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Quick thoughts on WEC 11/5 Florida event

By Zach Arnold | November 5, 2008

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It was quite a mixture of emotions watching what felt like the end of the road for Paulo Filho. Here’s a pro-wrestling reference for you – it was like watching Shawn Michaels ‘losing his smile’, like we watched a fighter who had no interest in engaging in anything other than on the ground with Chael Sonnen. Sonnen played the fight smartly and did what he needed to do to win. I don’t blame him one bit for his strategy. It was fun to watch the crowd turn on Paulo Filho so fast.

It’s clear that Mike Brown got hurt badly (rib) by Urijah Faber, which makes Brown’s win over Faber even more impressive. For the casual fan, this win was shocking. I’m not sure how much the win elevates Brown in the eyes of the average MMA fan in the States, but it sure does hurt Faber and take away some of the shine off of him.

We know Faber lost to Tyson Griffin and now to Mike Brown. I’m not so sure how Faber would stack up against the top UFC fighters in the 155-pound division. He’s a great fighter, but I think we can say that BJ Penn is better than Urijah Faber right now. WEC, with legitimate reason, was pushing Faber as the best pound-for-pound fighter before the loss to Mike Brown. That slogan goes out the window.

Jake Rosholt’s stand-up game is awful. He will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the future, but wow is that stand-up attack brutal. He damn near lost to Nissen Osterneck.

Watching Jens Pulver against Leonard Garcia was sad. Garcia wasted no time in finishing him off.

Overall, a thumbs up to this show on Versus.

Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

28 Responses to “Quick thoughts on WEC 11/5 Florida event”

  1. Fluyid says:

    Mixed bag of fights.

    As far as Rosholt goes, I was shocked to see how many punches he took.

  2. Rosholt looked great at times on the ground but his striking is pretty awful – he’ll be ready for the UFC one day but not today.

  3. Fluyid says:

    YOSHIRO MAEDA VS. RANI YAYHA

    Result: Rani Yayha def. Yoshiro Maeda via submission (guillotine) — Round 1, 3:30

    DANNY CASTILLO VS. RAFAEL DIAS

    Result: Danny Castillo def. Rafael Dias via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 2:54

    CARMELO MARRERO VS. STEVE STEINBEISS

    Result: Carmelo Marrero def. Steve Steinbeiss via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

    JOSE ALDO VS. JONATHAN BROOKINGS

    Result: Jose Aldo def. Jonathan Brookings via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 0:45

    DAVID AVELLAN VS. AARON SIMPSON

    Result: Aaron Simpson def. David Avellan via KO (punch) — Round 1, 0:18

    DONALD CERRONE VS. ROB MCCULLOUGH

    Result: Donald Cerrone def. Rob McCullough via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-27)

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    First WEC show in a while that I thought wasn’t very good. Here are my thoughts:

    1. Jake Rosholt’s stand-up was horrible. He is a KO waiting to happen. Somebody who strikes that poorly typically won’t be able to learn them enough to be a top fighter.

    2. The Garcia/Pulver and McCullough/Cerrone fights went the way the WEC should have wanted. They have two fresh new challengers for titles.

    3. I thought the ref during the Filho/Sonner fight was bad. During the first round, Filho was in the butt scoot position for multiple minutes. Any competent ref would have made him stand up.

    4. Paulo Filho is officially off any credible Top 10 list until proven otherwise. I think their is something mentally wrong with him. And that isn’t a joke.

    5. Mike Brown beating Urijah Faber is not a big upset. It was Mike Brown who said Faber left himself too wide open during fights. He was right.

  5. D.Capitated says:

    Entertaining show for sure. I’m kinda bummed to see a guy like Faber lose. But there’s a reason why Roy Jones was able to hold his hands at his waist and everyone else couldn’t without getting KOed. Faber’s a great talent, but he turns out to not be as superlative as hoped.

    Filho defines wasted talent. Pulver is washed up. Maeda losing kinda bums me out given how good he is all around compared to the totally awful standup of Yahya. Donald Cerrone’s win sadly won’t be seen by anyone for about 4 months. Oh well.

  6. Kid Nate says:

    Did we watch the same event? That was the first WEC I’ve been bummed out by. It was just sad watching Paulo meltdown.
    Rosholt/Osterneck was a good one, agree on Jake’s bad striking.

  7. The Gaijin says:

    I would still like to see KID vs. Faber.

    WTF to Filho – get your life back together before you step back in the ring bro.

  8. D.Capitated says:

    Just because the results weren’t what you were expected often doesn’t make it a bad show. Outside of the Filho collapse, all the fights were the kind people like to see: lots of sluggin’, some decent grappling at times, and clean stoppage finishes.

  9. Zack says:

    “I would still like to see KID vs. Faber.”

    This is the most pointless “dream match” ever. You think Kid is going to come to America to fight in front of 5k people for 25k/25k or 50k/50k?

    Or do you think Zuffa is going to lease out the face of their secondary WEC product to go fight in FEG?

  10. The Gaijin says:

    Did I say anything regarding the economics of them fighting? I just said it doesn’t change the fact that I’d still love to see the fight.

    Maybe there’ll be a little less, “KID is so overrated and Faber is unstoppable.” talk though.

  11. D.Capitated says:

    Judging by the way Hard Rock looked, that fight would have to be in California to even hope to financially make sense. Unless, of course, dressing as red chairs is the hot new fashion in Central Florida.

