WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber

[jmt225]

Main card

• Featherweight Championship bout: Jose Aldo (c) vs. Urijah Faber
• Lightweight Championship bout: Ben Henderson (c) vs. Donald Cerrone
• Featherweight bout: Mike Brown vs. Manvel Gamburyan
• Lightweight bout: Anthony Njokuani vs. Shane Roller
• Bantamweight bout: Antonio Banuelos vs. Scott Jorgensen

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)

• Featherweight bout: Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung
• Lightweight bout: Alex Karalexis vs. Anthony Pettis

Preliminary Card (Non-televised)

• Bantamweight bout: Brad Pickett vs. Demetrious Johnson
• Featherweight bout: Anthony Morrison vs. Chad Mendes
• Bantamweight bout: Takeya Mizugaki vs. Rani Yahya
• Featherweight bout: Brandon Visher vs. Tyler Toner

......................................................................................​

Usually, I don't look forward to WEC shows, but this one here is by far the best card they ever put on. Unfortunately, however, instead of airing on Versus for free like usual, WEC decided to make their pay-per-view debut with this card. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm happy as shit that these guys can get a real paycheck for a change, but man... I know I'm not paying $50 for this, and I think most feel the same way.

Regardless, it's still one hell of a show, specifically for the 3 main events.

Urijah Faber is WEC. He's the only reason I would watch a show back in the day, and I've always been a big fan. He seemed unbeatable once upon a time, but unfortunately Superman found his Kryptonite in Mike Brown. Now, the 2nd fight between the two could have gone either way, but Urijah broke his hand in the 2nd Round, and that of course changed things around. Regardless, he's 0-2 against Mike Brown, and it made him look like he was declining in the division.

Jose Aldo, on the other hand, popped onto the scene out of nowhere, absolutely destroying Mike Brown to win the WEC Featherweight Championship. He looks unbeatable, but Mike Brown is really the only "name" he has beaten. So, I think this fight is where we truly see if Aldo is the real deal or not. If he can beat Faber like he did Brown, then this guy will undoubtedly be the GSP/BJ/Anderson of the Featherweight Division.

But, I don't see that happening. Everything points to Aldo beating Faber, but I just cannot count Faber out. I know he's training harder than ever for this fight, and that we will see the best Urijah Faber we have ever seen. Faber winning is not something I'd put money on, but regardless of that, I do think he can win, and I will definitely be pulling for him.

Ben Henderson is the other guy I've really come to like in WEC. Unfortunately though, I just don't think there's enough competition for him in WEC. Donald Cerrone is no exception. Henderson should dominate this fight, and hopefully, maybe, he then make his way to the UFC where he truly belongs.

And Mike Brown vs. Manvel Gamburyan is going to be AWESOME. Mike Brown of course is a beast of a fighter, but he's going up against one of my favorites in Manny Gamburyan. I've liked Manny since The Ultimate Fighter Season 5. He came off as a great guy on the show, and the little dude is just a pitbull. I'm really, really pulling for him in this fight, so he could then get his shot at the Featherweight Championship. And I have faith that he'll be able to pull it off. The guy's fucking tremendous.

But, yeah... that's all I'm looking forward to. Don't know too much about everybody else, with the exception of Chan Sung Jung and Alex Karalexis, who are both thankfully on the Spike TV Prelim fights. Sung Jung is a great little fighter from Japan who I've seen a couple of times in Sengoku, while Alex Karalexis for those who don't remember was a Middleweight contestant on the first season of the Ultimate Fighter. So, it'll be fun to see the both of them in action for free on Spike TV.

 

[INDYjon22]

I love Urijah Faber. Like you, JMT, he was a big reason as to why I ever took an interest in the WEC. I don't call many fighters great but Faber is one of them. Unfortunately, he did find his weakness in Mike Brown and hasn't really seemed like the same fighter since. I don't agree with him getting another title shot but then again I don't really see any other viable contenders in the division right now outside of Mike Brown.

