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Alex Williams, MMATorch Contributor: (8.5)
I agree with Fightlinker.com: while it's hard not to think about "what might have been" if Urijah Faber had not broken one hand and injured his other, he still put on a terrific fight with Mike Brown. I had Brown winning 48-47, as I gave Faber the first and fifth rounds. Either man might be in trouble, though, against Jose Aldo.
How scary did Aldo look? I am reminded of a story I read years ago about David "The Crow" Loiseau. A reporter who had never seen him before was watching Loiseau roll through people at some grappling tournament. An observer, noticing that the reporter was impressed, said to him, "If you think his grappling's good, wait until you see his striking." This was a great line, a bit too good to use for a fighter like Loiseau. On the other hand, reverse it and it may suit Aldo well. He has been known in the WEC so far for his viscious knock outs, but if we think his striking is good, let's wait until we see his jiu-jitsu. He was a four-time jiu-jitsu world champion, winning for the last time as a brown belt before he started MMA. In the brown belt semifinals, he defeated Rubens Charles "Cobrinha", who has gone on to win multiple world championships at the black belt level. Aldo has recieved his black belt since then, too: from Nova Uniao, the same camp that gave BJ Penn his black belt.
Literally every other fight broadcast was entertaining. Even though he lost a close decision, I was impressed by Scott Jorgensen's crazy endurance. Jens Pulver was once a top pound-for-pound fighter, but he's lost 6 of his last 7 matches and has only looked good in two of them: his quick choke out of Cub Swanson and his points loss to Faber. With nothing left to prove, he was wise to consider calling it a career.
Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor: (10.0)
This was an amazing night of fights. Maybe I'm loopy from being sick, but that was an incredible show. 5 of the fights ended in the 1st round, that's insane. We got to see a flying triangle finish as well as a running knee finish, all in the same night. This is the type of show that makes you love MMA. Every single fight was awesome, or had an unbelievable finish. I'm running out of superlatives to lavish onto this show. I thought that the Strikeforce show was good, but this blew it out of the water. I really liked the Strikeforce card, but there's no denying the greatness of WEC 41. You're going to want to record the replay of this show, and keep it for posterity. There's so many moments from this show that will live on as Youtube clips for years to come. Aldo's flying knee will go down in MMA lore, as will Dikun's flying triangle. And that's not to take anything away from the other fighters on this show who had impressive wins of their own. Nothing I write could be as cool as this show was, go out and find the replay and watch it.
Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist: (9.0)
Great show from start to finish. A lot of quick finishes, but they were all fantastic. Mike Campbell must be having nightmares about persistent grapplers. First he fends off about a thousand submissions against Danillo Villefort, and now the same against Pettis. I do like both those guys as some depth in the lightweight division. Cerrone looked fantastic. I'm already picking him to unseat Varner in the rematch. You gotta feel for Jens. At least if he'd gone out and gotten his ass handed to him by a younger, stronger fighter he'd know it was time to hang 'em up. Instead he got guillotined in twenty seconds. I can't imagine the conflict going on in his head.
I think the WEC might have one-upped Bellator in the "...of the year" department in one night. Aldo's double-flying-knee KO is on the short list for "Knockout of the Year", and Seth Dikun's flying triangle is right up there with Imada's reverse triangle for "Submission of the Year". Speaking of Aldo, he might just be the man with the tools to unseat Mike Brown. It'll be pick-your-poison for Brown in that title defense. If he stays on the feet, he'll likely get picked apart, but if he takes it to the ground, Aldo's vaunted submission game will come into play. All four of Brown's career losses have come by submission.
