicks.
The constant barrage had Faber’s left leg welted and swollen, making it difficult for the former champion to mount any sort of offense.
“I trained a lot of defense for those leg kicks, but he’s very effective with them,” Faber said. “He really took away my legs and it was impossible to get something going.”
Aldo improved his record to 17-1 overall and 7-0 in the WEC, but was pushed to the distance for the first time.
Faber dropped to 23-4 overall, 8-3 in the WEC.
“Every time I would try to kick (Faber) would switch his base. I didn’t want to go outside my limits and get caught in something I shouldn’t,” Aldo said. “I was just waiting for the right time to try to finish. Every time I step into the Octagon, I always try to finish.
”Unfortunately I wasn’t able to tonight, but that’s always my goal.”
Henderson (12-1, 5-0 WEC) had no trouble defending his lightweight crown.
Henderson had won a narrow decision over Cerrone in one of the best fights of 2009, but ended the suspense early in Saturday’s rematch.
After immediately pushing Cerrone (11-3, 1 no contest; 4-3, 1 no contest in WEC) against the cage, Henderson landed a series of knees to the legs and head before securing a takedown when Cerrone tried to protect himself.
Henderson secured a guillotine seconds later and forced Cerrone to tap.
Also, Shane Roller scored a quick takedown and held Anthony Njokuani on the mat for several minutes before locking in a rear-naked choke.
Manny Gamburyan pulled a major upset with a first-round knockout of former featherweight champion Mike Brown.
Roller and Gamburyan positioned themselves as potential challengers for the two belts that were defended Saturday.
Gamburyan, a former contestant on “The Ultimate Fighter,” improved to
3-0 since dropping to featherweight and moving to the WEC.
Gamburyan pleaded for a chance at the title Aldo retained later in the evening.
Roller similarly won for the third time and might have earned a chance at Henderson, who handed Roller his only WEC loss in six contests.