Archive for the 'WEC' Category

Hard to believe, but the final shows to be held under the name World Extreme Cagefighting are on the way. Fittingly, tonight’s broadcast of WEC 52 from Las Vegas, NV(On Versus network stateside) features the promotion’s most popular fighter, Uriah Faber, against one of the talents that it helped develop into a star for North American audiences, Takeya Mizugaki. This should be an excellent fight to cap off a pretty good show.

But it’s a sad night because it reminds me how I’ll miss this promotion when its gone at year’s end. WEC’s emphasis on the lighter weight divisions often kept the pace up and offered an overall talent pool with a bit greater depth than the more glamorous UFC or Strikeforce. Admittedly, they’d fly under everyone’s radar sometimes with the battery of MMA shows out there. I’ve sometimes wished WEC would throw in some bells and whistles, a human interest story among their broadcasts – anything. But they’ll be missed all the same. With ZUFFA eliminating the WEC brand we’ll probably not see so many of these strong bouts in the lighter classes week after week. 

Don’t it always seem to go… that you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone? 

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Editor’s note: Did that last UFC leave a bad taste in your mouth? You’re not alone. The consensus seems to be that Joe Rogan’s apologetic remarks on commentary during the main event were more memorable than most of the night’s bouts.

How great is this show and why is no one talking about it? Jose Aldo defends his featherweight strap against a guy who just knocked out former champ Mike Brown. Donald Cerrone & Jamie Varner have the rematch of 2009’s fight of the year. Former P4P entrant, the suddenly cooling Miguel Angel Torres, fights the suddenly hot Charlie Valencia. It’s as solid a lineup as we’ve gotten in 2010. I’m happy Jacob stepped up to spotlight it. — Tommy

Main Event Featherweight Title Bout: Jose Aldo (17-1) vs. Manny Gamburyan (11-4)

The headliner of this, as usual, packed WEC offering gives the fans a chance to see a pound-for-pound entrant hailed as the future of the sport in Aldo, in action against the rugged hybrid judoka with dynamite fists, Gamburyan. UFC vet Gamburyan is a solid fighter, and has gained a new lease of life since his drop to 145 pounds, highlighted by his upset KO victory over former divisional kingpin Mike Brown. He has a well rounded skill set and is not truly weak anywhere – his submission defence has proved impenetrable and he has only one KO loss. Add to that a varied and dangerous offence and Aldo has himself a legitimate challenger here. Unfortunately for Gamburyan, Aldo is just a league above the’Pitbull’. His Muay Thai is fluid and deadly, his takedown defence near impenetrable — and his jiu-jitsu solid & workmanlike. Gamburyan’s only chance is to tag Aldo on the chin or somehow pin him to the mat – and though the former is a possibility, the latter is not seeing as celebrated wrestler Urijah Faber failed to do so at WEC 48. I like Aldo to take the victory via a TKO in the championship rounds.

Co Main Event Lightweight Bout: Jamie Varner (16-3-1) vs. Donald Cerrone (11-3)

A rematch of a title fight which took place in January of 2009 and ended in a technical decision in favour of Varner after an illegal fight from Cerrone caused the fight to end early. Since this time there has been bad blood between the two, with Cerrone going as far as to say that he wanted to ‘kill this dude (Varner)’. Obviously, then, this will be a passionate encounter. Since their fight at WEC 38 the pair have not had the best of times, Cerrone is 2-2, with both the losses coming to current lightweight kingpin Ben Henderson, and Varner is 0-1-1, also with a loss against Henderson and a draw with the now released Kamal Shalorus. The first fight was a tight affair, with the two men pretty equal across the board; but the question is since then who as evolved the most. For me the answer is Cerrone – his jiu-jitsu game and his kickboxing have improved immensely, while Varner has looked the same fighter in the pair of fights he has taken part in since then – well rounded and dangerous. But Cerrone has looked more so, and I expect the ‘Cowboy’ to grind out a unanimous decision.

Bantamweight Bout: Miguel Torres (37-3) vs. Charlie Valencia (12-5)

Miguel Torres looks to snap his two fight losing strip against a journeyman on a hot streak. Valencia has had an unremarkable career until recently, when a trio of victories over the lesser lights of the WEC’s 135lbs division has lead to rise in prominence, and, should he extend his run tonight against the former champ, one would expect a title shot in the near future. Valencia is a rugged fighter who has struggled to finish fights recently, but his scrappy style is a hard one to overcome, but that is what Torres needs to do. The former long time bantamweight legend is not in a good place, after his shocking KO loss to Brian Bowles and that horrific cut in his fight with Joseph Benavidez, which he lost via submission. It cannot be forgotten, however, that he is a truly deadly fighter, with 31 of his victories coming via stoppage. Valencia has shown a tendency to succumb to rear naked chokes in his career, and though Torres’ legend is fading it hasn’t faded this far quite yet – a first round submission will get the veteran back on the victory trail.

