Ben Henderson Unifies the WEC Lightweight Titles

In the pre-fight hype video Ben Henderson told MMA fans that he had a bigger heart than Jamie Varner and that would be the difference in their WEC lightweight title unification bout. After Henderson defeated Jamie Varner one would be hard pressed not to disagree with Ben's assessment of his and Varner's heart.

WEC 46's main event was a tale of two submissions; more specifically, how each fighter responded to adversity when facing those submissions.

In the first round Jamie Varner had the upper hand as he locked in, what appeared to be a tight guillotine choke. For what felt like several minutes Varner applied pressure to Henderson's wind pipe trying to submit his opponent but Ben refused to tap out even after enduring a knee to the skull. Henderson's heart kept him from yielding to his opponent in a moment of certain defeat.

Henderson's actions were night and day when compared to Jamie who was caught in a similar submission in the third round.

Varner was trapped in a guillotine choke as Henderson jumped into Jamie and pulled guard. Almost instantly, Varner capitulated by tapping out. There was no attempt at a slam, which was open. There was no attempt at escaping; just instant surrender from a fighter who is already detested by fans.

Varner certainly didn't win himself any fans during the post-fight interview, saying, "He [Ben Henderson] didn't want to box-- go ahead and boo. I came to fight, Ben came to grapple. Two different things."

Ben Henderson moves to 11-1 for his career and 4-0 in the WEC.

WEC announcer, Todd Harris, mentioned the possibility of a rematch with Donald Cerrone, who recently defeated Ed Ratcliff at WEC 45. Both Henderson and Cerrone appeared excited about the possibility of reliving their 2009 "Fight of the Year" in 2010.

SBN coverage of WEC 46: Varner vs. Henderson