WEC: Aldo vs. Faber PPV Re-Cap

WEC: Aldo vs. Faber PPV
Arco Arena
Sacramento, California
April 24, 2010

Tonight is the "biggest fight in Featherweight history" between current champion Jose Aldo and former champion Urijah Faber. Also on the card is a Lightweight title re-match between current champion Ben Henderson and top contender Donald Cerrone. The UFC has taken over the WEC duties as Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan are the announcers for this show. Bruce Buffer is also doing the ring announcing tonight. Rogan describes Faber/Aldo as the MMA version of Sugar Ray Leonard versus Roberto Duran.

Bantamweight Fight- Antonio Banuelos (18-5) vs. Scott Jorgensen (9-3)

This is a re-match from WEC 41 in June of 2009 in what I thought was a Fight of the Year contender. Banuelos won the fight by split decision. I had Jorgensen taking the fight 29-28 on my score card. Banuelos trains with Chuck Liddell and John Hackleman. Jorgensen has a 3" reach advantage.

R1- Pretty even fight early with Jorgensen taking the center of the octagon but Banuelos doing a decent job counter punching. Banuelos landed a left hook and Jorgensen went down. Banuelos jumped on top but Jorgensen was able to pull him into his guard and avoid the finish. Jorgensen went for an arm bar and then kicked him way back to his feet. Banuelos takes the first round with the knock down 10-9.

R2- Jorgensen lands some strikes in the first minute to open this round. Jorgensen is finding a home for his jab. Jorgensen has busted open Banuelos nose and Rogan says it might be broken. Jorgensen is really picking apart Banuelos in this round. Jorgensen landed a right hand that floored Banuelos with one minute left in the round. Jorgensen easily took this round and evens the fight up at 19-19 going into the final stanza.

"Banuelos is bleeding like a stuck pig"- Joe Rogan

R3- Jorgensen opened up the round with a good combination and once again opened up the nose of Banuelos. Jorgensen hit a right hand about half way through the round and Banuelos hit the deck. Jorgensen followed in and Banuelos tried to cover up. Jorgensen took his back and tried for a Rear Naked Choke but Banuelos spun out of it. Jorgensen remaining on the back of Banuelos and continues to land strikes from the back and then clamped on another Rear Naked Choke but couldn't lock it in. Good fight. Jorgensen will get his revenge as he takes this 29-28 (same score I had the last fight scored). This puts Jorgensen at the top of the WEC featherweight contenders right behind Joseph Benavidez.

"Joe Silva's got blood on his notebook"- Joe Rogan

Judges score cards: 29-28 on all three score cards.

Winner: Scott Jorgensen by Decision (Unanimous)

Lightweight Fight- Anthony Njokuani (13-2) vs. Shane Roller (7-2)

Roller is a former D1 wrestler. Njokuani is on a 3-fight win streak and is coming off of a quick victory over Chris Horodecki at WEC 45. Roller fought at WEC 44 and defeated Danny Castillo via Rear Naked Choke in the third round. Both fighters have losses on their record to current Lightweight kingpin Ben Henderson. Njokuani has a 3.5" reach advantage.

R1- Roller immediately went for a take down and after about thirty seconds was able to get Anthony down but Anthony popped right back up. Roller got him down again at the one minute mark of the round. Roller briefly mounted but was pushed off and then Roller took Anthony's back and looked for a Rear Naked. Roller finally was able to clamp in the Rear Naked after working for it for a while and finished the fight. Not a highlight reel win but a very effective one as Roller really executed his game plan to perfection and beat a very dangerous opponent.

Winner: Shane Roller by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 3:07

Jake Shields is ringside and Dana White is right next to him with a huge smile on his face. Wow. What a sight.

The Joe Rogan/Kimbo Slice interview from the Spike TV prelim show is shown again.

Featherweight Fight- Mike Brown (23-5) vs. Manvel Gamburyan (12-5)

Mike Brown is the former Featherweight champion who holds two victories over Urijah Faber. Brown lost to Aldo at WEC 44 and then jumped right back into the cage at WEC 46 to defeat Anthony Morrison. Gamburyan also fought at WEC 44 winning a unanimous decision over Leonard Garcia (Brown also fought Garcia recently finishing him in less than 2 minutes). Gamburyan is 2-0 in WEC since dropping down in weight. This is a top contender fight. Brown has a 3" reach advantage.

R1- Brown came in about half way through the round and got caught by Manny. Manny then jumped on top with a bunch of hammer fists and the ref quickly stepped in. Very impressive finish by Manny. He hit him with a right hand and Brown just fell to the mat as his leg buckled. Good stoppage. Looks like Manny is next in line for Jose Aldo...errr the winner of Aldo and Urijah Faber.

Winner: Manvel Gamburyan by TKO (Strikes) 2:22


Bantamweight Fight- Brad Pickett vs. Demetrious Johnson

This is from the pre-show.

R1- Pickett hit a good left hand early. Pickett got a take down with three minutes left in the round. Johnson got back to his feet but immediately got taken back down. Johnson came at Pickett with a flying knee but instead ate a slam. Pickett trapped him in a crucifix but lost the position. Johnson hit a flurry at the end of the round but overall the round went to Pickett. Pickett seems a lot stronger than Johnson.

R2- Pickett is doing a good job timing Johnson's kicks and is doing a good job grabbing his leg whenever he throws a kick. Pickett got a take down with three minutes left in the round. Pickett picked up Johnson and slammed him hard with fifteen seconds left in the round. Pickett 20-18.

"I think Johnson might be the fastest fighter I've ever commentated"- Joe Rogan

R3- Johnson got a take down right off the bat. Pickett got back to his feet but Johnson landed several knees. Pickett got a take down with four minutes left in the round. Johnson got a take down half way through the round. Johnson got another take down but Pickett flipped him over. This round is all about the take downs. This was a really close round and Pickett might have stolen it from the judges due to controlling for the last minute or two. I've got Johnson taking the round but Pickett winning the fight 29-28.

