In his first main event, Ben Henderson will be fighting for a title that will not exist very long.
That’s because Henderson is taking on Donald Cerrone for the “interim” WEC lightweight championship. As soon as the “regular” champion, Jamie Varner, returns from injury, he will reclaim his throne atop WEC’s lightweights.
Nevertheless, should Henderson win the fight with Cerrone, he will obtain in his first title belt, but he still won’t consider himself the champion.
“It still goes through Jamie Varner,” said Henderson. “To be the champ, you have to beat everybody. You have to beat the guy that has the title. I won’t consider myself the champ till I beat Jamie Varner.”
A potential fight with Varner wouldn’t take place until the end of 2009 at the earliest. In the meantime, Henderson has a big roadblock in front of him in Cerrone. Cerrone lost a close split-decision with Varner in a fight that was stopped prematurely in the fifth round due to Varner sustaining an injury.
Cerrone is well known for his stand-up skills, but Henderson believes there is more to worry about.
“My camp and I will not forget about his jiu-jitsu game,” Henderson said, when asked to evaluate his preparation. “A lot of his wins have come from submission instead of knockout.”
For Henderson, his background is in amateur wrestling so his inspiration in mixed martial arts comes from another former wrestler.
“I look up to Matt Hughes,” Henderson said. “He’s every wrestlers’ favorite. He is the greatest welterweight champ ever. Period.”
Nevertheless, Henderson is not going to rely on his wrestling skills to win the fight. He doesn’t want to get caught up in a ground battle with Cerrone.
“We’re going to try and stand with him and outbox him,” Henderson said.
Part of Henderson’s bravado comes from his self-confidence. He isn’t afraid of stepping into the cage to fight another man.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been scared,” Henderson said. “It goes into knowing that you’ve done everything you can to prepare. Deep in your heart, you have to know that.”
Even though his immediate goal is to win the WEC lightweight championship, Henderson has much loftier goals in his career. After his first fight (a four minute victory over Dan Gregary), Henderson said that he determined at that point that he has to become the best.
“In three years, I want to be the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet,” Henderson said. “There’s no other goal. I stated that from the beginning.”
As for who is at the top right now, Henderson does not have any doubts.
“In my mind, pound-for-pound, Fedor’s the best,” said Henderson. “As a fan, you’d be lying if you said you didn’t want to watch him fight. A lot of people would say that also.”
However, before his ascension up the pound-for-pound lists, Henderson has to get past Cerrone, and Henderson is the betting underdog in the fight.
“He’s a really tough guy,” Henderson said. “He went five rounds with the champ.”
But the respect only goes so far. Henderson is very confident in his abilities.
“The fight will end with my hand raised,” Henderson said.