SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Dana White promised more money for WEC fighters. Tonight he delivered, handing out the biggest bonuses ever in the history of the WEC, to the tune of $65,000.
Manny Gamburyan KO’d Mike Brown for “Knockout of the Night”, Benson Henderson locked up a “Submission of the Night” $65k with a guillotine victory over Cerrone, and Leonard Garcia and Chan Sung Jung showed fans the 2010 version of “rock’em sock’em robots”, in a bout that not only captured “Fight of the Night” honors, but possibly even “Fight of the Year” consideration.
Gamburyan, who faced former featherweight champion Mike Brown on tonight’s pay-per-view main card, showed improved stand up and patience early in the bout. After Brown landed a flush right hand to the face of Gamburyan, “The anvil” uncorked a huge counter right hand that dropped Brown. Gamburyan made sure that Brown wouldn’t recover, landing big punches to the former champ forcing the referee to step in and stop the fight at 2:22 of Round 1.
Garcia and Jung engaged in a back and forth battle that will be water cooler talk for weeks to come. The fight was hardly a technical affair, but fans watching the preliminary card on SpikeTV were treated to an absolute slugfest. The momentum would continue to swing back and forth, and end the end, Garcia was named the victor, eliciting a chorus of boos from the crowd. Despite the controversial decision, both guys were rewarded with “Fight of the Night” awards, and a rematch is likely.
That Garcia vs. Jung fight was damn fun. Question: why do so many great fights have to result in guys abandoning all technique and gassing?