After a month of lackluster events (Bellator not included, those cards were dope) WEC 48 was easily the event of the month and year. Never have I been so happy as an mma fan to see my picks go the wrong way. They nearly showed the whole damn card ffs, last years WEC 41 was my fave event from the WEC and last weekends show surpassed it. I am so geeked out over the card i will post my feelings and thoughts in list format

- We need Banuelos and Jorgensen 3

- Manvil earned his title shot by upsetting the unfocused former champ in Mike Brown

Njokuani will not go far as a 1 dimensional striker, even though he is a good 1 dimensional striker.

Roller vs Showtime Pettis needs to happen.

One Punch Pickett is a Brit with wrestling and submissions?! That’s unpossible.

Mighty Mouse Johnson is a good fighter and with a couple adjustments (tightening his striking to grappling transitions) will be a contender in the future.

Bendo is a top 10 (albeit 9 or 10) lightweight and is only getting better. His strategy of putting it to the notorious slow starter in Cowboy Cerrone quick fast and in a hurry shows he can execute a gameplan too. Smooth = Christ loving Beast.

I thought Visher was a beast by the beat down he put on Courtney Buck. But Toner picked his shots and put him out. Raw aggression can backfire sometimes I guess.

Now are you going to finally give Aldo his props & before I hear any “How do you not put away a wounded Faber” arguements nobody asked MTB about it when he couldn’t do it and Fabers hands were busted in that rematch. Faber is the new Big Nog ridiculously tough and still dangerous even when visibly hurt. Aldo knew going in he was facing probably the only guy who could keep up with his speed and immediately took that away from Faber. After he wrecked his leg you saw him try to find the one shot finish that never materialized. In the 3rd round he kicked him straight in the jaw, staggering Urijah, began to swarm and Faber rebooted and clubbed Aldo with a right hook that made the champ back off.

How Faber survived that 4th round crucifix onslaught is beyond me, a lesser fighter would have turtled up and quit from the 3 rounds of leg kicks much less the torrential downpour of elbows he received. I would also like to applaud Aldo’s body shots looked nasty as hell. I blame the 5th round on Rosenthal not breaking up an restarting the fight. Other than that it was one of the better 5 rounders I’ve seen. Fabers champion level heart, grit and cornermen carried him through the toughest fight in his career. But Jose Aldo is the man at 145 and I can’t wait to see his next performance.

What can I say about Garcia/Jung that hasn’t already been said while it was most certainly very entertaining. But people should give props to the Pickett vs Johnson and Banuelos vs Jorgensen bouts too. While the latter two bouts did not have the reckless abandon and disregard for personal health that Garcia and Jung had they were just as intense and way more technical. But mma elitist whining aside it was an insanely fun fight to watch. And should be placed alongside Bonnar vs Griffin 1 and Gatti vs Ward as one of the most brutal and enjoyable fights in recent memory, judging controversy aside.

That being said I am going to finish this post and re-watch some more fights. Regardless of ppv buys this was a quality card from the one mma org that rarely disappoints.

As a fan of the lighter weight classes and the WEC in general I am going to sit back and pick the ENTIRE CARD. Hopefully this event goes off without a hitch and all the fighters stay healthy and make weight. Now on to the picks.

PRELIMINARY CARD

Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung

Bad Boy Garcia is getting a gift stylistically in Jung. The Korean Zombie is a gamer who is known to wade through punches to initiate his game. Leonard is not the kind of fighter you let hit you at will, especially with his whiplash punches.

- Garcia starts the card off with a bang via TKO

Anthony Pettis vs. Alex Karalexis

In my first live mma event at WEC 47 I saw Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis kick Danny Castillo’s head off. I cannot in good faith pick against him.

- Showtime via Cemetery kick

Brad Pickett vs. Demetrious Johnson

In a battle of the cartoon nicknames we have the Brit ‘One Punch’ Pickett and Greg Jackson disciple Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson. This one will be a good high paced scrap & since I heard an interview with him earlier this week I am going with Mighty Mouse to save the day.

- Johnson via UD

Chad Mendes vs. Anthony Morrison

Even though I really like AntMo/Cheesesteak Morrison, Money Mendes will probably wrestle him to bits. I hope Anthony is able to make a fight out of it or even pull out the win.

- Mendes via UD

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Rani Yahya

Striker vs Grappler, Yay this match up has never happened in mma before/sarcasm. This fight is tricky to call with both fighters coming off pretty bad losses, this bout will be a testament to who can rebound and perform the best. Takeya may not be Yahya’s equal on the ground but is pretty good at staying out of trouble and boxing people up against the cage. Conversely Rani has poor striking defense but has to get in close and hug opponents to the ground or pull guard to initiate his world class bjj. If Mizugaki uses a stiff keep-away jab and times his counter right hook/cross he will win.