Jose Aldo is an awesome up and comer with a terrific upside, however I have yet to buy into all the hype. He had a great 2009 but now he has to fight the elite of the 145 division and we can see if he really is as good as he is hyped up to be. Beating Mike Brown was step one and now he must beat the most dominate Featherweight I have ever seen in Urijah Faber and honestly I think he will beat Faber. Aldo has great striking and Faber likes to rush in like a crazy bull, the perfect set up for getting knocked out as we have seen with his loss to Brown. If, and this is a big if, Jose Aldo can beat Faber like I think he may be able to then I will buy into the hype and jump on board the Aldo train.

Ben Henderson is a fighter I absolutely love, while in contrast Donald Cerrone is a fighter I absolutely hate. I think Cerrone is one of the most over hyped and overrated fighters of the last 2 years or so. Every time he has a big fight he fails to deliver a win so why should this time be an different. I think Henderson will come into this fight and pick apart Cerrone in route to a TKO in the late first or early second.

Mike Brown versus Manny Gamburyan will be interesting. Gamburyan is a guy who has under achieved his entire career but has seemed to find his niche in the 145 division. If he can upset Brown I think he will be next in line for a title shot. However, getting through Mike Brown will be no easy task. Mike Brown is an iron man, and even though I am no fan of his I can admit that he is one of the toughest fucking guys I have ever seen fight. Mike Brown by KO.

Those are the three fights that have my interest but like any WEC event the under card is bound to be exciting as well. Alex Karalexis has found a home in the WEC but that home may be taken away if he loses. Anthony Njokuani is a very interesting up and comer who could make a splash, but it won't be easy against Shane Roller. Takeya Mizugaki put on a great performance against Miguel Torres but has lost a step since that fight. Hopefully, Stella (Mizugaki) can find his groove once again.

Should be a very entertaining event and we have the A team as its voice. Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan are rumored to be broadcasting this event which should be a good move by the WEC.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

This card was so much better than UFC 112 it's not even funny. This is a card that has to be viewed by anyone who calls themselves a fan of MMA. Each fight that was televised was action packed and a lot of fun to watch. Go out of your way to watch this card, because it's as solid a show you're going to get and might even be the MMA Card Of The Year when it's all said and done. I NEVER buy MMA DVDs, but I'll absolutely buy this when the DVD is released to support the WEC, and to just have for whenever I want to rewatch the Garcia/Korean Zombie fight.

The prelim between Anthony Garcia and Chan-Sung Jung is one of the best fights in the history of the sport. Like Sly, I thought it was the Griffin/Bonnar moment for the WEC. Dana White told Ariel Helwani afterwards that he thought it was BETTER than Griffin/Bonnar. It wasn't the most technical fight, and it was sloppy at times, but that was an incredible 15 minutes of two guys just doing everything they could to fuck each other up for a win. Just a complete slugfest that was a pleasure to watch and reaffirmed to me why I'm a huge fan of MMA. My only gripe... the judging. The Korean Zombie definitely won the fight. I thought he took the first two rounds, with Garcia taking the third. A lot of people felt the same way, it's a shame that two people that happened to have scorecards felt Garcia won. Great fight though, those two have job security for the rest of their careers.

Njokuani/Roller... after seeing Njokuani's last fight with a brutal head kick KO, I felt that he was on his way to a title shot, but Roller dominated him on the ground, finishing him with an RNC. Still looking forward to seeing Njokuani's next fight, but with a lack of a ground defense game, he's going to have problems vs. any wrestler.

Manny Gamburyan finally reached his potential with a brutal KO of former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown. Gamburyan is now in position to be next in line for Jose Aldo. Dana said Mike Brown was dealing with personal issues and left camp for two weeks, but at the end of the day, no excuses, Brown couldn't get the job done and is now even further away from a title shot than before.

