The WEC came out in a free fashion on the channel Versus June 3rd. It was actually a breath of fresh air after recent events in other MMA venues. Not that others lacked in action, but maybe lacking a belt holder that could hold on. It was cool to have an announcer like Frank Mir doing the play by plays since he knows the sport and has competed himself. It’s kind of like a baseball announcer who was a previous player. Not that Mr. Rogan isn’t good too.
In Rani Yahya Vs. Mark Hominick it showed that if you put your mind to something you can do anything. Rani tried a take down, and another one, and another, and another. Mark was just scrambling his best, but Rani kept trying and trying until Rani ended up on his back for a quick rear naked choke.
In Brock Larson Vs. Kevin Knabjian it was fast. Brock looked like a volcano ready to blow its top. He was grinding at the bit literally when they were introduced in the middle of the ring. It started and Brock threw a left and Kevin didn’t see it coming. Brock immediately flung Kevin down in a sloppy attempt to rain down punches. It took a few but finally the referre stopped it.
One of the interesting endings to a fight was Josh Smith Vs. Alex Karalexis. Everything was about Alex bringing it, being the aggressor and Josh defending one thing after another. Then in the end Alex throws the rules out the window and kicks Josh while he is on the ground in the chest from a standing up position. Big John McCarthy call a time out and deducts a point from Alex. Then the bell rang for round three to be over. Big John was hot, he went over to the officials and said, ” I called time out!”. I thought we were gonna see an unscheduled fight for a second.
Urijah Faber the “California Kid” came out as the main event of the night and like Chuck Liddell’s old days finished the fight as expected. He finished fast in the first round with a rear naked choke beating Chance Farrar. Maybe he has stopped the bad MMA upset mojo of dethroning champs this year or maybe there are no long reigning champs left to dethrone. Either way it was nice to watch a night of fighting and as a fan be able to say, “hey I am sure that in this fight this guy will win”. Maybe it is a boost of MMA trivia confidence, I don’t know why fans are so fascinated with knowing who is the top dog going into fights.
Getting on to the WEC fights, Urijah Faber is a featherweight phenom in the WEC organization owned by the UFC. He was the favorite at this event and did not disappoint. He finished it in the first round. In typical UFC rules the title fights can go five rounds, but didn’t and actually haven’t under Urijah’s rule since holding the belt. He even said in a Sherdog interview, “I’ve yet to go to a five-round fight, Let’s do it if it’s a possibility” This kid is a phenom I say because not only has his fights not been able to make it to the fifth round, but not many have made it past first round. When he fought Joe Pearson earlier this year he made the guy tap out because he was punching him to HARD?!? Who gets those kind of submissions on their records? Go look through the MMA records, who gets those???! Submission by hmmm I dont know Arm-Bar, Guillotine, nope Striking! I haven’t seen that since hmm, Mark Kerr when he fought against Mustapha al Turk in Cage Rage. Thanks alot Mark for not knowing when to retire. I didn’t know I would need an eraser for my list of heroes.
This California kid is impressive to say the least and I am sure he will hold the belt for a while and we can all be able to watch him in the future and know one fight that will go according to plan. Thanks Urijah, I slept much better last night.
