WEC 44 Quick Thoughts
Wednesday is a terrible day for me to watch MMA. I can usually put together a quick The Ultimate Fighter recap, but when you give me a 2 1/2 hour show on a school night when I have to get the kids ready for school the next day, it’s tough. Thus, we didn’t have a play by play recap of the WEC show tonight.
However, I did watch the last two fights and have some thoughts.
Leonard Garcia is always fun to watch because he’s truly crazy, but he’s still not a very well-rounded fighter. If he would just learn how to box and get in and out, he would’ve beat Manny Gamburyan easily. Gamburyan is only 5’5 and stays outside because he wants to set up his takedowns. But Garcia was only looking for knockout blows and was setting up from way outside. The only time he was really having any success in his striking was to counter Gamburyan with kicks as he shot.
Gamburyan won a close fight, but I’m not sure it really means anything in the scheme of things. Neither guy was very impressive, though I loved their intensity.
And what can you say about Jose Aldo? Did you know that Jose isn’t pronounced how you think? Sound out the hard J. That’s how it’s pronounced. Aldo’s speed overwhelmed Mike Brown’s power and he won the featherweight championship. Brown didn’t look comfortable at any point of that first round. He did catch Aldo a few times, but he seemed out of sorts. And then in the second round, Aldo got on top of him and just controlled him while raining down punches on him. Brown couldn’t do anything and it was stopped.
I don’t know what their plans are, but I think they could sell the hell out of a Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber fight.
I really like Darabedyan. Moves great, good boxing, and very good at timing his opponent. He essentially schooled McCullough on the feet, and made him look awkward. The judge who scored the fight 3-0 to McCullough needs to be dismissed immediately. He clearly has no idea how to score a fight.
I sort of expected Aldo to be exposed in this one, and I definitely thought Brown would be the more physically imposing of the two. My God was i wrong.
Brown didn’t look like himself, but I’m not sure if it was simply him, or he couldn’t adjust to Aldo.
A Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber fight will probably happen if/when Faber gets passed Rafael Assuncao at WEC 46.
That fight should happen on a UFC card.
It should, but if they start doing that, I’m not sure what good it is to have WEC. I wonder if either Brown, Faber, or Aldo can hack it at 155 with the top UFC guys. I’m surprised they don’t try since the money is a bit bigger there.
I think 2010 will see WEC swallowed up by the UFC.
It would suck because I think it’d put some fighters out of business.
Yeah, I’m not too sure how much demand there is for some of the real low weight classes. I sort of wish the UFC would just have the WEC become their minor league system, and restore all weight classes.
Get rid of TUF and just let these guys prove their worth on live cards.
I would imagine that TUF makes them more money though.
Probably, which means it will stick around even if the fighters coming out of the show have been a bit weak lately.
Much like GG, I think its a bad idea for them to swallow up wec.
I really like the 2 distinct brands just because I admire how well they have done to create 2 separate entities. Historically it has been all but impossible to have 2 unique promotions ran by one company (pride/ufc, WCW/wwe, smackdown/raw) They have made it work to the point that it feels like 2 entirely different things, and i think it would be a waste to throw that all away.
I suppose though at the end of the day it has to make cash common sense.
I think what could help WEC ratings and gates would be if there’s a fight that the UFC is promoting on their brand that they allow to happen on a WEC show. Let’s say that they take fights that are either Fight Night fights or just under main card status, but name guys.
For instance, let’s just use Nate Diaz as an example. They have enough trouble finding spots for certain guys even though there are tons of shows. But they can also give the rub to the WEC by using a guy that UFC fans might follow. I’m not sure if Spike would be happy about it, but I think it would improve gates and TV ratings and overall help the brand.