WEC 48 Review: Just what mma needed

Mma has been a mess this month. First was the Anderson Silva debacle and then right after that was the Strikeforce mess. Mma fans really needed a shot in the arm after those fights. Based on WEC's history, they were the exact organization to do it. It was their first ppv and of course they delivered. Big time! The prelims were free on Spike and were out of this world. Everyone from the fighters to WEC brass need to give Urijah Faber a big kiss on the mouth for being on their first ppv in Sacramento and fighting for the title in the main event. He alone put the butts in the seats. The arena was sold out and bananas. Fighters delivered. Fans delivered. Everyone won. WEC 48 is what people want to spend $50 on. If all mma ppv's were like that no one (except mma forum posters) would complain.

Prelims free on Spike.
WEC starts off it's 4 hour broadcast with the first hour free on Spike. Anthony Pettis started off fighting former TUF 1 contestant Alex Karalexis. Pettis once again shows that he is the real deal by socking up Karalexis on the feet. When Alex realized he didn't want to brawl any more because getting repeatedly kicked in the face is painful, he took Pettis down. Once there Pettis put on a TIGHT triangle that Alex tapped to. Pettis looked great and he is probably 1 big win away from a WEC title shot.

Since Pettis finished early they put Chad Mendes vs Anthony Morrison on. They did so because this fight was over just as fast as it started. I don't know what the lollipop guild known as "Team Alpha Male" are drinking up there in Sacramento but whatever it is sure makes them lightning fast, strong, and phenomenal wrestlers. Urijah, Benavidez, and Mendes are just clones of each other. All are five foot nothing with a tan, abs, and brutal grinding wrestling skills. That is exactly what Mendes showed. It was like watching a tan buff chinchilla that knows how to do guillotines. He ended it by guillotine in round 1 like he had a date to meet before round 2.

Leonard Garcia vs Chan Sung Jung. Initially my boy Cub Swanson was supposed to fight Chan Sung but for the 8th (yes, 8th) time he had a broken hand and he wasn't cleared to fight. So his training partner Leonard Garcia stepped up. The Bad Boy and The Korean Zombie put on the fight of the year. No doubt about it. It is only April but none will be better. This fight made Griffin vs Bonnar look like 2 kittens pawing at each other. Was this a technical fight? If technical means swinging wildly, enjoying getting punched, and throwing fastballs from the waist then yes it was. It was a fight mma elitests would hate. But it was a fan friendly no frills flat out nasty brawl. Dana White's twitter: "HOLY SHIT!" Yeah, it was like that. In a fight like that each fighter should just get the show money, win bonus, and the fight of the night bonus. Call it a draw because no one lost that fight. Forum members whining that Jung was robbed are on drugs. A robbery is Luke Stewart vs Andre Galvao or Matt Hammill vs Michael Bisping, not this fight.

PPV starts and it begins with Scott Jorgenson vs Antonio Banuelos. The mustache that Banuelos has makes me think he should be fighting in studded leather singing "YMCA". It was a close 1st round until Banuelos dropped Jorgenson giving him the edge. From round 2 on Jorgenson figured out Antonio's timing and really put it on him. For the next 2 rounds he beat the handlebar mustache off of Antonio and won the UD. Jorgenson vs Cruz next. I'll be pissed if Benavidez with 1 win gets it over Jorgenson who has won 4 in a row.

Shane Roller vs Anthony Njokuani was what it was. A wrestler in Roller took on a kickboxer in Njokuwani and did what a wrestler would do to a kickboxer. Not 1 punch thrown in the whole fight. Take down came immediately by Roller and sub came shortly after.

Mike Brown vs Manny Gamburyan. Did you know Karo Parysian is Manny Gamburyan's cousin? If you watched the TUF with Manny you knew he was because every episode he said it about 7 times. So Karo's cousin fought Mike Brown. Manny had no chance in this fight. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Right up until he ko'd Mike Brown in the 1st round. Just like that he is now the #1 contender to fight Jose Aldo. But we know he has no chance in that fight. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch.

Cowboy vs Bendo was last year's fight of the year that brought judging criteria into the mainstream wondering "What are these guys basing their scoring on? Subs? Escapes? Damage?" Since that fight judges are under serious fire because they never seem to ALL be watching the same fight that fans are. So the highly anticipated rematch went down and the long drawn out technical battle we saw between these 2 from before was obsolete as Bendo put his patented crushing guillotine on Cowboy in round 1.

Then came the main event. Hometown boy Urijah Faber vs Jose Aldo. This was 5 rounds of absolute leg kick domination. Aldo kicked Urijah in the thigh repeatedly and HARD. Personally, I felt Aldo may have been able to finish it in the 5th but he knew he had won and respected Urijah too much . There was no need to hurt him any more. It looked like he knew he had demoralized Faber. Even after Urijah's losses he never looked as defeated as he did last night. After Machida robbed Shogun from earning his title after getting dominated with leg kicks, judge Cecil People said 'Leg kicks do not win fights'. Urijah Faber would disagree.