Sunday, June 7 6:00 pm PT: WEC's pay-per-view worthy main event rematch between Urijah Faber and Mike Thomas Brown caps a terrific lighter-weight card. Check back here for on-the-spot fight previews, updates after every round, and no end of inappropriate remarks.
Coming Up: Josh Grispi vs. Jens Pulver
An event opener guaranteed to depress old school fans: the 33-year-old
Pulver, 1-3 in his featherweight WEC career, is up against a wall in
Grispi, just 20 years old and one hell of a lot fresher. Possible
solution: Go back to the style that made his UFC title run such a
slog. Pulver told WEC scribe Tom Gerbasi that "if the crowd ain't
booing, I'm doing something wrong." Fantastic news.
Pulver gets a superstar's reaction, answering the question of why he's
on the main draw. Pulver takes Grispi down and immediately gets stuck
in a guillotine. He taps just :34 in. Pulver is devastated
emotionally. Age isn't kind to the smaller guys. That's just the way
it is. I'm not sure how much more of this we need to see to reinforce
the idea.
Postscript:
A teary-eyed Pulver announces he's more than likely retired. Another
pioneer down. Why not a farewell fight with a contemporary like Rumina
Sato? These old lion/young lion fights are becoming a major source of
depression. Are pharmaceutical companies making booking decisions?
Coming Up: Donald Cerrone Vs. James Krause
Cerrone had a title shot locked in after a war with current champion
Jamie Varner; with Varner on the DL, Cerrone decided to stay active
and take this fight. He's in for either a paycheck or one hell of a
setback. Krause is a total unknown, 10-0 against men of extremely
dubious credentials.
Round One
Krause nails a couple of takedowns. Cerrone tries an oma plata from
the bottom. When it doesn't work, he tries another. He doesn't get it,
but he does get Krause on the bottom. Some very smooth ground work on
display. Krause's composure is impressive. A straight right by Cerrone
drops him. Cerrone has both of his hooks in and searches for a
choke ... and finds it. Krause didn't look too outwitted, but it's
clear Cerrone is light years beyond what Krause has been up against so
far in his career.
Postscript:
Cerrone retains his title guarantee; Krause is likely to get him a
return invite, so long as he takes a few steps back in competition.
[Editor's interruption: They're showing a prelim from earlier in the evening. Banuelos vs. Jorgenson. Rossen is taking a potty break and will resume with Aldo vs. Swanson.]
Coming Up: Jose Aldo vs. Cub Swanson
Swanson is going to test the theory that Aldo is a lighter Anderson
Silva. If there’s a Fight of the Night candidate that can contend with
the main event -- and an electric Banuelos/Jorgensen prelim bout -- this
would be it. A win for Aldo here could see him against Brown or Faber
next. If Swanson wants to spoil that, he needs to find out if Aldo's
jiu-jitsu prowess has suffered for the amount of time he's invested
standing. It's also Aldo's fifth fight in a year. When is that
schedule going to catch up to him?
Round One
Aldo lands a flying knee in the first millisecond. Swanson is cooked
before he even hits the ground.
Postscript
Aldo's hype is probably well deserved, but the Swanson fight didn't
answer too many questions. (Official time: eight seconds. There's a
Luke Perry joke in there somewhere.) Aldo's title contention should
give Faber or Brown fits.
Coming up: Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown
Mike Brown is bigger, stronger and likely in Faber's head after
tearing up Faber's poster-boy status in the featherweight division. He
can win, but it won't be pretty. He sure as hell won't hold Brown down
for five rounds: He'll need to land more peppering shots, avoid
Brown's power and hope the judges favor staying busy over lumping
someone up.
What the First Fight Told Us
Jack. Brown looked stronger, but Faber was hardly manhandled in the
manner collective memory indicated. He made a colossally stupid
mistake -- a flying spinning elbow -- and paid dearly. Brown's subsequent
violent victory over Leonard Garcia probably influenced opinion on
this fight more than anything.
In Faber's favor: Brown has never seen the championship rounds.
Round One
Here's a new sensation for Faber: coming out to the cage first. Brown
comes out second and gets the reception of Bernie Madoff on his way to
court.
Faber flicks his toes out to gauge the distance. Brown gets
underhooks, but it doesn't go anywhere. Faber is being very cautious.
Lesson learned. Brown attempts a takedown and gets stuck in a
guillotine, but only briefly. Brown muscles him a bit, and Faber lands
a close elbow. I guess that's only appropriate. Brown buckles slightly
under a strike; Faber goes high and winds up on his ass. Brown gets
control on the ground. Faber can't afford to take those kinds of
chances.
Close round. Faber likely got the nod for damage done.
Round Two
Brown wades in with his head down, which doesn't help his accuracy.
Faber is fighting exactly the fight needed, never sitting still and
never letting his back touch the fence. Brown finally closes distance
and gets Faber down. Twice. Faber is hard to keep down, but Brown is
still scoring with the plants. Brown appears to be the more fatigued
of the two. He's using a ton of energy clinching up.
