Classic, classic main event with an all-time ending. Imagine how rare it is that a main event delivers, add in the ending and the whole situation of it being the FINAL WEC fight/show and the winner getting a title shot in UFC (ie. PPV main event)....unbelievable.
First round, I had for Henderson. It looked like Pettis took a bit to get warmed up as Hendersonn was landing strikes, had his dirty boxing working and scored a late takedown. Both men landed strikes as they got comfortable and it was obvious, this was going to be a battle.
Round two was pretty clear for Pettis as he landed more effective strikes, dropping Henderson at one point early. They exchanged positions on the ground in a precursor of things to come. They exchanged a bunch of strikes and Pettis' power was on display while Henderson was trying to work him over with kicks and knees.
Round three was definitely a Pettis round as he took Bendo down, and got his back for the majority of the round. It was pro-wrestling esque as the hometown champion babyface (Henderson) was trying to fight Pettis off his back. Pettis had his back standing while Bendo defended the rear naked choke well and remained calm. Pettis landed a bunch of punches to the open ribs and the crowd urged Henderson on....he ended up elbowing his way out of the hold (like an old school pro wrestling sleeper where the babyface would elbow his way out) at the end of the round to cheers.
At this point, it was clearly 29-28 for Pettis entering the championship rounds and Pettis obviously had the momentum.
This was the closest round of the fight, which included several scrambles for positioning and submission attempts. In such scrambles...Pettis tried for a guillotine and triangle but Henderson escaped both....finally finishing with Henderson reversing the mojo of the previous round by taking Pettis' back and securing the body triangle. I thought the fight was over here as Henderson got the choke on, but lost it as Pettis continued fighting away the arm across his throad. Bendo rolled around the mat but Pettis would not quit. THEN, Pettis moved and was on top, then took Henderson's back, but they ended up standing. They exchanged kicks and punches and the round ended with Pettis going for a guillotine. I had it for Pettis because he defended the submissions well and appeared to get the better of the late striking exchanges. It seemed like Henderson could not hurt him with his punches.
So entering the final round, it was either 39-36 or 38-38 depending on what you thought of the fourth round. Plus, it was apparent that barring a BIG punch or a mistake on either man's part, this was going to the judges.
Early fifth round included striking exchanges until Henderson tripped and Pettis went for a choke, but couldn't get it. Back standing, Henderson shot in but Pettis threw a knee although it wasn't clear if it landed at all. Henderson got him down, Pettis went for a sub, then Bendo got his back. He couldn't do anything because Pettis reversed him and got back up. This is when Henderson was circling the cage and Pettis ran, jumped to walk the cage and smacked Bendo clean right in the mouth with his foot. Bendo fell to the ground and that's all I remember frankly cause it was insanely AWESOME.
Two judges had it 48-47 and one 49-46. So the kick off the cage certainly won Pettis the championship.
