It was delayed by a hurricane for two months, and further tarnished when a defending champion failed to make weight. It’s also been shown numerous times on Britain’s Extreme Sports channel since its debut last February. The show in question is WEC 36: Faber vs Brown—the first WEC show I’ve ever reviewed.
The broadcast began in the middleweight division as Jake Rosholt faced Nissen Osterneck.
This was another example of a great striker versus grappler battle. Osterneck came forward early with some combinations, and his strikes almost got him the win in the second round.
The only problem was that whenever he got the upper hand, Rosholt took him down and took the upper hand himself with some nice grappling, and it was this—allied with some effective ground and pound—that earned Rosholt the TKO win in the second round.
It was down to featherweight for the next fight as Jens Pulver went up against Leonard Garcia.
A part of Little Evil’s downward spiral, Pulver connected with a big left that staggered Garcia early on, but within a minute Garcia was unloading with the heavy leather. Pulver slumped to the ground against the cage, and the referee quickly stepped in to give Garcia the TKO win.
Then it was back up to middleweight as David Avellan took on Aaron Simpson—the blink and you’ll miss it affair of the show.
Just seconds into the fight, Simpson connected with an overhand right. Avellan quickly went down, with the referee stopping the fight after just 18 seconds, giving Simpson the knockout win.
The next fight was also meant to be in the middleweight division, with Paulo Filho defending his title against Chael Sonnen. But when Filho did the unforgivable and failed to make the weight, it was turned into a three round catch weight affair.
The story of this fight was simple. Filho wanted to go to the ground, but Sonnen was having none of it, controlling the fight with his boxing, making Filho get back to his feet after the champion invited him down.
It didn’t make for an exciting fight—and most of the time Filho seemed to treat it like a sparring session—so it wasn’t really surprising when the crowd broke out the bull***t chant.
No surprise with the judges decision as all three gave every round to Sonnen.
The main event saw Mike Brown challenging Urijah Faber for the Featherweight title.
An exciting fight saw Faber begin with a right/left combination, but just when it looked like the champion was about to up his game, Brown connected with a right that sent Faber down.
Brown followed him down to the ground, and with Faber offering nothing in response to the onslaught the referee stopped the fight, giving Brown what was considered an upset win.
It took a while for the UFC’s little brother to make it to British television, and it was a little disappointing that it happened after the company ceased to be, but it’s nice to finally see what the WEC is all about.
My first impressions were pretty good. WEC 36 was an enjoyable show, and although the Filho/Sonnen fight was disappointing, the other four made up for it.
So does this show get the thumbs up? Most definitely, and I’m looking forward to seeing another WEC show in the near future.
If you live in Britain don’t worry if you haven’t seen this show yet. At the moment, Extreme Sports seem to be showing this one every two weeks, so you haven’t missed a thing.
Although I do hope they start showing new WEC shows soon!
Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com.
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The two best 135-pound fighters in the world will square off some time later this year for the first ever UFC bantamweight title match in what should be a great showcase for what has quietly become one of the UFC’s most talented weight classes.