Harder to score than the first. Nod to Brown for takedowns and some
solid, clipping shots when he had Faber's back standing.
Round Three
Faber lands a nice body shot. Flying knee attempt by Faber. Brown
keeps trying the guillotine whenever he collapses to the mat. It's not
effective. Faber is up, but ate some shots in the process. Faber
feints and tries a knee. He'd be killing anyone else right now, but
fighting Brown is like fighting a concrete block and maybe half as
much fun. Brown tries a heel hook after a scramble. Back on the feet,
Brown tries a trip, but it's a no-go.
Round to Brown via bullying.
Round Four
Speculation is that Faber broke his right hand on Brown's mortared
melon. This is Brown's first fourth round outside of the gym.
Faber pushes a kick out like a jab. He hasn't thrown his right. Brown
keeps coming forward and Faber isn't making him pay for it. Faber
should be aware he has no chance unless he takes this round. He
doesn't seem to be throwing with any power from his left, either.
Psychologically, Faber might be leaving this fight.
Brown is up three rounds to one.
Round Five
Faber needs to pull a Sugar Ray and start slapping with volume, if
only to get some points racked up. Brown gets him down. Faber's
attrition is really admirable. He's in it until the end. More slaps.
It's like Pancrase. Faber tries a choke, but he can't lock it up.
Brown gets another takedown.
Sunday, June 7 2:54 pm PT: Check back in this space beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT for up-to-the-round
coverage of tonight’s WEC 41 event on Versus, headlined by two of the
toughest men never allowed to ride Space Mountain: Urijah Faber and
Mike Thomas Brown. A fight so good, they thought about making you pay for it. Don't miss it.
Sunday, June 7 2:49 pm PT: Last November, then-WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber bounced into his first fight with Mike Thomas Brown slapping hands, singing and looking very relaxed -- relaxed enough to be a guy on his way to dinner.
Turns out he was on his way to the dentist. After a miscalculated spinning elbow -- an absence of mind the phrase “WTF?” was invented for -- Brown capitalized and put Faber down for the count. Now the press has cast Brown as the bigger, bullying brother, with more raw power than Faber will be able to handle.
It makes for incendiary copy, but the reality is, the first fight didn’t last long enough to know for sure. No one had the advantage, and while Brown was able to make a show of pushing Faber on his ass from the clinch, he didn’t rack up any damage points until Faber’s mistake. Expect Faber to cut the crap this time around. Anything less than perfect, and he loses.
What It Means: The future of Faber in the WEC. If he can’t get past Brown, it’s not the smartest business to have him hanging around and picking off contenders. It could be time for either a move down (to 135 pounds and a run at Miguel Torres) or a move up to the 155-pound class.
Third-Party Investor: The Versus network, which counts on Faber’s marketability to propel the WEC’s engine. (“Win a Chance to Train with Mike Brown” sounds more like a threat than a prize.)
Who Wins: Faber. No theatrics, and a strong possibility of catching Brown on the ground if it winds up there: All four of Brown’s losses came via submission.
Sunday, June 7 1:35 pm PT: Hoping the WEC will do for the network what the UFC has done for Spike -- namely, making it a destination for jerky males 18-34 everywhere -- Versus will broadcast a pay-per-view-worthy main event Sunday night from Sacramento, Calif., when former champion Urijah Faber meets bigger, meaner Mike Thomas Brown in a rematch.
Anytime the world’s best fighter at a given weight gets sorted, it’s worth watching. Print out this primer, memorize it and then use it as a wings bib at your local sports bar.
A: He’s an easy punch line, but Baroni has an obvious work ethic and respect for the sport. What he needs is to consider MMA less of a posedown competition and more a battle of technique. Whatever his conditioning routine has been for the past few years is clearly not the answer.
The-I Am Holding-a-Betting-Ticket-on-Kevin-Randleman-and-Will-Soon-Be-Foreclosed-On Award: Kevin Randleman
There is no one in mixed martial arts who looks as foreboding, frightening or capable as Kevin Randleman: Wanderlei Silva would run from this guy in an alley. But all of that energy and ambition seems to get used up just before the opening bell. Against Mike Whitehead, Randleman couldn’t keep him down, couldn’t maintain Whitehead’s pace and couldn’t finish the bout when he created a huge opportunity to do so. Randleman swore he was a changed man, but the results remained the same.
Sunday, June 7 12:00 am PT: My tactful, indisputably articulate summary of Strikeforce’s second Showtime event: 16 years after UFC 1, and Gracie Jiu-jitsu is still running sh-t.
Kind of. Cesar Gracie students Nick Diaz and Jake Shields didn’t enter the cage Saturday night relying on sleeve chokes, but they used their grappling as the garnish for two impressive performances against two dangerous men.
Diaz -- who fought Scott Smith -- had his jaw tested against a younger, fresher middleweight than previous opponent Frank Shamrock, and he came out largely unscathed for the effort. He also became quite possibly the first non-video game character to land 200 punches in a three-round mixed martial arts fight. (I’ll consult with my statistician. Once someone hires me one.)
