The amazing flying kick by Anthony Pettis in the WEC finale made me wonder if I was in The Matrix.
On Thursday afternoon, while working on a few things at the house prior to the final show in WEC history, I felt moved to watch a bit of The Matrix (Blu-Ray, of course). It's one of my favourite movies (the whole trilogy, actually). Great action, great lines.
For example, when Keanu Reeves' character Neo meets Seraph for the first time and is forced to engage in an impromptu martial arts duel while hopping from one table to another. After a minute-long stalemate, Seraph apologizes and says, "You do not truly know someone until you fight them." (Don't know if that's true, but it's cool line, isn't it?)
Of course, then I started thinking it was a bad idea to get engrossed in Matrix action right before watching mixed martial arts, because then I'll be underwhelmed when the real athletes in the cage are confined to those annoying physical laws of gravity.
(Forget just wishing GSP would finish an opponent… I find myself subconsciously willing a fighter to launch airborne and helicopter-kick a guy, "Street Fighter" style.)
And then, out of nowhere, Pettis goes and does basically that. A running jump, right foot bounce off the fence and then launches with a roundhouse right that plants Henderson square on the side of his face, knocking him loudly to the mat.
"The most amazing thing I've ever seen in mixed martial arts."
"The greatest maneuver in MMA history."
"A kick for the ages."
Those were some of the immediate tweets used to describe the aerodynamic accomplishment. (And Pettis was trending on Twitter almost right away.)
Colour commentator (and UFC fighter) Stephan Bonnar described it as "ninja-like", while play-by-play man Todd Harris, who was getting blasted in the Twitterverse the whole night for his amateurish remarks, got props this time for saying Pettis went "full Matrix on the champion."
As if the crowd at the Jobing.com arena in Glendale, Arz., who earned the right to host the show in an internet vote, had not already been treated to a classic. On most people's scorecards (although not all of the judges') the fight was even through four rounds. According to FightMetric stats, Henderson had the striking edge -- in both volume and efficiency -- in rounds 1, 2 and 4, but Pettis had the only takedown and submission attempt in the second. Two of the three judges had it tied going into the fifth.
How awesome that in the final round of the final fight of the WEC (which already had the reputation for putting on truly excellent cards), it all came down to the last frame -- and with a belt, a historic title and a shot at the UFC championship on the line.
Zuffa owners must have said to themselves, "What were we thinking closing up this promotion?" Or perhaps they were dreaming about the potential now that these newly-discovered stars will be available for multiple PPVs.
The unbelievable thing is that Pettis said he practised the move all the time with trainer and business partner Duke Roufus, a world kickboxing champion who co-owns gyms in Milwaukee with Pettis and trains a number of UFC fighters, including middleweight Alan Belcher and heavyweight Matt Mitrione. My question was how does he propel himself with one leg and then nail his opponent with the same leg, all in one fluid motion?
However he did it, the feat was beautifully set up. Pettis could see Henderson was tiring, leaning against the cage for a momentary rest then back peddling as Pettis pressed toward him. The sequence was brilliant as the angle the challenger took toward the fence baited his opponent into sidestepping him to apparently dodge his effort but leaving him prime for the shot to the chin.
Henderson appeared to be momentarily knocked out, but was quickly alert and should be applauded for hanging on long enough to survive the round, giving us a little more drama when it came time for the decision. But not too surprisingly -- and fairly -- Pettis was given the unanimous nod, and the gold-encrusted belt.
After an entertaining but hardly breathtaking co-main event that saw an impressive performance by bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz -- one that reminded this writer of a certain Quebec fighter's dominance five days earlier -- the WEC swan song earned its signature moment in an already back-and-forth headliner.
Fight of the Night.
Kick of the Year.
MMA move of the decade… maybe century.
At the end of it, the dethroned Henderson, a vocal Christian, said as he typically does after a fight he can still "do all things through Christ who strengthens me." But it was Pettis, who has faith in God himself after suffering a personal tragedy with the murder of his father, who did something we never thought we'd see in the Octagon.
And he'll be remembered forever for it.
