Johny Hendricks Wins Last Ever WEC Welterweight Fight

The bout between Alex Serdyukov and Johny Hendricks at World Extreme Cagefighting 39: Brown vs Garcia was the last WEC welterweight match in history, It also proved to be one of the evening’s best. Hendricks, determined to make other fighters respect the power in his hands, cracked Serdyukov time and again in the first 9 minutes, even wobbling him late in the second round with a wicked left hook to the temple. Smelling the hurt, Hendricks unloaded what seemed like two dozen or so punches before the stubborn Serdyukov finally fell down. Hendricks took Serdyukov’s back and tried to reign down punches but seemed too fatigued to seal the deal. Serdyukov, amazingly, recovered and fought back to his feet as the round ended.

In round three, Hendricks seemed to tire and Serdyukov upped the ante with a full-fledged attack of knees, jabs and takedowns. Hendricks repeatedly tried for takedowns but was rebuffed. In fact, Serdyukov would sprawl and trap Hendricks underneath of him, where he unleashed some potent elbows to the two-time NCAA wrestling champ’s back and rib area. It was too little, too late. Hendricks had his hand raised with a unanimous decision.

Rafael Rebello would have preferred to keep the fight on the ground but had to settle for a stand-up affair with Kenji Osawa, who stuffed the Brazilian’s takedown attempts and repeatedly landed the cleaner, more telling punches and kicks. Rebello, a product of American Top Team, was the aggressor throughout, throwing haymakers and wild shots to try and set up his takedowns. For the most part Osawa eluded those punches and continually peppered Rebello with a crisp left jab and a straight front kick to the midsection. In the end the judges awarded Osawa a split decision by scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 27-30.

Shout it from the rooftops, brother: “I’m back, baby! I am back! I’m back!”

Pretty much everybody at the American Bank Center, from the judges to the front-row fans to the guys in the upper deck, could hear Alex Karalexis emphatically declaring that he has recaptured his mojo and halted a two-fight losing streak.

The native Bostonian took control of the fight mid-way through the first round, slamming Greg McIntyre hard with a double leg takedown that made McIntyre’s head bounce off the canvas. Karalexis immediately went to work, dropping bombs that landed clean on McIntyre’s face and forced a referee stoppage at 4:19 of the opening stanza.

“It’s been a rough year and a half for me,” said Karalexis, formerly known as “The Assassin” before changing his nickname to “T-Rex” before this fight. “I didn’t want to just win, I wanted to be dominant. This is it man, this is the Alex Karalexis everyone is going to see, except I’m going to just get better and better and better.”

John Franchi prevailed in his WEC debut, taking control in the third round to narrowly escape with a victory over former X Games stud Mike Budnik. Both men predominately and willingly engaged in a fast-paced, back-and-forth ground war that saw them exchange heel hook attempts and upkicks. Franchi repeatedly scored takedowns and occasionally landed punches from the top and combinations on his feet. It was a topsy-turvy affair and the judges awarded Franchi a split decision.

The first bout of the night was primarily a wrestling match until late in round three, when Michael Pierce unloaded with a vicious left hook to the body that made Justin Haskins collapse to the canvas at 3 minutes 39 seconds.

The end came suddenly as both fighters were locked in a clinch. Pierce had controlled much of the opening two rounds with several takedowns – including a hard double leg slam and a suplex – but was unable to keep Haskins down for long or inflict much damage from the top.

“I didn’t realize he had such a good clinch defense. It just took a couple of rounds until I opened up and went to the body,” Pierce said afterward, offering his impression of the dramatic knockout. “I heard him go to the ground and make sounds and I finished him off.”