In case you were watching The Ultimate Fighter, instead of this great WEC card, the year of the featherweights continued. Jose Aldo was extremely impressive and finished Mike Brown in the second round. Also on the main card, Manny Gamburyan took a decision over Leonard Garcia.

Mike Thomas Brown (22-4) vs. Jose Aldo (15-1)
Every time the WEC featherweight title belt changes hands people are going to think there is a new greatest featherweight of all time. Jose Aldo might be that man. Aldo totally dominated Mike Brown, who has been extremely dominate in his own right. The Brazilian landed all of his strikes at will, and at the end of the fight he melted Brown with positional grappling and ground and pound. This was a very impressive performance for Aldo. Now the question is: who is there for him to fight?

Leonard Garcia (13-4) vs. Manny Gamburyan (9-4)
It is always good to see fighters competing in the right weight class. Manny Gamburyan was always too small for lightweight. His style plays perfectly into a smaller weight class. At this weight he can grind on his opponent and control position.

Leonard Garcia loves to brawl, and it is often effective for him. However, in order to really put a dent in the division he needs to starts refining his looping strikes.

With the win, it will be interesting to see where Gamburyan goes in WEC. A lot of people might think he is ready for a title shot, but he might need another win against a top contender.

Rob McCullough (17-5) vs. Karen Darabedyan (8-1)
This was a performance that shows what has become of Rob McCullough. He is so afraid of being taken down that he does not throw his hands and kicks with authority. The decision was entirely justified. All the rounds were clearly 10-9 for Darabedyan, and the only one that was maybe McCullough’s was the last round.

Darabedyan deserves credit for coming out and being able to take advantage of of McCullough’s weak strategy. Marcus Hicks could not do it. Now, Darabedyan gets another shot in WEC to show where he is in the division.

Danny Castillo (8-1) vs. Shane Roller (6-2)
In a fight that not many people thought he would win, Shane Roller put on the most complete performance of his young career. Recognizing that his chin is a bit hitable, Roller made an effort to keep it down and be defensive on the feet. Castillo had the better striking and used it to take round one. In the second and third Roller was able to take the superior positions on the ground, and finish with a rear naked choke in the third.

Roller may always be the forgotten member of Team Takedown, but he showed tonight that he is solidly improving. His grip strength in both his guillotine and rear naked choke is really outstanding. Roller should move into the top level of the WEC lightweight division. Fights against Benson Henderson, Jaime Varner and Donald Cerrone would be extremely interesting.

Will Kerr (8-1) vs Kamal Shalorus (4-0-1)
Despite having the terrible nickname “Prince of Persia,” Kamal Shalorus had an impressive WEC debut. Will Kerr did not want anything to do with the stand up, but he just circled away and failed to move his head. Eventually he was going to be caught. The referee stopped the bout after Kerr was dropped for the second time.

It is nice to see an improvement in the stand up game of Shalorus. Prior to this bout he had been known as mostly a wrestler after nearly qualifying for the 2008 Olympic games. It remains to be seen where he stacks up in the WEC. At 37 years of age he might not have many more good years left.

Leave a Reply