WEC: Faber vs Brown Re-Cap

Two months ago (on September 10th) we were supposed to see the Featherweight Title Match between Urijah Faber & Mike Brown, as well as the Re-Match between Paulo Filho & Chael Sonnen for the Middleweight Title. These fights were supposed to happen in sunny Hollywood, Florida, however nature decided to step in, via Hurricane Ike, and the matches were re-scheduled to tonight.

The Original Fight Sheet for 9/10

Since those 2 months have gone by, some changes have occurred in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. First, Elite XC is no more. Just last month, they filed for Bankruptcy (I still am not 100% clear of everything behind that decision) Secondly, the WEC announced that they are no longer going to have a Middleweight or a Light Heavyweight division (they are going to focus primarily on their lighter weight classes - specifically Bantamweight and Featherweight)

Being that the WEC is basically a sister company of the UFC (both are owned by ZUFFA) I am sure that we can expect some of the fighters from these weight classes to jump over to the UFC.

Anyhow, on to the re-cap of tonight's fights:

1st we had two new fighters debut in the WEC's Middleweight division. Both of these fighters held Undefeated records, which is always nice, because someone is guaranteed to lose for the first time. :-)

Whenever I am not familiar with either fighter, I only have minutes, if not seconds, to gather my first impression and chose who I want to win the match.

This match-up was between Jake Rosholt & Nissen Osterneck. (I chose Osterneck)

It was a great 1st round - knees, fists, elbows, and bodyshots were all thrown, as well as some great grappling moves on the ground. However, in the 2nd round Osterneck got caught by Rosholt, and the fight was called due to Ref stoppage.

Next up was Featherweights Jens Pulver & Leonard Garcia.

I don't know what it is, I do not really like Pulver, yet 9 times out of 10, I'll end up rooting for him, as I did this time. Another bad call, on my part, as Garcia nailed Pulver, stunning him, and then basically beat him down, for the win.

Next were another pair of debut Middleweight fighters - again, both with Undefeated records.

The match-up was between David Avellan & Aaron Simpson. (I chose Simpson)

This time I chose correctly, as Simpson caught Avellan with a giant right-hook, knocking him out in the first 18 seconds!

We then had the re-match between Paulo Filho & Chael Sonnen.

[Back on 12/12/07 - the Ref stopped the 1st fight due to Tapout on Sonnen's part. Sonnen claimed that he didn't Tap - I did not see that fight, but from what I've heard from others, it did seem to be a bad call on the Ref's part. Either way, this has been an anticipated re-match.]

Unfortunately, this was not to be a Title Fight, as Filho did not make weight! [this really irks me, when a trained/disciplined fighter, does not make weight - it is even worse, when it is a Champion!] In this case, Filho weighed in, yesterday, at 192 (7 lbs over!) The Athletic Commission then gave Filho an additional 2 hours to make weight - he only dropped to 189 (still, 4 lbs over)

Now, I do not know if there are any extenuating circumstances, but to me - this is just plain pathetic!

In my opinion, if a Champion cannot make weight, then he should just hand the Belt over immediately! Sadly, this isn't the case, however Sonnen, being the better man, agreed to fight Filho anyway, even though it was no longer for the Championship.

Sonnen completely dominated Filho in all 3 rounds. The 1st round was completely boring, as Filho got knocked down, and just remained, laying on his hip, throughout the round. I was yelling at the Ref to stand Filho back up, yet he did not. I was then yelling at Sonnen to back up, to make Filho get to his feet. Sonnen eventually did do this, in rounds 2 & 3 - he would knock Filho down and then just back up, which kept making Filho look bad! There was a great moment when Filho actually did something, by wrapping himself completely around Sonnen, while still in the standing position. What did Sonnen do? He just fell forward, slamming Filho underneath his full body weight - it was Great! :-) Obviously, Sonnen won by Unanimous Decision.

Last, but definitely not least, the Main Event of the evening - the Title Fight for the Featherweight Belt - between Urijah Faber & Mike Brown.

Now, I like both of these fighters, however I really like Urijah Faber! [I would say that he and Miguel Torres are my two favorite WEC Fighters] Faber is just an over-all great fighter, but what I really love about him is his speed - he is lightning fast! There was one moment, in tonight's fight, where Mike Brown took Faber down (for a split second!) Before you knew it, Faber was back up, swinging, like nothing had even happened! [if you had blinked, you would never have even known Faber was taking down!] So, naturally, I wanted Faber to win this fight and keep his Belt.

Alas, this was not to be so - Mike Brown caught Faber with an elbow, while Faber was rebounding off of the cage wall, in an almost clothes-line kind of move - Brown then dropped quite a few bombs Faber's way, winning by TKO in the 1st round!

The New WEC Featherweight Champion ~ Mike Brown

Well, that about wraps it up for tonight's re-cap.

Special thanks to my Brother, who is way more knowledgeable and keeps me updated with all of the MMA "happenings" out there! Thanks Bro! :-)

Jason