The main event lived up to the billing, and its crazy to think how much better it would've been if Faber hadn't broken his hands. I was a bit frustrated by Faber's lack of knees and takedown/submission attempts, but after seeing the x-ray, I take it all back. How he managed to fight four rounds with that ridiculous break is beyond me. My only complaint about the show is that Jorgenson-Banuelos should've won fight of the night. Obviously there wasn't much on the line, and it was fairly one-dimensional, but it sets a bad precedent for your undercard fighters to tell them, "give it everything you got...but don't expect a bonus for it". I'm sure Brown and Faber will be/have been handsomely compensated for last night. Jorgenson and Banuelos could've used the $10k and notoriety much more. WEC has three fantastic match-ups to promote as card headliners in Torres-Bowles, Varner-Cerrone II, and Brown-Aldo, not to mention a possible Leonard Garcia-Urijah Faber fight which makes a lot of sense after Sunday night. Good time to be a fan of the lighter weights.
Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist: (8.5)
WEC 41 was a special card. We had what is likely or at least hopefully the last time Jens Pulver steps into a cage as he suffered yet another defeat; this one at the hands of Josh Grispi. In my opinion this says more about Pulver than it does Grispi, and I am not about to suddenly annoint Grispi as a future star based on his having beaten a clearly past his prime Pulver. However, this should grant him the opportunity to face a better caliber of opponent, and perhaps in the next year or two could prove he is indeed the real deal. All he proved on Sunday was that Pulver needs to hang them up regardless of fans still being willing to watch him fight.
Next up is Jose Aldo who scored a quick fire KO win over the durable "Cub" Swanson, and in doing so just continues to prove that he is, in fact, the real deal. Aldo has looked damned near "superhuman" in there, and he could truly be the one to surpass Faber and Brown to become a mega star at featherweight. His enthusiasm is contagious, his KO power is unrivaled and his time is indeed now. A Brown vs. Aldo bout will do more than satitate the masses before we ever see Brown vs. Faber III.
Which brings me to the main event of Faber vs. Brown which did more than live up to its billing and sent the stock of Brown through the roof. For a lot of fans it had seemed as if Urijah Faber were this unbeatable featherweight dynamo and that Mike Brown scored a fluke victory over him. This bout was seen as Faber's return to claim the title so many felt was his to begin with. Brown, in dominating Faber over the course of five rounds, showed that he is for real, Faber is human and it is possible that for as long as he competes in the WEC that Faber may never again hold the Championship. Brown almost shut out Faber in holding onto the belt.
I want to see Brown vs. Faber III no matter what happens within the division. With Brown, Faber, Aldo and Fabiano to go along with the recently acquired Manny Gamburyan who might be able to do a little damage here. Toss in Leonard Garcia who could have a chance to knock any of the aforementioned fighters out and the WEC featherweight division is white hot.
Manny Gamburyan scored a victory over John Franchi on this card and Donald Cerrone submitted James Krause in his fisrt fight since his epic clash with Jamie Varner.
The one thing lacking is the feel. The WEC feels minor league. Perhaps the bulk of this is due to Versus network not really giving anything a big league feel but Zuffa needs to pump a little more money into this organization and alter the perception of it as a lighter weight and minor league UFC to those who are not hardcore fans. The fighters on the WEC roster deserve much more and I think with more of a big show feel it could help make these great fights seem even better or at least draw more eyes to the product. I mean, seriously, the "tribal tattoo" show opener needs to disappear and never, ever be seen again. It is godawful and looks like something you would use to open up an "extreme sports" event on Versus and not a high caliber MMA event.
Urijah Faber isn't nearly as special as everyone had initially thought, but in losing twice to Mike Brown it creates two true superstars in the division and the WEC is more special than ever. I would give a higher rating but took no pleasure in seeing Pulver throttled and the overall production of the event made it feel like the WEC is a second class citizen even though they have first class fighters at the minimum weights. I would be a little less hard on this organization for their production values, but since they are a Zuffa organization I must hold them to a higher standard due to the fact they are the minimum weight UFC.
Shawn Ennis, MMATorch Senior Columnist: (9.0)
Fight of the Night was undoubtedly Faber vs. Brown in what was my pick for Fight of the Year so far. There are almost no gripes with this show. It was a must-see event with a spectacular main event that lived up to the billing with drama, competitiveness, and well-rounded fighting. One of the great things about this card was that everyone who won his fight gained something from it. All of them looked good, and Scott Jorgensen even looked good in defeat. For another thing, we got seven total fights, two of which went the distance and were fantastic, with the other five not making it out of the first round with excellent, clean, decisive finishes.