Featherweight Bout: Leonard Garcia (14-5-1) vs. Mark Hominick (18-8)

‘Korean Zombie’ conqueror Garcia steps out for the first time since his edge-of-the-seat victory over Chan Sung Jung against tough gatekeeper Hominick. A UFC vet, Hominick is well rounded and can finish the fight in multiple positions with heavy hands and a dangerous submission game. He has spent his entire career beating everyone except the very best, and this is a definite litmus test for Garcia. Should the similarly well-rounded Texan defeat Hominick he will catapult himself into title contention, but I can’t see it happening in this fight- Hominick is in a different league to Garcia in the wrestling department, and I can see him using it to control the fight and to take a well deserved decision.

There are a mouthwatering selection of bouts on the prelim slate – Mike Thomas Brown, Chan Sung Jung, and the first Chinese to fight under the Zuffa banner Zhang Tiequan are all in action – we should all be hoping some of those bouts make the air. As always, enjoy the fights!

Pictured: Dominick Cruz & Joseph Benavidez face off at the WEC 50 weigh ins yesterday. Photo by Tracy Lee of CombatLifestyle.com

Today’s bantamweight division is like a time warp ten years into the past. It’s a fantastic situation of utter chaos, much like the major weight classes were at the turn of the century, which, in my humble opinion, makes for riveting viewing. It’s top dog has already changed twice over the past twelve months, and you wouldn’t bet against it happening again tonight as champ Dominick Cruz (15-1) and Urijah Faber protoge Joseph Benavidez (12-1) go at it for the WEC strap in a rematch of a fight that took place just last year. It was the fight that secured Cruz his title shot, his perfect footwork and dizzying head movement taking him to an unanimous decision over a frustrated Benavidez, who could not work his grappling game at all as he liked. That particular duel is intriguing, but so is the top of the bantamweight division in general. Let’s try and unravel the twisted mass of the top five or so bantamweight fighters currently fighting in the WEC…

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World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Jose Aldo didn’t just emerge victorious in his first title defense Saturday night.  The unanimous decision against Urijah Faber at WEC “Aldo vs. Faber” at Arco Arena in Sacramento, California was a mixed martial arts master class to outline his greatness.

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Pictured: Dominick Cruz, who recorded the biggest win of his MMA career over Brian Bowles at WEC 47.

Last weekend’s WEC 47 promised the usual WEC formula, with their typical bouts of hyperactive fast action in the light weight classes.

And, it delivered — a quality event. Unable to watch it live due to living in the UK, over the last week I’ve been able to track down one fine WEC 47 bout after another.

Along the way, we appear to have reached turning points for the WEC: first, in the shakeup of the bantamweight division; second, my issues with the promotion’s coverage; and finally, something I’d call the “talent/charisma” crossroads…

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After weeks of idle speculation about fights that are or aren’t happening, we’ve all lost track of a grand weekend that we’re closing in on: Two huge fights in Philly plus perhaps the best bantams in the world going at it. Enough talk about Fedor, damnit; Let’s talk about fights. And these are good ones.

Obviously, there focus should be on the main event first and foremost of UFC 101: BJ Penn makes his first defense of his title in almost one year by fighting former challenger Kenny Florian. Florian’s made a name for himself rolling through much of the lightweight midcard and has now arrived (sans needing to avenge the Sherk defeat) at the door step to greatness. The problem is the gatekeeper: BJ Penn is still among the best pound for pound fighters alive. Period. While Florian has been able to overcome previous athletic fighters with his excellent technique, many are betting on Penn underestimating Florian following his loss at 170 to George St. Pierre and subsequent firestorm. Just don’t bet on a guy to lose due to another’s mental errors unless you’ve got nothing physical riding on it. While Florian could catch BJ early, he’s not really an elite striker and BJ is so far and above everyone at 155 on the mat, its barely worth discussing.

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Coming out of this weekend’s solid and entertaining WEC show, the big talk once again revolved around the company’s flagship Featherweight division.  Since gaining a higher profile through Versus and the Zuffa purchase, the Featherweights, and particularly former FW kingpin Urijah Faber, have been the focus of the company.  As a result, Faber has been the biggest ratings draw for the company – the first Faber v. Pulver fight last year drew a record 1.4 rating, while the rematch this January drew a 0.65 – a significant drop, but still the second highest rated Versus event in WEC history.  So it should be no surprise that at the end of the show the talk was not about up and comer Jose Aldo or even truly about new FW champ Mike Brown himself.  The talk was, once again, about Urijah Faber and his pending rematch with Brown.

While there has been some question if Faber deserves such a quick rematch, this is a move that perfectly captures WEC’s matchmaking style.  And it’s a style that their parent company could learn something from.

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It seems like just a couple days ago that I railed on the fact that Couture/Liddell IV will exist and be a #1 contender’s fight. Well, okay, it was. However, the madness with rematches hardly ended there. Sam Caplan broke the story yesterday that another rematch is forthcoming. The logic is there, I suppose. The first fight these guys had shattered all the WEC records for television audience and live gate. Of course, what’s happened since has hardly helped matters. Both men suffered KO losses and did so in front of a TV audience back to the typical .5s they had gotten before. The title belt they contended for? Gone. Theoretically, this will be a #1 contender fight of sorts, but for god sakes, its obvious Pulver doesn’t belong in one.

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One of the top ten fighters in the world talks in depth about his career and what the future holds.

Tonight is WEC. Three title fights, Carlos f’n Condit and a bunch of debuts. Should be an awesome show, so join us for our live coverage of WEC!  Read the rest of this entry »