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Glendale, Ariz. – UFC, are you ready for “Showtime?” Because he’s coming soon. On a night wrapped in historical overtones, Anthony “Showtime” Pettis dethroned WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson at Jobing.com Arena to earn a UFC title shot. Both fighters waged a back-and-forth battle that was worthy of Fight of the Night and may have been decided in the final 80 seconds of the fifth round. With the fight apparently up for grabs, Pettis went airborne, acrobatically bounced off the cage fence and executed a beautiful high kick that landed flush on the hometown champ’s jaw and dropped him to the canvas. It was an electrifying and unprecedented move that no one in press row had ever seen, like something out of a “The Matrix” movie. It sent the live crowd at the arena into mass hysteria. Henderson gamely weathered the crucial assault and got back to his feet, but that sequence may have anchored his defeat by unanimous decision. The riveting match was fittingly the last bout ever for the decade-old WEC, which is set to merge with its sister organization, the UFC. That means Pettis, a Milwaukee native who starred in an MTV episode of “World of Jenks,” is slated to fight the winner of the Jan. 1 bout between UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and unbeaten challenger Gray Maynard. An emotional Pettis, whose father was murdered during an armed robbery in 2003, credited his coach Duke Roufus for the one-of-a-kind kick that made a lot of people’s jaw drop. “We practice that all the time,” Pettis said, “and I’ve got 10 more kicks like that coming when I get to the UFC.” Roufus called the kick an “Ong Bak” kick, noting it is an old Muay Thai technique. Pettis dropped Henderson on another occasion with a stiff right hand, but barely survived a rear naked choke in the fourth round that was close to being dead on. Pettis was not the only man to make history Thursday night. Dominick Cruz did, too. Cruz’s handsome reward for a night’s work: Two world titles and a slice of history. The super-quick Californian used his ‘catch-me-if-you-can’ striking style to beat up No.1 challenger Scott Jorgensen for five rounds to become the UFC’s first-ever bantamweight champion.

The very last fight to ever take place under the World Extreme Cagefighting banner was nothing less than spectacular. For five whole rounds, Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis went to war for the WEC lightweight title and to determine the number one contender for the UFC lightweight championship. It truly was “Showtime,” folks. Anthony Pettis took a decision victory to become the WEC lightweight champion in a thrilling fight for the world’s most exciting organization. It was a “razor close fight” as color commentator Stephan Bonnar referred to it. In the fifth and final frame, Pettis landed the most exciting head kick in the history of MMA. In fact, this may have truly been the “Fight of the Year.” Ben Henderson was unhappy with the decision being awarded to his opponent but there was little doubt “Showtime” won the fight after the final round. Throughout the fight, “Bendo” was landing takedowns but it seemed as if each time he did, Pettis would reverse him and take his back. He never could get the submission but it scored him enough points to give him two of the first four rounds. Not to be outdone, Henderson nearly choked out the MTV reality star with a rear naked choke in the third. Pettis, determined and unwilling to break, managed to get out once again and head to a fifth and deciding round. The fourth round may have saw the most action but what happened in the fifth will never be forgotten.? Towards the end of the round, in what was still close enough to get nervous about for either fighter, Pettis charged forward with Henderson backing away. Instead of going straight at him, he used the cage to push off and landed the most amazing head kick in the history of the WEC. “Bendo” immediately dropped and looked like he was out