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Penick's WEC 36 Report 11/5: On-Going Coverage of Live Event on Versus By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Nov 5, 2008 - 9:07:02 PM
Hello again ladies and gentlemen, it's time for some more live MMA action, tonight coming to you in the form of WEC 36. WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho failed to make weight for this event tonight, and as such the scheduled Championship bout against Chael Sonnen has been changed to a three round non title fight.
FIGHT ONE: JAKE ROSHOLT VS. NISSEN OSTERNECK (MIDDLEWEIGHT)
PRE FIGHT: Both fighters are making their WEC debuts tonight, and both guys discussed taking the opportunity to fight on national television. Both guys will be looking to make an impression as there won't be a division in WEC for them after the year's end. Rosholt is a 3 time NCAA wrestling champion, so I'm sure we'll be looking for him to take this down quick.
ROUND ONE: Osterneck strikes first with a combination, but Rosholt rushes him back to the cage. Rosholt picks Osterneck up and slams him nicely. He tries to move into a mount, but Osterneck holds it off. Rosholt almost takes Osterneck's back, but he again gets out of that. He gets back to his feet and lands a bunch of shots onto Rosholt. Osterneck lands on a bunch more. Rosholt is not comfortable in the stand up. Osterneck lands a couple more and then Rosholt gets another takedown. Rosholt lands some hammer fists and then moves to the side. He lands a knee to the body, and then there's an awkward spot as Rosholt kneed Osterneck in the shoulder, and the ref stepped in and thought the shot was to the head. He realized his mistake and allowed them to get back to the ground. Rosholt stood up, avoided some up kicks and swung Osterneck's legs to the side and came down with a shot. Rosholt took side control and landed some elbows, and then Osterneck got half guard. Rosholt was moving toward a side choke as the round ended.
Penick's Scorecard: Tough to call. This is a tale of two fights here, with Osterneck the better fighter standing and Rosholt having control on the ground. I think Rosholt takes it with the takedowns and control. 10-9 Rosholt.
[Commercial Break]
ROUND TWO: Starts out the same as the last one, with Osterneck landing a couple of shots and then Rosholt takes him down. Osterneck then made a nice move and trapped Rosholt's arm. Rosholt was able to pop out and land a couple of shots. Osterneck landed a couple of kicks to the body from the ground. Rosholt made a couple of nice transitions to get back to position. He takes side control, but Osterneck is defending Rosholt's mount attempts nicely. Osterneck got himself back up to his feet and rocked Rosholt with a combination. He continues to punish Rosholt with shots and then slips on a kick. He gets back up and then gets taken down and winds up mounted. Rosholt starts throwing punches from the top in a tight mount. Osterneck tries to weather this barrage, but Rosholt stays on it and the ref is forced to stop the fight.
WINNER: Rosholt via tko at 3:48 of the second round.
STAR RATING: (**-) Some exciting spurts for a sloppy fight. Neither guy looked really good as an overall fighter, but Rosholt showed some very good ground game, and showed off a good chin as well taking the shots he did from Osterneck. These two are on the lower rung of the middleweight talent out there, but Rosholt's got a lot to work with with his wrestling experience.
[Commercial Break]
-We get a look at Bantamweight Champ Miguel Torres and they go through the challengers he's got at the Bantamweight division.
[Commercial Break]
FIGHT TWO: JENS PULVER VS. LEONARD GARCIA (FEATHERWEIGHT)
PREFIGHT: Garcia says Thursday everyone's going to know his name. He says he wants to let it all hang out and go at it. Jens said if he gets the space and the opportunity he'll break Garcia's jaw in half. This should be an explosive fight.
ROUND ONE: Garcia lands an inside leg kick for the first strike. Garcia got caught with a left from Pulver. They stalk each other around the cage a bit before Garcia lands one squarely to Pulver's jaw. Pulver is shaken a bit and gets caught with a few more shots before he can recover. He's almost out on his feet and then Garcia rocks him with a few more shots before the ref steps in and stops the fight.
WINNER: Garcia via tko at 1:12 of the first round.
STAR RATING: (**+) Very surprising finish, as Pulver's only featherweight loss was that war with Faber. He's always had a good chin, and Garcia rocking him so early like he did here is a testament to Garcia. Nice fight for him and a huge tko victory. If Faber retains tonight, Garcia will be next in line.
[Commercial Break]
POST FIGHT: Garcia says his actions speak louder than his words so he should get the Title Fight opportunity. Agreed. That man's got some heavy, heavy hands for 145 lbs.
[Commercial Break]
FIGHT THREE: DAVID AVELLAN VS. AARON SIMPSON (MIDDLEWEIGHT)
PREFIGHT: Avellan says it'll be a right hand or a rear naked choke that he finishes Simpson with. This is two more middleweight debuts into a division disappearing from the promotion. Interesting.
ROUND ONE: They exchange a couple of shots with neither landing clearly. They then both come in for a shot and Simpson knocks Avellan out with a right hand to the chin. Simpson landed a couple of unnecessary blows to the knocked out Avellan before the ref could step in.
WINNER: Simpson via ko at :18 of the first round.
STAR RATING: (**-) Good memorable knockout punch from Simpson, but there wasn't any time for anything more exciting to happen in the fight. That was a nasty right hand, though.