    Honestly, after him losing, why not lease out Faber if someone’s willing to spend the money? Not like they haven’t done that before with guys Dana White had huge hardons for.

  12. skwirrl says:

    Urijah was doing his thing… Tried the Anderson Silva lunging spinning elbow and got caught viciously while doing it. It happens with that type of fight. Give his head some time off from the 20some unanswered punches and he’ll be back.

  13. Grape Knee High says:

    The idea that Filho’s loss has anything to do with his “head” and less to do with his lack of size at 185 — I mean 190 — is a bit funny.

    He is just too damn small at 185 to be consistently successful as a one-dimensional grappler in the US MMA scene.

  14. rainrider says:

    Some of the good Welter weight guys could have finished Paulo Filho tonight. Sonnen definately embarassed himself for not doing any damage to the guy who did not come to fight.

    I don’t know what’s been going on with Paulo because nobody from his camp tells the truth. Has he really gone Casius Clayed or is he just going thru bad times??? Arona and he might have shared the same cocktails that upset CNS

  15. EJ says:

    Sonnen dominated and exposed Filho as an overated fraud, how in the world is he embarrased?. Hopefully Zuffa will cut that overweight waste of talent and bring Chael back to the UFC where he belongs.

  16. The Gaijin says:

    I think it’s pretty obvious there’s far more to the Filho situation than, “he’s an overrated fraud”. Clearly the guy has some SERIOUS mental issues that are affecting him to a great extent.

  17. Kelvin says:

    I just took Filho off my top ten list…hopefully he can get some professional help with whatever is going on with him. Garcia ran through Pulver, who is flirting with gatekeeper status…how in the world was the Razor Rob/Cerrone fight NOT televised..while two newcomers in a division that’s going to be cut shown on the televised portion?

  18. […] FightOpinion: It was quite a mixture of emotions watching what felt like the end of the road for Paulo Filho. Here’s a pro-wrestling reference for you – it was like watching Shawn Michaels ‘losing his smile’, like we watched a fighter who had no interest in engaging in anything other than on the ground with Chael Sonnen. Sonnen played the fight smartly and did what he needed to do to win. I don’t blame him one bit for his strategy. It was fun to watch the crowd turn on Paulo Filho so fast. […]

  19. Nick M says:

    Filho may have some mental issues (or he may not) but why is no one acknowledging the obvious difference in the Japan Filho and the US Filho–that being the drug-testing policies of each country respectively…

  20. Ultimo Santa says:

    I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by people turning on Urijah Faber so fast.

    ‘Hardcore’ fans were calling George St. Pierre washed-up and overrated after he lost the title, and many were predicting a Fedor loss once he fought someone from the UFC like Tim Sylvia.

    Always entertaining, guys. You never disappoint me 🙂

  21. Grape Knee High says:

    I don’t think Filho was ever a fraud and while he does seem to have mental issues, I still do believe this lack of size and reach — not to mention his one-dimensional skill set — played into his loss to Sonnen.

    He lacks the ability and/or discipline to cut weight properly. He is already undersized for the American MMA scene. He is about Matt Hughes’ height and frame; in other words physically perfect for 170.

    He is just too damn small for 185; not enough height, not enough reach. He has no choice but to telegraph all his shots and when that fails, pull guard. That is not a consistently winning formula.

    Against people his own size (ie, 170 lbs), he has a much better shot at consistent success. But if he doesn’t have the mental make-up to even cut to 185, he’s *done* as an elite MMA fighter.

  22. Dave says:

    It is ridiculous to count Faber out after that fight. Seriously. Faber was showboating and defeated himself.

  23. IceMuncher says:

    Ultimo, what are you talking about? Who’s turning on Faber? I don’t see a single “overrated” or “washed-up” post. I don’t think anybody is counting him out in a rematch with Brown or in a dream fight with Kid Yamamoto.

    The only criticism I’ve read here amounts to “Faber leaves himself too open on his risky maneuvers and paid for it”, which is undeniably true.

  24. aiv82 says:

    I attended the show last night and the crowd did not turn on Filho. He was getting booed from his entrance all the through until he exited. I heard people screaming, “punch that fatty” and “throw a cheeseburger punch”. The boos got louder as the fight went on but they started when he entered the building. Once he left the ring, he went to the wrong exit directly to my left and security turned him around to correct exit.

  25. Ultimo Santa says:

    45 Huddle: “Mike Brown beating Urijah Faber is not a big upset”

    D.Capitated: “Faber’s a great talent, but he turns out to not be as superlative as hoped”

    Considering the sources, I consider both of these posts veiled insults.

  26. D.Capitated says:

    Too bad, I suppose. Maybe if Faber had his thinking cap on he wouldn’t have pirouetted into a punch, much less been hit all the other times he had been in the fight (remember how he got stuck up against the fence to start with?) etc. Raw talent is wonderful, but without the brain to back it up, its bound to get wasted.

  27. The Gaijin says:

    Exactly. What seems to be lost on everyone who is offering the “oh well he just got careless and ‘walked’ into a punch throwing the back elblow”, is that Brown was looking very good and the stronger fighter up to that point. There’s a reason Faber was coming off the fence in a vulnerable position (that he helped make more vulnerable).

  28. […] Brown’s win over Urijah Faber is even more impressive when you consider how badly Brown was apparently hurt by a rib […]

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