Sherdog, don't forget about this other epic 5 round title fight....

Roger FedorAIR

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Jones vs Gus has been getting a lot of shine lately, and rightfully so...

But for my money, the title of best 5 round title fight I've ever had the pleasure of watching, still belongs to Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone vs Benson "Smooth" Henderson, at WEC 43.

The fight had everything... Grueling pace, back and forth exchanges, knockdowns, fully locked-in submissions, massive momentum swings, rounds that had REALLY strong arguments for 10-10s and 10-8s (respectively), a decision that the majority of us disagreed with, a completely classy postfight interview from the "loser" that many of us felt was the uncrowned champion....

Honestly, this fight had almost everything that Jones/Gus had, except Bendo wasn't yet considered to be the top LW in the world, and the fight was also only for the interim belt.... So maybe it didn't have that same feel of massive-underdog-challenger taking on the proven-dominant- champ like Gus vs Bones did.... But when you consider just how much of a dog Cowboy would be to Bendo now.... It kind of was a really similar scenario....


Anyways, I absolutely love Jones/Gus as much as the next guy.... But I'm still not ready to say it's the undisputed best 5 round fight of all time yet, and I'm actually a little disappointed with the lack of mention Bendo/Cowboy is getting in this discussion....


Anyone else still favor this fight over the Jones/Gus fight?
 
Some gifs:

Henderson-Cerrone-4.gif


Henderson-Cerrone-5.gif


There used to be a lot more gifs from this fight, but all of my links are broken now, so if anyone has them saved and would be kind enough to post them, I'll update this post with the gifs...
 
All of the fights between Cowboy, Benson and Varner were awesome. Some of my favourite fights of all time.
 
I agree , it was a war!
 
All of the fights between Cowboy, Benson and Varner were awesome. Some of my favourite fights of all time.

Meh, the Cowboy/Bendo rematch was a massive letdown because of Bendo subbing Cowboy so early...

The first Varner/Cowboy fight gets a little overstated as somehow being a competitive fight, because one of the judges must've been on crack that night by somehow making that a split-decision, when really Varner dominated Cowboy for the large majority of the fight...

Then Varner/Cowboy II was a letdown because Varner just really seemed NOT into it, and then by the 3rd round, the fight just had a really weird feel to it, as if Cowboy just lost his aggression from the 1st 2 rounds, and both guys really seemed like they were just in a sparring match...


I obviously agree with you about Bendo/Cowboy I.... But the other 3 are kind of just meh, for me....
 
Benson vs pettis 1 is also an all time great
 
Benson vs pettis 1 is also an all time great

That was a fun fight, and also a competitive fight...

But other than the kick, and a brief RNC, the fight just isn't really on the same level for excitement as the Bendo/Cowboy fight, or the Jones/Gus fight...

Plus, the round where Pettis just bodylocked on Bendo's back up against the fence for pretty much the entire round, kind of took the air out of the fight for me...

Bendo/Edgar I was actually more exciting, if you ask me...
 
Edgar/Maynard 2 is one of those fights that really had tons of drama. I still can't believe Frankie didn't get knocked out after those massive punches he took 1st round. And then when Edgar came out 2nd round after that massive beating to really push the pace on Maynard really made me an Edgar fan.
 
Edgar/Maynard II

Doesn't get much better than that.
 
Gus - Jones was a good fight, but I've seen much better title fights.
 
Edgar/Maynard 2 is one of those fights that really had tons of drama. I still can't believe Frankie didn't get knocked out after those massive punches he took 1st round. And then when Edgar came out 2nd round after that massive beating to really push the pace on Maynard really made me an Edgar fan.

I always read that about Edgar's performance vs Maynard: "Edgar pushed the pace"....

Not to take anything away from Edgar, because the kid obviously has tons of heart for surviving that beating...

But to be honest, I really didn't find that fight to be that dramatic, and Edgar's style really made the fight pretty anti-climactic, if you ask me....

He had a few good TDs, but the rest of those 4 rounds was basically him just constantly doing the same 1-2 combo and circling away while his corner yells "AAAAYYYY"...

And then that annoying thing he does where he sprints in just to tap the other guys leg with his foot...

I'm just always puzzled when everyone keeps saying that Edgar "pushed the pace" as if that was a valid reason to let the guy keep his belt.... That 1st round is probably the single most vicious and violent beatings I have ever seen in a single round of MMA, and then the other guy comes out for the rest of the fight with the constant circle-away gameplan, and just doing enough to just MAYBE eke out close rounds for the rest of the fight.... And somehow this warrants scoring the fight a draw?

I don't know... I don't want to hate on Edgar, or hate on that fight.... But I just really don't think it's in the same category with the Jones/Gus fight, or the Bendo/Cowboy fight....
 
Great thread, man, i agree.

Amazing fight, though i would put Gus/Jones over it.
 
I remember Cerrone being a big favorite for that.
 
I don't know why everyone is all over the jones fight it was not that entertaining tbh.
 
Off top of my head.

Edgar - Maynard 2/3.

Wand - Rampage 2

I enjoyed those more, sure I could think of more when I sober up.

Only one of those went 5 rounds.... And the one you mentioned that went 5 rounds, I've yet to hear the argument for it being in the discussion with the other 2...

Other than "Edgar pushed the pace", what exactly was exciting about the fight? I know it was a feel good story, and Edgar deserves all of the credit just for surviving... But what was EXCITING about the fight??

The fight just basically boils down to 1 round of a guy getting his brain violently beaten on for 4 minutes... And then, save for one slam, the rest of the fight was just 20 minutes of fairly uneventful point fighting....

Coming from a guy that loved the 1st Bendo/Edgar fight.... I still just don't see what exactly about that Edgar/Maynard fight was so exciting....
 
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