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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Last night's WEC show contained the good, the bad and the ugly that comes along with most of their events. The main event was a standout performance by one of the best fighters in the sport, Miguel Angel Torres. The Bantamweight Champion easily picked apart his challenger with superior reach and some greatly selective striking, leading to the knockdowns and the tko.
After that you had Brian Bowles picking up a very nice submission victory after some really good stand up between the two throughout. The victory vaults Bowles up into the top list of challengers for Torres's Title, and Ribeiro himself looked like he'd probably take out most of the division outside of the top four or five.
From there we got two fights that didn't really feel like mixed martial arts contests. The Fabiano vs. Tamura fight was more along the lines of a grappling/Jiu Jitsu competition, which while at times it was entertaining to watch the chess match between the two it was not what MMA is about. Then the fight with Joseph Benavidez and Danny Martinez seemed more like a sparring match. Martinez did almost nothing in the fight outside of the final seconds of rounds two and three. Worse than that was the fact that while Benavidez was given the opportunity to pretty much fire at will, he didn't do much damage and did just enough to keep active and look like he was dominating the fight.
So that was the fights themselves, which in all honesty the show was probably better than the televised portion of WEC 36, but the Fabiano and Benavidez fights just ended up being disappointments. Then on top of that, the crowd was one of the worst I've heard for any "major" promotion in a long time. They were quiet pretty much throughout, they had seemingly no energy or patience to watch the under card fights and they were only slightly more enthused for the main event. I've seen more rabid fans at a PeeWee hockey game with twenty people in the crowd than we had last night for a nationally televised event.
After that show finished, and it once again ran over the two hour time forcing it to overlap with The Ultimate Fighter, it was time to take in the semifinal fights on the aforementioned program. If you would have asked me in the last couple of weeks who I wanted to see in the finals of this competition, only one of last night's winners would have been involved. Instead of a fight that would have been very competitive and exciting between Eliot Marshall and Krysztof Soszynski, we're going to see a light heavyweight final between Ryan Bader and Vinny Magalhaes. Don't get me wrong, I commend both fighters for picking up victories in their fights, and they did what they needed to do to win, but as a spectator that's just not a fight that excites me. Vinny will defeat Bader for the simple fact that Bader's strength is on the ground and that's where he'll get submitted by a much more talented Magalhaes.
Then in the lightweight finale we have Phillipe Nover against Efrain Escudero. With what went down with Junie Browning on last night's final episode, Nover emerges as the best lightweight in the house. His sound victory in the semis showed once again that he one of the most sound fighters to come through the TUF house in quite some time. I wholly expect that Phillipe Nover will be crowned the winner for the lightweight division in this eighth season of TUF.
Now back to what happened with Junie. I'll start off with the fact that I think Browning's got tons more talent than everyone in that house save for Nover. At the same time, he should have been kicked out of that house on far too many occasions, and the way things went down with him in that semi final fight was disturbing. I don't care that Dana thought Junie was looking for a way out; he needed one. Not everyone is cut out for the cameras and the atmosphere of that house, being around other fighters 24/7 with tensions rising and pressure mounting. Clearly Junie Browning was not ready mentally for the challenges he was facing on this show. That was made clear in the first few nights on those episodes where he was already going over the edge with alcohol and clear behavioral issues.
I'm not a medical doctor, so I can't make this diagnosis with any certainty, but Junie was showing signs of bipolar disorder throughout this season. I've seen the effects of this condition up close and personal, and the highs and lows that Junie was experiencing combined with the mood swings and hearing the comments he was making about himself lead me to believe that he's got the disorder outright or at least something similar. Take that into account and add the pressures in the house and the tension built over several weeks and even a dormant condition can be brought to the forefront.
Junie Browning had no business being allowed to fight in that semifinal with Efrain Escudero. Yes he was looking for a way out, and Dana should have given it to him. A fighter needs to have a clear head to be in that cage and compete. We've seen what happens when a fighter breaks; just look at Paulo Filho's last fight and try to convince me he was mentally there for it, or look at the Rampage incident this summer. Junie was at the breaking point in the house, and no "justice" was served by feeding him to Efrain when he wasn't going to be all there for the fight.
Frank Mir and the trainers sat and bitched after the fight about how Junie wasn't listening and about how difficult Junie was throughout, and Frank was taking pleasure in the fact that Junie got beat. We get it, he was difficult, you don't like him, etc. It made me sick. Browning didn't want to be there, he mentally wasn't ready for that fight no matter what his mouth said, and it was very clear in that fight that he wasn't all there. Having him fight Efrain was on all accounts a petty way to allow Dana White, Frank Mir and everyone else in that house who had a problem with Junie to see him "get what he deserved." Dana White confronting Junie by saying, "I don't know if you're retarded, bipolar," and whatever else he came at him with was disgusting. Dana may not have had an exact diagnosis, but he sure as hell knew something wasn't right; and he facilitated Junie's actions and demeanor by not kicking him off the show earlier.
I say this again, I think Junie Browning's got a ton of talent as a fighter, and I think with the right people surrounding him he can succeed in this sport. This show was not the correct path for him to success, at least it didn't allow for him to train in a way that worked towards his personal development. Not everyone can handle the unique atmosphere that a house full of fighters that need to fight each other presents.
Dana asked Junie, "what are you going to do when you get to the UFC, then?" I'll tell you what he'll do, he'll train with people he's comfortable with, and he won't have to go home to a bunch of guys that he has issues with in a house full of alcohol. It won't be the same problems surrounding him that he's had in that house throughout this season of the show. From his own accounts, he never acted that way at home, and from what I've seen and heard from him in his time since is that he's stopped drinking and he's getting things straightened out. We'll find out how effective that will all be when he faces Dave Kaplan next Saturday, but I'm still sickened by how things went down on that show last night.
You can't overlook mental issues in fighters, as it's far too important not only for their performances in the cage or the ring, but for their overall well-being as well. The way Dana White handled the Junie Browning situation was wrong from the moment he let them stay in the house the first time, and it was made so much worse with what transpired for that semifinal bout. We can only hope that Junie truly has gotten things together in his life, as from a spectator standpoint he's got the tools to be an exciting and entertaining fighter. None of that matters, though, if he's too messed up to do what he can.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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