- Mizugaki via tko

Brandon Visher vs. Tyler Toner

Brandon ‘The Viper’ Visher is a beast. This will be my first time watching Toner and I wish him the best. But Visher is a fighter on the come up and expect him to make an example out of Toner

- Visher via Violation

MAIN CARD

Mike Brown vs. Manny Gamburyan

Now we start the televised portion of the card, the mma veteran and Judoka in Gamburyan has his work cut out for him. Mike Brown is a beast and probably the strongest featherweight in the division. While he may have problems with quicker opposition anybody who tries to plant their feet to stand and bang with Brown usually end up getting countered and while their brain is still rattling find themselves getting tko’ed or chocked out.

Manny won’t be dumb enough to get drawn into a slobber knocker as evident in his last fight with a frustrated Leonard Garcia. Expect the Manvil to try and turn this into a grappling match but to still lose against the former champ.

- Brown via TKO

Shane Roller vs. Anthony Njokuani

In a fight with title implications for the winner expect an intense scrap. Despite his collegiate wrestling pedigree Shane suffers the plight of all wrestlers getting into MMA, dealing with quality strikers. And Anthony Njokuani is as quality as you can get in the WEC’s lightweight division. Anthony will have to show off any improvements to his defensive wrestling and or offensive guard work if Roller decides he doesn’t want to deal with Njokuani’s stand up. I would usually pick a wrestler in this situation but Shane hasn’t convinced me that he is a world beater while Anthony does have moments of brutal brilliance.

- Njokuani via tko

Scott Jorgensen vs. Antonio Banuelos

In one of the most entertaining back and forth brawls of 2009 in WEC 41 we saw Scotty Jorgensen weather an eye poke and sub sequential beating against Banuelos in their first fight. Thanks to a quick finish in WEC 47 and fighter replacement Jorgensen is out to avenge his split decision loss (one that I believe he won). If Scott can put his hands on the quicker fighter in Antonio and knee the bejesus out of his ribs to slow him down me may be able to get a finish.

But the roommate of Chuck Lidell is anything if not scrappy as hell and will make Jorgensen work for every inch of his eventual win.

- Young Guns Jorgensen via hard fought UD

Co-Main Event

Ben Henderson vs. Donald Cerrone

In their first bout I picked Cerrone to get the interim strap, despite his slow starts and somewhat careless/reckless yet exciting approach to cagefighting. Having only seen him survive a guillotine and knock out Shane Roller I had written off Ben Henderson as just a tough wrestler with a hard overhand right. I was wrong, Cerrone was able to out strike Smooth only after he began to loose steam after wrestling and ground and pounding Cowboy in the first 3 frames.

If Cerrone has improved his wrestling and takedown defense he may have a chance. But seeing has defensive wrestling has always been the Texans Achilles heel I doubt he will be able to cover up the biggest hole in his game against a guy who is as pervasive in his wrestling and grappling ability in Bendo. Cerrone has to hurt and punish Henderson and do his damnedest to put him away. This fight is damn close to call but I’m going to go with….Cerrone I guess.

- Cowboy via TKO

Main Event

Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber

This fight will be an early fight of the year candidate, if I sound like a indoctrinated Zuffa zombie then to hell with it, I honestly believe this. In the heavier weight classes we have established divisions with known champs vulnerable to winning fights only to protect and prolong their legacy and doing so in less than exciting fashion. It is a simple case of success leading to stagnant and uninspired performances, winning for winnings sake.

Enter the WEC and the lighter weight classes, known universally in combat sports to be the more technical divisions. While not entirely devoid of the raw power and mainstream appeal of their larger brethren, the lighter guys would lose a bench press and popularity contest. But in regards to technique, tenacity and pure unadulterated speed you have to go with smaller guys and no two fighters embody those aspects more than Urijah Faber and Jose Aldo.

Faber the former champ but still the face of the division and most would say the organization wants to prove himself against in my humble opinion as some no name blogger to be the fastest one of the most dangerous men competing in mma today Jose Aldo. This will be Aldo’s first title defense and stylistically his toughest fight. The California Kid is very tenacious, unpredictable, crafty, kinetic, choose your superlative and or adjective it fits, Faber is tough match-up for any featherweight. In the new champ you have a very young fighter with lethal striking an unused but reportedly dangerous ground game, but what makes Aldo special are his unforgiving killer instinct and blinding speed.

In his title bout with former champ Mike Brown a man who holds 2 wins over Faber and was the only man to finish him. Aldo surprisingly started slow and proceeded to turn up his speed and chain his strikes to batter Brown in the first and then swarm and finish him in the 2nd frame with a tko. In the same fight we also saw that Aldo can defend take downs at least the ones of the bullying variety. While Fabers unorthodox style may give Aldo problems its his speed and wrestling that may be his best chance at victory.

Alas I have to go with the new champ on this one, no doubt this will be his toughest fight. But Aldo will remain the champ.

- Aldo via TKO rnd 2

Faber is focusing on his speed and wrestling to beat Aldo. I concur with that sounding like a solid gameplan with Faber being one of the few featherweights who can hang with Aldo in the velocity departments. Stylistically this will be Aldo’s toughest fight and we may finally see his highly touted yet rarely seen ground game.