Todd Harris is the lead announcer but instead of Frank Mir we’ve got Jens Pulver in a Sweater Vest! Mir must be training for the Lesnar fight. Lil Evil in a freakin’ Sweater Vest. Wow, Jim Tressel must be a proud father.
Lightweight Fight- Marcus Hicks (8-1) vs. Rob McCullough (16-5)
McCullough is the former WEC Lightweight Champion having lost his belt to Jamie Varner. McCullough has a huge 5” reach advantage. He also has professional kickboxing experience so we will see if he can use this reach advantage.
R1- Not much action early and then they clinch against the cage in the first two minutes. Very little action in the first round. Neither guy did anything to take this round. Hicks seemed to be slightly more aggressive and maybe landed a better shot so he’s probably up on the score cards.
R2- Hicks knocked McCullough down with a straight left hand during the first minute of Round Two and then jumped in and grabbed a guillotine. McCullough survived and took Hicks guard and got in some shots before they stood up. McCullough starts to get in some offense towards the end of the round and gets in a bunch of offense in the last minute in a flurry. Hicks landed the big punch of this round and got a near sub but McCullough came on strong and got in more strikes and stole this round. Looks like a 19-19 fight so far going into the third round. The second round was much better than the first round.
R3- Not much action in the first two minutes of the fight. Both guys look very apprehensive. With about 1:30 left in the fight and round the ref says to the fighters “I’m going to call a no contest if you two don’t engage.” One minute left, the guy who wins this minute wins the fight. Somebody just needs to tell these guys that! Really strange fight. At least McCullough tried to get in some offense in the last 10 seconds. McCullough is up on my score card 29-28 in a very lackluster opener. Very un-WEC like opener to the show.
Judges score the fight: 29-29, 30-27, 29-28 in favor of McCullough.
Winner: Rob McCullough by Decision (Majority)
They interview Miguel Torres about the upcoming show in Chicago.
Urijah Faber is at the show tonight but I think that he attends every MMA fight.
Featherweight Fight- Jose Aldo (13-1) vs. Chris Mickle (31-11-2)
Aldo is coming into this fight with a lot of buzz around him. Mickle is only 25 and has a ton of pro fights. He’s a wrestler who wins most of his fights by submission. This is Mickle’s debut in WEC. Aldo is a jiu jitsu black belt who wins most fights by knock out. Aldo is 22 years old.
R1- Aldo lands some good kicks but Mickel is hanging in there with him early and landing some punches. Aldo gets him up against the cage and starts destroying him with punches and the ref stops the fight before Mickel even goes down. Aldo just missed with a big lightning quick kick before his flurry. Impressive showing by Aldo even though the fight was stopped early.
Winner: Jose Aldo by TKO (Strikes) R1 1:39
Bantamweight Fight- Damacio Page (10-4) vs. Marcos Galvao (9-2-1)
Galvao is a jiu jitsu black belt with good Muy Thai skills.
R1- Page is all over Galvao at the beginning of the fight and then just destroys Galvao. Galvao didn’t know what hit him. Now that’s how you finish a fight!
Winner: Damacio Page by KO R1 0:18
Lightweight Fight- Bart Palaszewski (30-11) vs. Ricardo Lamas (5-0)
Lamas has a wrestling background and this is his WEC debut. Bart is a jiu jitsu brown belt who can finish with both KO and submission. Bart definitely has the experience factor on his side for this fight.
R1- Lamas grabbed a kick and got a take down but Bart gets out without sustaining any damage. Bart pulls guard and tries for a kimura but can’t get it and instead he eats some Ground and Pound from Lamas. Bart gets back to his feet and ends the round with a flurry. Close round going to Lamas.
R2- Lamas gets some good Ground and Pound in about half way through the round. Both guys swing pretty good to close the round. Good fight so far but I’ve got Lamas up 20-18.
R3- Bart controlled the early part of this round but then Lamas got a take down about half way through the round and stays on top for the rest of the fight. Lamas is going to take this decision victory.
Judges score cards say: 30-27 on all cards
Winner: Richado Lamas by Decision (Unanimous)
WEC Featherweight Title Fight- Mike Brown © (20-4) vs. Leonard Garcia (16-3)
Leonard Garcia is coming off of a demolition of Jens Pulver and Mike Brown is coming off of his title victory against Urijah Faber. Leonard Garcia is from Texas so he’s the hometown guy in this fight.
R1- Mike Brown rocked Garcia right off the bat and Garcia went down quickly. Brown jumped on top of him with some Ground and Pound and then took Garcia’s back. Garcia is bleeding and Brown is really dominating him right now. Garcia moves back into the guard position. What a frantic start to this fight. Brown looks like he has an arm triangle and Garcia taps out.
What a great fight by Mike Brown. His win over Urijah could have been called a fluke but this really puts Brown on the map as he just dominated Garcia from start to finish. Great showing by Brown. Post-match Mike Brown says he’s ready to fight Urijah in a re-match.
Winner and still champion: Mike Brown by Submission (Arm Triangle) R1 1:57
WEC 40 will take place on April 5th in Chicago and will feature one of the top Pound For Pound fighters in the world in Miguel Torres.
This was a solid show. Three fights really stood out in the “excitement factor.” Brown/Garcia, Page/Galvao and Aldo/Mickle. None of those fights even lasted 2 minutes but they were all really fun to watch.
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