Judges score cards: 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 in favor of Pickett

Winner: Brad Pickett by Decision (Unanimous)

Lightweight Title Fight- Ben Henderson (c) (11-1) vs. Donald Cerrone (11-2)

Ben Henderson is coming off of a third round Guillotine Choke victory over former champion Jamie Varner in January. Cerrone is coming off of a Rear Naked Choke submission victory over Ed Ratcliff in December. These two fighters fought for the interim Lightweight Title in October and all three judges scored the fight 48-47 in favor of Ben Henderson. I had the fight even at 38-38 going into the final round and I gave the final round to Cerrone and thought he won the fight 48-47. It was a really close fight. Cerrone has a 3" height and 3" reach advantage.

R1- Cerrone stuffed an early take down but Henderson took him to the cage and delivered some good knees and then completed the take down two minutes into the round. Henderson landed some Ground and Pound and then switched positions and shockingly pulled guard and tapped out Donald Cerrone with a guillotine choke. Ben SMOOTH Henderson with a fantastic fight. Cerrone has a huge bump on his right temple from a knee that Henderson landed. Very impressive performance by Henderson. He really served notice to the MMA world with this victory.

Winner: Ben Henderson by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R1 1:57

Featherweight Fight- Brandon Visher (13-0) vs. Tyler Toner (10-1)

This pre-show fight is brought to you by Ben SMOOTH Henderson and his early finish of Cowboy Cerrone. I've only seen Visher fight once, at WEC 45, where he KO'd Courtney Buck at the end of the first round. Tyler Toner I've also only seen once and it was on a Strikeforce on NBC 30-minute show where he beat Ricky Johnson by TKO in the 2nd round. Visher is undefeated.

R1- Toner landed a good combination that included a big left hand half way through the round that floored Visher. Toner landed some elbows to the side of the face and the ref stopped the fight. Not a great stoppage as Visher was still in the fight but on the other hand Toner was doing a lot of damage to Visher.

Winner: Tyler Toner by TKO (Ref Stoppage) R1 2:36

The Chad Mendes/Anthony Morrison fight from the Spike TV pre-show is re-shown.

Featherweight Title Fight- Jose Aldo (c) (16-1) vs. Urijah Faber (23-3)

Aldo's last fight was in November when he defeated Mike Brown in the second round by TKO. Aldo has not lost in 5 years and his last six fights have been finished by KO/TKO. Faber's last fight was a Rear Naked Choke victory over Raphael Assuncao. Urijah comes out to a big reaction from his hometown crowd. It was almost difficult to hear Bruce Buffer over the fans applause for Faber during the introductions. This is going to be a tough fight for Faber and I just don't see him winning this fight.

"I think this is the biggest ovation I've ever seen"- Joe Rogan

R1- Aldo threw a leg kick that tripped up Faber at the one and a half minute mark of the round. Aldo landed a good body punch. Not a ton of action as Faber is bouncing around and trying to close on Aldo but not having much luck. Faber jumped in twice and landed a couple of combinations. Faber went to the well one too many times and Aldo met him with a knee that briefly floored Faber as it caught him off-balance. Aldo landed a couple of kicks to close the round. Aldo 10-9 but fairly close as both guys are feeling each other out and Aldo really just letting the fight come to him.

R2- Aldo is landing some good leg kicks. Faber noticeably limps after an Aldo leg kick late in the round. Not a lot of action in this round but Aldo has hurt Faber's leg and put him at a disadvantage going into the next round. Aldo 20-18.

R3- Aldo continues the onslaught on Faber's legs early in this round. Aldo hit a good body kick. Aldo threw a kick and Faber tripped him up but Aldo quickly got to his feet. Aldo hit a good high kick and then started opening up on Faber with strikes and then backed off after Faber covered up and came out swinging. Aldo hit a good body punch at the end of the round and then chopped Faber down with a leg kick but didn't have enough time to go for the finish. As the round ended Faber had trouble getting to his feet and you could see one of his corner men pick him up to carry him back to the corner as the camera cut away. Faber is showing a lot of heart but Aldo is just picking him apart. Aldo 30-27.

R4- Aldo just continues to pepper Faber's legs and Faber goes down and almost invites Aldo to the ground so he doesn't have to take any more leg kicks. Aldo gets full mount and then takes Faber's back. Faber was able to spin out of the position and get back to his feet with three minutes left in the round. Aldo landed another leg kick and Faber went down and Aldo landed a couple of strikes before Faber clinched onto him on the ground. Aldo passed guard into a mounted crucifix position and landed some good punches and elbows to the face. Aldo just continually landing elbows to Faber's face. That's a 10-8 round for Aldo and I've got him up 40-35. Faber showing a ton of heart but Aldo is just on another level than Faber.

"If you look at Urijah's left knee it is unnaturally swollen"- Joe Rogan

R5- Aldo not even looking to strike in the first minute and a half of the final round as Urijah is the aggressor. Urijah went for a take down but was stuffed. Aldo landed a good body shot with about a minute left in the fight. Really tough round to score as neither guy really did anything but the score for this round is a moot point as Aldo dominated Faber tonight and wins this one in a runaway. Very impressive performance from Aldo. The only possible weakness is that he didn't do much in the 5th round so was he tired or just cautious due to him having a huge lead and his opponent being broken down from the leg kicks.

Judges score cards: 49-45, 49-45, 50-45 in favor of Aldo.

Winner: Jose Aldo by Decision (Unanimous)

The Leonard Garcia/Chan Sung Jung fight from the SpikeTV pre-show is shown next due to time left on the PPV.