Hopefully this was the event to put WEC on the map with good ratings, because not only did they build up the guys who fought, like Aldo, Banuelos, Grispi, et all, but they also got some good plugs in for the Varner-Cerrone rematch (with Cerrone adding some fuel to the war of words fire with Varner) and Torres-Bowles. The crowd reaction for Torres was really nice as well during their segment. If they got enough eyes on this
show, hopefully those same people will stick around for the next one. The problem is that with so much time between events and Versus being a tiny, tiny network, it's really hard to get momentum going into events.
All in all though, if you missed this show, find a way to watch it immediately. If you're an MMA fan, you need to see it.
As a side note, I cannot wait for Brown-Aldo and possibly Faber-Grispi. The featherweight division in the WEC right now is insane.
Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief: (9.5)
This was an exhilirating card from start to finish. Arguably it's the best show the WEC's ever put on, with seven fights airing on Versus and all of them being exciting in one way or another. With a number of "holy s**t" moments as well as an epic "Fight of the Year" contender in the main event, WEC 41 set a high standard for even themselves going forward this year.
Josh Grispi's the real deal. That's not by virtue of beating Jens Pulver. He was the real deal before this fight and it was simply confirmed with an extremely astute guillotine that he locked in while being driven back and taken down. At 20 years of age, Grispi still has plenty of time to develop even further than where he's at, and he's going to be a star in this sport. For Jens, I'm with Matt in the idea that this is a tough spot for him. He did get caught in quick fashion, so if that hadn't happen who's to say he wouldn't have had a good fight, or a complete ass-kicking, to tell him one way or another about what to do with retirement. Because of the quick finish it's hard to say he's done and should hang them up, as many can and have gotten caught like that. Still, he's now 1-6 in his last seven fights, and that simply speaks volumes.
Donald Cerrone, if he has improved his takedown defense even more after this fight with James Krause, may very well be the WEC Lightweight Champion by year's end. Cerrone isn't going to be finished, at least not without an unbelievable effort from Varner. He wasn't able to pull it off the first time. I can't wait for that fight.
The undercard fights were all exciting and action packed. The Jorgensen-Banuelos fight was an absolute blast, and they hardly let up through three rounds. I still believe Jorgensen won that fight though. Then the submissions from Dikun and Pettis were things of beauty themselves. The flying triangle is absolutely right up there with Toby Imada's reverse triangle for "Submission of the Year"
Jose Aldo is scary. That flying knee was sick, and he connected with both knees on that attack. The gash he opened up on Cub Swanson was bad; and the fact that we still haven't seen him tested on the ground is insane, because he's a jiu jitsu black belt himself and shouldn't feel out of his elemtn there. He's a scary challenger and a fight with Mike Brown will be an extremely welcomed title fight in 2009.
Speaking of Mike Brown, I don't know if even Jose Aldo will be able to topple the man. No one gave him the respect he in retrospect absolutely deserved going into that first fight with Urijah Faber. They didn't give him the respect when he beat Leonard Garcia. The man's got everyone's attention and respect now, however. Even though Faber broke his hand early in that fight and gutted through the remaining four and a half rounds, Brown proved his physical dominance in the 145 lb. division. He constantly stalked Faber down and pressed the action with takedowns and punches. It was an extremely solid, if conservative, performance and one that showed he's got the chops to hold onto that title for awhile. That said, with Aldo now set to contend, he needs to be prepared for getting hit as hard as anyone in the division will hit him as well as using his size smartly, as on the ground he'll be in a different game with Aldo than he was with Faber.
WEC simply put on another great free show for the fans. It was everything they could have hoped for and perhaps more. They've got multiple fights that they can set up out of these results, and the featherweight division is looking better than ever. With all of the big events UFC has been and will be running this year, the WEC is continually putting out a quality product with great fighters and exciting action themselves. Can't wait for August and Miguel Torres in action once again.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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