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WEC officials declare Phoenix as winner of online contest

WEC headed to Phoenix in December, Ben Henderson likely to headline

WEC lightweight champion Ben Henderson will likely make his next title defense on Dec. 16.

Thanks to the good people of Phoenix, Ariz., he’ll get to do so in his own backyard.

The WEC announced Wednesday it will hold its Dec. 16 event at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz. after more than 70,000 fans voted for the venue during a recent online contest.

For the first time in company history, the Amp Energy Hometown Takedown contest allowed fans to vote on one of 30 venues to hold the WEC’s Dec. 16 event.

According to WEC general manager Reed Harris, the online contest accepted well into the hundreds of thousands of votes from June 1 to July 31.

“It was super successful,” Harris said. “Our vice president of operations, Peter Dropick reserved 30 venues and Phoenix won. We’ll be there in December.”

Although not officially yet officially announced, Henderson is almost a guaranteed lock to headline the card, as the 155-pound champ fights out of Glendale.

Harris wouldn’t go so far as to confirm Henderson’s involvement but did say, ‘I think that’s the plan.’

Henderson (12-1) won the undisputed WEC lightweight title in January with a third-round submission win over Jamie Varner.

He defended the belt for the first time with a first-round submission win over Donald Cerrone on the WEC’s first ever pay-per-view card in April.

Top lightweight contender Anthony Pettis (12-1), who scored a submission win over Shane Roller Wednesday, will likely be named as Henderson’s opponent.

Ironically, Pettis fights out of Milwaukee, Wis., which finished directly behind Phoenix in the online contest.

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at LVSunFighting

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