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Urijah Faber helps Dana White breathe a sigh of relief

By Zach Arnold | November 11, 2010

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On one hand, Urijah Faber’s Bantamweight win over Takeya Mizugaki on Thursday night was largely predictable and expected. This certainly gave Dana White some relief knowing that the value of the UFC-WEC merger stays in tact. On the other hand, Faber choked out Mizugaki so bad that Mizugaki’s body was as stiff as a cinderblock after the choke was done. I give credit to Faber for staying still on the mat after the choke was released because any sudden, ill-advised move could have put Mizugaki’s health at risk. Thankfully the officials at cage side were able to help Mizugaki recover quickly. It was a scary choke and in such a position in the cage that it made Josh Rosenthal’s job very hard.

A few other takeaways from tonight’s WEC 52 event…

We are a week away from UFC 123 at The Palace of Auburn Hills and tonight was the first time that I actually saw a PPV ad for Rampage vs. Machida. The promotion is going to need a really, really strong week of hype to drum up more interest for the 11/20 show. I’m excited to see the show but it’s the casual fans that really matter.

Faber’s team continues to steamroll and win big in WEC fights. Will that success carry over to UFC?

Joe Benavidez’s win over Wagnney Fabiano was bittersweet. Benavidez fought a great fight and Fabiano fought a horrible fight. Fabiano is just a tease at this point, nothing more nothing less.

The WEC live 30-minute pre-fight and post-fight shows hosted by Molly Qerim with Ariel Helwani deserve a thumbs up. Molly is smooth on the mic and does a good job handling the flow of the shows. A pro. Check out her interview with Dana white. Feast your eyes on that monstrosity of a sweater the UFC President is wearing.

Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

8 Responses to “Urijah Faber helps Dana White breathe a sigh of relief”

  1. Chromium says:

    Horrible. Just horrible. That sweater is awful.

    Otherwise it was a pretty good interview, if a bit of a soft-serve.

    Sorry, I don’t have very much to add (Faber looked great, still fucking stoked about the merger, yada yada yada…).

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    1) Cruz was talking about on the pre-game show about going TUF with Faber if they both won. I think that makes the most sense. A way to hype both of them up to the UFC fans and give real exposure to the “little guys”.

    2) Rampage/Machida will be fine. UFC 122 be hyping that show the entire time. So will Wednesday’s TUF. That’s really all that is needed with a card with 4 big named fighters on it.

    3) Fabiano hype train is officially over.

    4) I loved the pre and post fight shows as well.

  3. EJ says:

    I’m pretty sure that Dana would have been fine either way, Faber has lost alot of his shine with multiple loses his importance overall is vastly overstated.

    Also I don’t know what you’ve been watching but they’ve been showing UFC 123 promos for weeks at a pretty good rate.

    • Zach Arnold says:

      I’m pretty sure that Dana would have been fine either way, Faber has lost alot of his shine with multiple loses his importance overall is vastly overstated.

      Couldn’t disagree more — he’s as popular as he ever has been. Last night was big.

      Also I don’t know what you’ve been watching but they’ve been showing UFC 123 promos for weeks at a pretty good rate.

      They’ve stepped it up this week. Here’s hoping for a big push.

  4. Ryan says:

    He’s been taking sweater advice tips from Fedor.

  5. 45 Huddle says:

    I think one of the most unnoticed things about the WEC recently is how well Todd Harris has been. His commentary isn’t awesome by any stretch of the imagination, but when he first started off he was downright terrible. The guy had no clue what was going on in the cage.

    Last night he was talking about specific striking and grappling techniques. And that’s really the most you can ask of a guy who does that sort of job. That he does his homework and improves.

    I wouldn’t mind seeing him doing the Fight Night shows and keeping Goldberg/Rogan for the number shows.

  6. edub says:

    I thought Cruz showed real promise with his analysis skills in the post fight show. He showed praise where it was needed and he picked certain aspects of fighters’ games apart at the appropriate times. I think it is a good gig for him.

    Also I thought Semerzier won, but could’ve gone either way… A draw probably woulda been the right call.

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