Mixed Martial B0nes

WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver sneaked up on me so fast I didn’t know what hit me. Kind of like the way all of the fighters in this league operate. This was one heck of an action packed event. The main fight between Jens Pulver and Uriah Faber was great in its own right but there were a couple of other fights that deserve some props. Here’s how the last of the Troubles (they come in threes, remember?) went.

Kenneth Alexander vs. Rob McCullough This was one of the slowest moving fights. They mostly did the stick and move, stick and move deal. Good for boxing but not so good for MMA. We want action and blood. If these guys expect to get bigger paychecks, they’d better review the tape and study how *not* to fight in the WEC. Oh yeah, Razer Rob won the match on a split decision. Next time don’t leave it to the judges Alexander.

Chuck Grigsby Vs. Mark Munoz Now we’re talking. These guys went straight to grappling and grinding after a bit of the stick and move. The difference here though was the action. Munoz just dominated his much more experienced opponent. At nearly the end of the 1st, Munoz rained punch after punch and that was that. Mark wins out over Grigsby.

Donald Cerrone Vs. Danny Castillo This match was decided pretty quickly. That being said, the match still was plenty good. The action moved from the stand up to ground and pound. Of course, Castillo didn’t appreciate the action as he was submitted by armlock early in the first. Sorry Danny, maybe you don’t offer up your arm for your opponent next time. Or, if you work it out right, you can get an XBox360 like one of the Ultimate Fighter 7’s losers did!

Yoshiro Maeda Vs. Miguel Angel Torres This was easily the best match of the night. I know that Pulver and Faber was the headliner but these two really laid it out on the line. Their match was pretty cleanly fought i.e. not so many shots to the gonads as in a LOT of these fights! They moved from solid standup action complete with plenty of kicking to the head and sharp, sharp jabs square in each of their noses. When they got tired of beating the hell out of each other, it was ground game time. At one point they were both locking in a foot/leg bar? Since I’m still a newbie I don’t know the move’s name. Nevertheless, it looked like it hurt! The match was like a Rocky movie because both fighters were giving each other the business, talking and gesturing to each other. Finally, Torres popped Maeda in the face a few times… like ten! The ref saw that Yoshiro had had enough and stopped it. Torres retained the belt and Maeda showed a heckofa lot of heart. The rematch should be already in the works unless the WEC is as stupid as the UFC with the way they schedule fights. Let’s hope we see these two in action again.

Uriah Faber Vs. Jens Pulver This headlining match of the night turned out to be the longest drawn out fight as well. Luckily, it was Little Evil and California kid for 25 minutes instead of some shlubs that couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag… that’s to *you* Kalib Starns! Still, this is the case where the two fighters showed almost too much respect for each other. They were about as evenly matched as you can get and if not for a few mistakes on Pulver, it would have finished with Lil Evil on top. They did a lot of standup sticking and moving but not much in the way of brawling. You have to respect the punching and elbowing power of Uriah though. Standing up right next to him is a recipe for disaster. Of course, getting in his guard or letting him ground and pound you isn’t much of a better alternative. That Jens could make it through all 25 minutes of this fight shows that he is for real win or lose. I worry for Jens’ next opponent. He won’t give Little Evil nearly the amount of fight that Uriah Faber did. With this win, Uriah needs to find an even bigger fish to fight. He may not find it at this weight class. What would happen to him at 155? He could try his luck in the crowded division in the UFC. I think the fighters there had better prepare for the California Kid. He looks ready to jump out of the little pond and into the huge ocean that is the lightweight division in the UFC.

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The World Extreme Cagefighting League is putting on another show on VS TV, Wednesday, February 13. If it’s anything like the last WEC event, we’re in for a heluva treat. Top it all off with the fact that it is free, as in BEER, to watch if you have VS as a cable or satellite television station! There are three title defenses on the main card and a bunch of up and comers on the other cards. Since it is WEC, we’re going to be in a smaller octagon and we’ll be looking at lighter fighters. That may be a downer for some but I’ve got to say that these guys do NOT play around and stay in shape and in the fight. No waking guys up from the couch after a three year lay off in these fights. Even the lowly undercards are active not only in their training but their time in the ring as well. Well, as our Governator would say, “ENOUGH TYPE!”

Carlo “Neo” Prater vs. Carlos “Natural Born Killer” Condit These guys will be fighting for the Welterweight Championship. They both have similar records. 21-5-1 for Neo and 21-4-0 for NBK. The difference is Conduit is the Champion and he’s come home to fight. Will there be blood? For sure and some aiiish kicking to boot. This is a Brazil vs. USA match with Prater being the fighter with BJJ in his veins and Prater merely a good student of the art. I think the homecoming is going to set Carlos on fire and Carlo back to Brazil to eat some barbeque and wonder what went wrong.

Jamie Varner vs. Rob “Razor” McCullough Our second Championshop match features a striker in Razor versus a more complete fighter in Verner. Jamie’s record is 13-2-1 and his last three fights were won with submissions for the first two and a TKO for his latest. Razor has a well trodden record of 15-3. His records and titles span a number of different arts going from kickboxing to muay thai to K1 and, of course to his current WEC title as a lightweight. This will be a big challenge for Varner as he hasn’t faced someone with quite this pedigree. I’ll have to go with Razor here.

Miguel Torres vs. Chase Beebe The last Championship up for grabs is the Bantamweight Title. Chase, with a record of 13-1-0 is the current champion and he looks to stay that way against the jiu jitsu specialist Torres. Miguel’s record of 19-1 includes a recent fight with Jeff Bedard where Torres won by submission. This one is hard to call. I’ve taken the safe bet above by going with the current champion but in this case, I think a change is in order. I would say that Miguel’s experience will carry him through this fight and Beebe will have to give up a shiny belt buckle.

Manny Tapia vs. Antonio Banuelos Tapia has been on an unbeaten streak(9-0-1) and plans on continuing to lay the smack down. Tapia beat his last opponent by TKO at 3:17 in the second. Banuelos (15-4) is no slouch himself as he’s coming off an decision win. We’ve already seen one unbeaten record fall. I think another is in order. Sorry Manny.

Josh Grispi vs. Mark Hominick Josh is going to fight his first match with WEC competition. He’s a young punk kid at age 19 but he brings a record of 10-1. Hominick 15-7 will figure to welcome the young man into the WEC in fitting style: KO in the first.

Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia vs. Hiroyuki Takaya Bad Boy at 14-3 has come to the WEC to fight at his weight class of 145. Takaya with a 9-4-1 record, will try to send him back to eating bon bons and fighting at a heavier class. This may be the fight of the night. I think Hiroyuki will kick the Bad out of Garcia and down him in the third.

There are even more matches happening this coming Wednesday. For a freebie, we are really going to be filled to the gills with striking and submitting goodness. I don’t know what it is, but Zuffa seems to be doing a better job with this organization than the UFC. Hopefully, WEC doesn’t become the burning city of Rome that the UFC is. Dana, put down that fiddle and save the UFC!