WEC 48: Aldo vs Faber & My Predictions
Jose Aldo defends his WEC featherweight title against former champ Urijah Faber in the main event of WEC’s first PPV event on Saturday. Faber is well known to MMA fans, and particularly in the WEC for his excellent submissions, strong takedowns, and lighting-fast hand speed. Faber is very quick and and innovative in the cage and always brings the fight full force to his opponent. He was considered unstoppable as the featherweight champ until losing his title in 2008 to the heavy handed Mike Brown. Faber went on to beat Jens Pulver and earned a rematch against Brown. In Faber’s second match against Brown he broke his hand in the first round but fought through all five rounds only to lose a decision and Mike Brown retained the title. Some began to wonder if Faber’s days as a top featherweight were finished. Faber was out of action for nearly a year before he finally stepped back into the cage on 10 Jan 2010 to face Raphael Assuncao. Faber showed the MMA world that he w
as far from finished with a dominant performance against highly ranked Raphael Assuncao, winning by rear naked choke against the ground specialist. With that victory Faber landed in the position to face the newly crowned champ of the division, Jose Aldo.
At just 23 years of age, Jose Aldo stormed into the WEC with 6 successive wins either by TKO/KO with three fights ending in the first round to include an eight second destruction of Cub Swanson. Aldo had earned a shot at the Featherweight title held by Mike Brown. At WEC 44 Aldo faced off against Brown, the fight started off uncharacteristic for Aldo who normally comes out firing. Throughout the first round Aldo took his time and picked his shots. Jose Aldo came alive in the second round, and began to make Mike Brown look like a lower class fighter as he took Brown’s back and rained down a series of blows on Brown’s head. Brown stayed covered up but didn’t do anything to get out of the bottom position, Steve Mazzagatti stopped the fight at 1:20 of the second round and on 18 Nov 2009 the featherweight division had a new champion. Now, before he has even defended his title once, many are claiming that his speed and dynamic striking are reminiscent of Anderson Silva’s dominance.
The fight between Faber and Aldo will no doubt bring fireworks to the PPV event as both fighters are known for their speed and aggressiveness. Faber, has a lot of experience and is very quick, he is one of the few opponents that Aldo should not have much of a speed advantage. Faber, who will be fighting in front of a hometown crowd in Sacramento has the added motivation of proving his time at the top is not yet done. Aldo, however, will also be motivated knowing that he is defending against a former champion and I am sure he will show up extremely well prepared. I think the fight will initially start off with each fighter respecting the other but begin to pick up towards the end of the first round as they both begin to become more aggressive . The second round will begin with both fighters scrambling for position and during these scrambles Aldo will catch Faber and swarm in on him landing blows until the fight is stopped. I do not want to completely rule out Faber as he has an excellent chance of catching Aldo in a submission as Faber should be the stronger fighter and he is the superior grappler/wrestler. Regardless of the outcome it is going to be a great fight.
Uriah Faber Vs Jose Aldo
Prediction: Aldo wins via TKO middle of 2nd round.
My quick Picks for other fights on the main card:
Benson Henderson vs Donald Cerrone
In a co-headlining bout, the Lightweight championship bout is a rematch between Benson “Smooth” Henderson and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Cerrone trains with Greg Jackson and Jackson is known for the game plans that he comes up with using his fighter’s strengths as well as taking advantage of the opponent’s weaknesses. Ben Henderson is extremely athletic with non-stop cardio and has displayed the ability to get out of tight submissions but with Cerrone coming out of a great training camp with excellent training partners has put him in the position to win this fight by using his toughness and standup to stay out of danger long enough to utilize his high level submission game to get the win.
Prediction – Cerrone by submission
Antonio Banuelos vs Scott Jorgensen
In a bantamweight bout, Antonio Banuelos takes on Scott Jorgensen in a rematch of a bout that Banuelos won by split decision. Since that fight, Banuelos has only won a decision while Jorgensen has went on to win three fights, one submission, one decision fight that gained Fight of the Night honors, and one TKO. Due to his activity and desire to reverse his previous loss, this match looks to be in Jorgensen’s favor.
Prediction – Jorgensen by decision
Anthony Njokuani vs Shane Roller
Anthony Njokuani has extremely heavy hands, in his last three fights he has won Knockout Of The Night honors. Shane Roller is a well-rounded fighter but should look to take it to the ground to minimize the threat of Njokuani’s power and try to catch him in a submission.
Prediction – Njokuani by KO
Manny Gamburyan vs Mike Brown
Ultimate Fighter veteran Manny Gamburyan has a background in judo and an excellent top game. Mike Brown the former WEC Featherweight champ, has excellent standup and wrestling. This fight is one of the more difficult ones for me to predict. If Manny can not get Brown to the mat it will not be long before Brown connects for the knockout but to many times I have underestimated Manny’s ability to win fights so this time I am going against the way things should happen and say that Manny establishes his takedowns and ground and pounds his way to a decision victory.
Prediction – Manny by decision