[Commercial Break]
POST FIGHT: Simpson said he's only been training for a year. He said he's added a second dimension and maybe he'll get the third with some jiu jitsu.
[Commercial Break]
FIGHT FOUR: PAULO FILHO VS. CHAEL SONNEN (MIDDLEWEIGHT)
PRE FIGHT: Paulo said he was planning to fight at 185 and he just failed to do it. Chael said his heart is broken, because he swore to his father "on his deathbed" that he would win the world title. Well, I guess the fortunate thing for him is the WEC Title won't mean a thing in three months. Paulo said Sonnen's reaction has given him more motivation coming in here.
ROUND ONE: Filho, rightfully, gets booed mercilessly from the crowd. It's unacceptable as Champion to not make weight for a title defense. As Jason Bent said in his article from today, Filho should have been stripped of the belt. Short feeling out process here to start before Filho shoots in. Sonnen sprawls nicely. Sonnen steps up and lands a couple of shots on Filho. Filho tries to shoot again but slips. Sonnen lands a couple of kicks and throws some punches down as well. Filho stays on his back for a lengthy period here, with Sonnen occasionally trying to throw a shot. Filho throws some kicks from the bottom, and grabs Sonnen's leg and almost rolls into a leg lock. Sonnen gets out of it and they go back to the same thing, with no advancement going to the end of the round.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Sonnen. That was an awful round. I have no idea why Sonnen just stood there allowing Filho to just rest basically on his back. Bad round.
ROUND TWO: Sonnen lands a couple of shots to the face of Filho early. Filho shoots in again, but Sonnen sprawls and then takes him down. He gets up and then backs off and lets Filho up as he should have donw last round. He lands a nasty leg kick and Filho goes onto his back again. Sonnen steps back again. Filho comes in with a high kick. Filho jumped up onto Sonnen, and Sonnen dropped down, slamming Filho into the canvas. He then stepped right back up and made Filho get up again. Sonnen steps around and lands a couple of nice shots. Another good leg kick from Sonnen. Filho shoots again, and Sonnen sprawls out again. Filho again goes to his back and Sonnen makes him stand again. Filho presses late with a high kick and a short combo. Sonnen lands a couple shots as the round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Sonnen. Much better than the first round, but Filho's just completely out of it in this fight. Sonnen's probably going to pick up a bittersweet decision victory if he doesn't finish Filho off in this third round.
[Commercial Break]
ROUND THREE: Sonnen lightly jabs as he steps back and forth on Filho here. He's not pressing hard, and he's not hitting hard at all. This is like a bad sparring session right now. Filho just drops and goes to his back again and Sonnen doesn't back off and throws some weak leg kicks. Just back off already. There you go. Sonnen taps some more shots onto Filho. He continues that a little bit more. Filho's just standing here, and Sonnen's just being content to tap at him slightly. The crowd starts a loud "bullshit" chant. Sonnen starts landing some harder shots. Sonnen comes in with a knee with :15 seconds left.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Sonnen. I don't know what the hell we just witnessed there. Filho was standing there and looking around at something random throughout that round, and he did literally nothing. I don't understand why Sonnen did nothing more than tap at Filho during that round. Neither fighter endeared themselves to Zuffa management for future UFC bookings from this one. Sonnen was so emotional about not getting the title shot for this fight that he should have been more pressed to finish this.
WINNER: Sonnen via unanimous decision.
STAR RATING: (*-) That was a joke of a fight. I honestly have never seen anything like that. For both fighters that was an awful representation of their skills. I just have no idea what to say about that right now. It was so bad they didn't even bother interviewing either guy after the fight. That was just a sad display for WEC.
[Commercial Break]
FIGHT FIVE: URIJAH FABER VS. MIKE BROWN (FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP)
PREFIGHT: Mike Brown says he's the stronger fighter, and says he's going to submit Faber. Faber says Brown's going to have to go through hell to get the belt.
ROUND ONE: Faber throws a front kick and then a high kick, neither connecting much. Faber comes in with a left and then a right. Another high kick from Faber. Brown lands a nice right hand and then pushes Faber to a clinch on the cage. Brown tries to grab a leg, but Faber grabs a muy thai clinch and lands a knee to the face. Brown gets him with a takedown but Faber pops right back up. Faber tried to throw an ill advised blind elbow and got dropped with a right hand. Brown jumped on him and started throwing bombs as Faber tried to cover up on his knees. Brown kept throwing punches under Faber to his face and continued throwing shots until the ref stepped in. Huge, huge win for Mike Brown.
WINNER: Brown via tko at 2:23 of the first round.
STAR RATING: (***) That's more for the shocking nature of the Champ getting knocked down like he did and the upset victory for Mike Brown. Disappointing for Faber, but it was just a strange, wild sequence with a wild swing trying to land an elbow that allowed him to get caught.
POST FIGHT: Brown said he just needs to perform like he does in training and he can beat anyone. He said he "fucking hits hard." Brown got emotional thanking his family and friends. That came through without censorship on Versus. Faber is gracious on his comments and said he just got caught, but he loves life and he'll be back. Brown needed help to get to the back, and he was in a lot of pain.
-That's all tonight for WEC, and I'll have more thoughts on this show on my Torch Audio Update later on this evening, so check back later for that audio. Also be sure to check out Jason Bent's column from today concerning Paulo Filho's inability to make weight for tonight.
