WEC 48 (Faber vs. Aldo) to be on PPV

[cowboyronnie]

Garcia...Jesus. How do you even wing punches that fast? They're generated from the shoulder somehow.

That was an amazing fight. Korean Zombie did beautifully walking forward looking for the clinch knees.

[Cammo101]

Did Aldo show mercy? I sort of think so.

Faber is done. I don't see much left in his career. His unorthodox style won't cut it anymore with all the technical fighters. Essentially, Faber excels at nothing and it shows now that the WEC has better fighters in it.

Disagree.

This wasn't entirely Urijah being outclassed, there was unfortunate strategy as well. Using teeps and not checking leg kicks both resulted in that leg getting pounded. He needed to focus his front leg on checking and forget about exposing the lead with big front kicks from his back leg. He was massively damaged within 2 rounds.

Clearly Faber is no Aldo, but I don't think his career is over or anything. He just outclassed a top 10 145 in Assuncao not 6 months ago. Faber may no longer be the biggest thing at 145, but he is still in the top tier.

[cowboyronnie]

His TDs and guard passes were always impressive. He needs to take things to the floor. And the clinch.

Aldo kept him at distance, and it the perfect strategy.

[REDDzone]

Cammo took the words out of my mouth about Faber, dude just beat Assuncao handily and Assuncao is a veryyyyyyyyyyy game fighter.

Faber is no Aldo, but he is not done IMO.

[High 5]

I didn't get to see Garcia/Jung live, but that really was a terrible decision. Rounds 1 and 3 were definitely Jung's, and you could even argue 2. (I gave 2 to Garcia, though) At least he got the FOTN bonus.

[SDM]

On second viewing, the Garcia/KZ fight is much closer than I initially thought. Both men have such unbelievable chins that you start to ignore the shots that land flush and focus on the offense of the fighters, solely. I thought Garcia did a little more to win in the last two rounds. KZ was always moving forward, but he did throw a lot of weak feeler jabs and then would retreat and repeat. I don't know if I can give him aggressiveness points for those exchanges.

[Cammo101]

Cammo took the words out of my mouth about Faber, dude just beat Assuncao handily and Assuncao is a veryyyyyyyyyyy game fighter.

Faber is no Aldo, but he is not done IMO.

In that same vein, I think it is far too early to anoint Aldo as unbeatable. Sure, he looks like a world beater now. But Miguel Torres looked this impressive not too long ago and now he is coming off 2 losses. For every true GSP style monster there are 5 or 6 guys who get anointed as unbeatable long before they prove they are.

[singh_shady]

Cammo took the words out of my mouth about Faber, dude just beat Assuncao handily and Assuncao is a veryyyyyyyyyyy game fighter.

Faber is no Aldo, but he is not done IMO.

In that same vein, I think it is far too early to anoint Aldo as unbeatable. Sure, he looks like a world beater now. But Miguel Torres looked this impressive not too long ago and now he is coming off 2 losses. For every true GSP style monster there are 5 or 6 guys who get anointed as unbeatable long before they prove they are.

Good point with Torres. To a lesser extent Machida could be placed in that category as well

[cowboyronnie]

Agreed. Faber was widely considered top 5 P4P during his reign, then it was Brown - also considered a pound-for-pound force. Torres, f*** I had him #2 behind only Fedor. People were calling for him to move up to face BJ.

Who knows about Aldo?

[SDM]

99% of the division would lose back-to-back fights to Brown and Faber.

[El Hardee]

Aldo is not the flavor of the month, he is on beast status. Even when Torres was getting jocked he was still absorbing punishment and winning some close fights. Aldo fought the 2nd most explosive fighter in the world and didnt even get touched, that is amazing. Torres has been around for awhile Aldo is still a kid 22? I heard the kid comes from a very poor upbringing and would be the 1st one at the Nova Uniao gym with one pair of shorts and a sack lunch, and would stay there all day till they kicked him out, thats love for the game. In the dressing room before fights he is easily the most relaxed fighter just chillen listening to music, no stress. I think this kid was just born to fight and will go down as one of the GOAT. Skill, desire, poise, discipline he got it all.

[Cammo101]

Aldo is not the flavor of the month, he is on beast status. Even when Torres was getting jocked he was still absorbing punishment and winning some close fights. Aldo fought the 2nd most explosive fighter in the world and didnt even get touched, that is amazing. Torres has been around for awhile Aldo is still a kid 22? I heard the kid comes from a very poor upbringing and would be the 1st one at the Nova Uniao gym with one pair of shorts and a sack lunch, and would stay there all day till they kicked him out, thats love for the game. In the dressing room before fights he is easily the most relaxed fighter just chillen listening to music, no stress. I think this kid was just born to fight and will go down as one of the GOAT. Skill, desire, poise, discipline he got it all.

I don't disagree with you, but I do think that people are far too quick to anoint fighters as unbeatable.

[cowboyronnie]

You could have made just as strong a case for Torres. Older, but his work ethic and rate of improvement was just as well-touted. He was driven, he was focused and his skills were as comprehensive as they can get. I can think of only one instance of seeing him clinch against the cage, but the set of elbow strikes he threw were unreal. Upkicks from butt scoot...whatever it was, he had it in a world class form.

I don't know if I should be using past tense.

There's something about the 135/145 divisions, they haven't sorted themselves or something, IDK - maybe there's just more variables during a fight when you're of a lighter weight, and becfause of that anyone can lose a fight. The latter might be the theory I believe the most.

Add Kid Yamamoto to the list of world beaters at 145. Kid, Torres, Faber - all universally declared pound-for-pound forces at one time or another. Brown too, though less universally.

[CPT]

I think it's true that the 135 and 145 pound divisions are still working themselves out, though I'm not sure the lighter weight classes lend themselves to upsets any more than the others. If anything, I think the relative lack of KO power in the smaller fighters leads to fights that see the more skilled fighter winning more often. Maybe that's only compared to HW, because the only examples I can really think of are Carwin and to a lesser extent Lesnar.

That all being said, I think Aldo has looked much more impressive than anyone ever has at either weight class. Kid Yamamoto pre-injury being the possible exception. Hindsight is 20/20, but I think a lot of the hype around Faber and Torres was because they were winning exciting fights, which is great, but it means they were back and forth to some extent, and their opponents were doing some damage, maybe taking a round or two here and there, but more importantly, landing significant offense. Aldo may have actually lost the first round to Faber (I don't think so, but I think some of the judges may have given it to him), but Faber's attack was not significant.

I think Aldo could be vulnerable in the future, especially to a great wrestler who will actually use it (Chad Mendes?), but to this point, he's looked about as dominant as possible, and I think he should get full credit for it. The possibility that he could be beaten is the reason I don't see any need for him to move up, when he hasnt really come close to cleaning out the division.

[cowboyronnie]

I'm a little disappointed in just 65k per for FOTN. For an all-time banger leading right into a premiere PPV...that fight was way more valuable than 65K. The extra PPV buys it stimulated were surely worth way more than that, not to mention the water cooler talk on Monday that will put the WEC on the map.

[El Hardee]

I'm a little disappointed in just 65k per for FOTN. For an all-time banger leading right into a premiere PPV...that fight was way more valuable than 65K. The extra PPV buys it stimulated were surely worth way more than that, not to mention the water cooler talk on Monday that will put the WEC on the map.

Did Zombie and Garcia have to split the 65k?

[cowboyronnie]

Jose totally showed mercy once he knew the fight was in hand (4th/5th). In the presser afterwards, he talked about being remorseful that Faber had to go to the hospital and that any fighter would have to go to the hospital. He was genuine.