Ben Henderson is an animal, and extremely quick. I can't understand how a fighter as talented as Cerrone can leave his neck out like that so badly and leave himself vulnerable to get choked out twice now by Henderson. I wonder at what point the stars of the WEC Lightweight Division get elevated to the UFC. Guys like Henderson and Cerrone should be in the UFC, and I bet they'd work their way up quickly to being top contenders. They're both a hell of a lot more exciting than Gray Maynard, that's for sure.

Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber... just complete domination by Aldo, who absolutely is a top 5 pound for pound fighter now. You can't ignore him anymore. Faber was unable to get off any kind of effective offense, and when Joe Rogan does the post-fight interviews, he really needs to be unbiased. His criticism of Aldo slowing it down after the third round was eye-roll worthy. If Aldo feels like he's up 3-0 going into the fourth round, he's not going to take any risks to put himself in a bad position, especially against a tough son of a bitch like Faber. He's a smart fighter, and he's really the class of the WEC.

Dana White also told Helwani that Aldo wants to drop to 135 and get the Bantamweight Title, and that he wants to go to 155 and the UFC to fight BJ Penn. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Jose Aldo.

 

[jmt225]

Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung was easily one of the funnest fights I've ever seen and there's no question about it that right now it's the 2010 Fight of the Year. Both guys came out with everything they had, threw everything in their arsenal, and neither could be put the other down. It was unbelievable. I'm sure a rematch will be set soon, and while I doubt it's anywhere near as good as last night's fight, I'll still will be very much looking forward to it.

Now that he's moved to Featherweight, Manny Gamburyan is now living up to his potential. Since moving to the division, he's 3-0, and none of those three wins were anywhere near as impressive as last night's win against Mike Brown. No one gave Manny a chance in this fight, but he came in and put that motherfucker away in just a couple of minutes. It was great, and I absolutely cannot wait to see him get a title fight against Jose Aldo.

Ben Henderson showed once again that he needs to be in the UFC, after completely destroying Donald Cerrone. The knot he left on Cerron's head was one of the ugliest I've ever seen. But yeah... Ben Henderson should now be moved up to the UFC Lightweight Division and I cannot wait to see how he does. Maybe he'll immediately get a Lightweight Title fight against the winner of Edgar/Penn? I, for one, would definitely not bitch about that.

And Jose Aldo is a fucking beast. I mean, for 5 rounds, he just beat the hell out of Urijah Faber. Those leg kicks were just disgusting, and Faber had no answer for them. But Faber did show a ton of heart; however, I would argue that Aldo showed a ton of compassion as well. While watching the fight earlier, I thought he had plenty of chances to put Faber away, but like I said... for whatever reason, he was compassionate towards him and allowed him to finish the fight. You can look at that as classy, or stupid.... not sure how I feel about it. But I do feel that Jose Aldo is an incredible fighter, and if he can defeat Manny Gamburyan as decisively as he has the last 7 of his opponents, then he should definitely be considered Pound for Pound one of the best in the World right now, if not THE best.

Anyways, every fight I watched was great, and it's good that WEC got their moment in the sun. I'm hoping because of the Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung fight that that got a few more people to order the show, so the buys for this can pass expectation. But overall it was a great night for WEC, and MMA as a whole.

 

[Minor League Brian]

Faber's lost his mojo, and I'm not sure what he needs to get it back. I don't think this had anything to do with being physically out matched. Faber was faster, not by much but it was noticeable for the first round. Faber had more heart, which can never be debated. And I'd go as far as to say Faber was stronger. Aldo won that on pure game-planning alone, and I commend him for that. I do not, however, think that was compassion to let off after round 4 (I had Faber winning round 1 just because of aggression and strikes), I think he was being smart. You don't count out Faber, and considering he had already tried to put him away once before, and there's no way I'd take any chances if I've got the decision in the bag.

I don't know whats up with Faber but he either needs to rework his game plan or rework his style some because he's lost his magic (much like Miguel Torres) right now.