Well it looked pretty on the monitor, but it was a small crowd in the venue. Still, great as independent MMA goes. Perhaps a move out of the comfort zone of Vegas, much like the TUF series, would do WEC some good. After all, there was enough room last night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for me to come off the couch, I mean out of the press box, and actually have a seat on press row.
Business aside, the fights were good, the favorites mostly won, but the road to getting to the finishes was at least exciting. In more then one fight the favored fighter took a beating and faced some real adversity, but then came back to win. The trade off to that may have been a few very quick fights, and one suspect ref stoppage. Entertainment with a touch of controversy packed in a sport. I think that’s what we call a good show.
-Featherweights rule. Whenever I watch the UFC or Elite XC, I’m always looking for lightweights to steal the show. What’s better then 155 speed and action? Last night it was 145 action. Urijah Faber had some trouble for a few minutes with Jeff Curran. Late in the first he reversed his fortunes and never really looked back. Faber was throwing diving elbows, rolling into all kinds of submission attempts, escaping Curran’s back control, and otherwise amazing me into thinking once again he was the best 145 pounder in the world. I’d still like to see that dream match with Kid Yamamoto a lot of us speculate on, but I think Faber is just too big for the Kid. I’m a huge Kid Yam mark, but I think he’s almost better suited for Jen’s Pulver and/or 135. Curran, for his part, was impressive in defeat for the match he gave one of the pound-for-pound best.
-Doug Marshall surprised the hell out of me. I’m looking at this big banger who was obviously going to come in heavier then Ariel Gandulla for their light heavyweight title fight. I wrote in my preview I thought this would end fast, or go to decision, because if it stayed standing Marshall would force his fight on Gandulla and it would end quickly. I figured if it went to the ground Gandulla was more then capable off of the fights I’d seen of him and the training at American Top Team. So when they went to the ground, I figured that was it for round one. Then Marshall submitted Gandulla in 55 seconds! What? That’s why they have the fights. You just never know, but that arm bar was impressive from Marshall. Also, points for running out of the cage and celebrating with the fans ringside. Best celebration I’ve see in MMA all year.
-I was convinced I’d be writing an article on why Paulo Filho and Anderson Silva will never allow their 185 pound dream match to happen this morning. I thought even if Chael Sonnen was the perfect opponent to showcase the fact Filho really was for real in a cage environment and this would be a hard fought, but impressive, win for Paulo Filho.
Filho won the match, but it was Sonnen who was dominant up until the last few seconds. He dominated the stand up, controlled where the fight went, and was actually winning on the ground until Filho caught him in an arm bar. It would have been a clean come back win for Filho, who looked terribly sluggish, but the ref waved off the fight with Sonnen still fighting and not tapping. It looked like it was in deep, but I’ve seen people escape from worse. A quick stoppage, but still a win for Filho.
I won’t pretend that Filho looked anything other then preoccupied out there, but he can say he faced adversity and was tested by Chael Sonnen. I thought I’d be calling for Zuffa to make a Filho-Silva match for next year, no matter what they have to do to convince the friends to go at it. Now I’m much more interested in Seeing what Filho brings in the following fight, and if Sonnen can work his way back into a rematch for the 185 WEC title.
-Jens Pulver beat Cub Swanson in under a minute. I don’t think this is indicative of Swanson over all. Sometimes you just get caught. I do think it gives Pulver a sense of false confidence going into a possible 145 WEC Featherweight title match with Urijah Faber. I can not see that ending well for Jens, be it standing and striking or on the ground grappling.
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December 13th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I really enjoyed the show but one thing I didn’t like all too much was the crowd. They were really strange but it was in the states so what was I really expecting? I think when you throw Hiroyuki Takaya in the mix you a possibility of some crazy good fights going down at 45 in the WEC. Good Stuff.