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MMA Top 10 Featherweights: Jose Aldo Moves to the Top

Posted: Nov 19th 2009 11:52AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: DREAM, WEC, Sengoku, Rankings, Featherweights

1 COMMENT

Wednesday night's Jose Aldo vs. Mike Brown fight shook up the featherweight division in mixed martial arts. When I interviewed Brown last week it looked like he was close to clearing out the featherweight division, but now that Aldo is the World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion, the division is a lot more interesting.

Who will get the first shot at Aldo's title? I think it'll be the winner of the WEC 46 bout between Urijah Faber and Rafael Assuncao, and I think Manny Gamburyan's win over Leonard Garcia on Wednesday night makes him a player in the featherweight division, too.

My featherweight rankings are below.

Continue Reading MMA Top 10 Featherweights: Jose Aldo Moves to the Top

Jamie Varner, Ben Henderson to Unify WEC Lightweight Titles at WEC 46

Posted: Nov 2nd 2009 6:23PM by Ray Hui (author feed)
Filed under: WEC

1 COMMENT

WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner will fight interim titleholder Ben Henderson to unify the belts at WEC 46 on Jan. 10 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., the WEC announced Monday. Also, former champion Urijah Faber will fight Raphael Assuncao in a featherweight bout.

"The world title bout between Varner and Henderson is a perfect way to start off the New Year," WEC general manager Reed Harris said in a press release. "The title fight, plus the return of Urijah, makes this an instant winter classic."

Continue Reading Jamie Varner, Ben Henderson to Unify WEC Lightweight Titles at WEC 46

After Move and Medication, Jens Pulver To Return To WEC Cage in 2010

Posted: Oct 30th 2009 10:02AM by Mike Chiappetta (author feed)
Filed under: WEC, FanHouse Exclusive

3 COMMENTS

Jens Pulver is planning to bring a little evil back to the WEC cage one more time.

The former UFC lightweight champion and MMA legend, who has not been heard from since losing to Josh Grispi in June and was assumed to be finished as an active fighter, plans to return to featherweight action in early 2010, he told FanHouse.

"I'm going to fight again," he said. "And I'm about as confident as I possibly can be."

Continue Reading After Move and Medication, Jens Pulver To Return To WEC Cage in 2010

Jeff Curran Signed to Fight on Strikeforce: Fedor-Rogers Undercard

Posted: Oct 20th 2009 12:57PM by Ray Hui (author feed)
Filed under: Strikeforce

3 COMMENTS

Former WEC contender Jeff Curran has signed with Strikeforce to compete on the undercard of the Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers event on Nov. 7 in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Curran (29-12-1) was released after four consecutive losses with the WEC. But it's also important to note that the losses came against Urijah Faber, Mike Brown, Joseph Benavidez and Takeya Mizugaki -- arguably four of the toughest assignments for a lighterweight fighter, all in a 20-month period.

Continue Reading Jeff Curran Signed to Fight on Strikeforce: Fedor-Rogers Undercard

WEC Eyes Pay-Per-View, Reality TV

Posted: Oct 2nd 2009 4:35PM by Ray Hui (author feed)
Filed under: WEC

1 COMMENT

Pay-per-views and a reality television show are still in the plans for the WEC to further its viability as the lighter weight version of the UFC.

WEC general Reed Harris said Thursday that the WEC is actively looking to enter the pay-per-view market in 2010, but when will all depend on how effective it is in the near future when it comes to building anticipated fights through its free telecasts on Versus.

Continue Reading WEC Eyes Pay-Per-View, Reality TV

'Fight Night For Heroes' Presents First-Ever MMA Fights in Iraq

Posted: Sep 4th 2009 2:03PM by Mike Chiappetta (author feed)
Filed under: Fighting

4 COMMENTS

Right now in Mosul, Iraq, there are soldiers preparing for a different kind of fight. Not the kind with guns and bombs and IEDs. But mixed martial arts.

It's no secret that MMA is wildly popular among the U.S. military, who are taught hand-to-hand combat and share a kinship with the fighters. Many MMA fighters, including BJ Penn, Urijah Faber and Kenny Florian have traveled to the Middle East to visit troops. Others, like Randy Couture, Tim Kennedy and Brian Stann served in the military. And the UFC has even put on shows at U.S. bases to benefit veterans' causes.

But this one is different.

Continue Reading 'Fight Night For Heroes' Presents First-Ever MMA Fights in Iraq

WEC 42 Sells 1,640 Tickets

Posted: Sep 1st 2009 1:11PM by Ray Hui (author feed)
Filed under: WEC

0 COMMENTS

Compare the tickets sold at WEC 42 to the amount sold at WEC 41, the Miguel Torres vs. Brian Bowles event brought in only 6.2% of what the Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown rematch did.

Of course, WEC 41 was held at Sacramento's Arco Arena, which accommodated 12,706 fans as opposed to the Joint in Las Vegas, which has capacity of 4,000.

According to the official numbers released Tuesday by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, WEC 42 sold 1,640 tickets for a gate of $175,835. 442 tickets were given away and 870 were left unsold.

Continue Reading WEC 42 Sells 1,640 Tickets

MMA Top 10 Featherweights: WEC on Top, but Where's Wagnney?

Posted: Aug 11th 2009 12:00PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: DREAM, WEC, Sengoku

2 COMMENTS

World Extreme Cagefighting is home to the best featherweights in MMA. Mike Brown is the undisputed champion of the world, he should have a great fight with Jose Aldo late this year, and Urijah Faber, the man Brown beat twice, is still probably the WEC's biggest draw.

But there's one problem with the WEC's featherweights: They're not doing enough to promote Wagnney Fabiano. You could make a case that Fabiano is more deserving of a title shot against Brown than Aldo is, and Fabiano certainly deserves to be heavily promoted as a future title contender. Instead, Fabiano's fight with Erik Koch next month isn't even on the live TV portion of the card.

Continue Reading MMA Top 10 Featherweights: WEC on Top, but Where's Wagnney?

Dana White Says UFC Won't Back Down From Opposing Floyd Mayweather Event

Posted: Aug 7th 2009 8:26PM by Mike Chiappetta (author feed)
Filed under: UFC, MMA Boxing

18 COMMENTS

PHILADELPHIA -- Floyd Mayweather may still be unbeaten in the ring, but he may get the biggest challenge of his life on the business front later this year.

On Sept. 19, Mayweather's comeback bout against Juan Manuel Marquez will go head-to-head with UFC 103 on pay-per-view, and UFC President Dana White isn't backing down.

"I didn't plan on going head-to-head with them. They're weird like that," White said at a UFC 101 question-and-answer session with fans. "We had that date, and everyone asked them to go off that date but for some reason they like to fight with us."

Continue Reading Dana White Says UFC Won't Back Down From Opposing Floyd Mayweather Event

Urijah Faber Has 'No Idea' When He'll Be Ready for WEC Return

Posted: Jul 16th 2009 3:59PM by Mike Chiappetta (author feed)
Filed under: WEC, FanHouse Exclusive

0 COMMENTS

All around the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas during UFC 100 weekend, MMA fighters could be seen signing autographs for adoring throngs of fans. It all seemed pretty routine: smile, shake, sign, pose. But one thing was different about the Silver Star booth. The athlete putting his pen to paper there was doing so despite having casts on both of his hands.

Urijah Faber, the former WEC featherweight champion, badly injured both of his hands during his July unanimous decision loss to Mike Brown. He dislocated his left thumb and suffered two broken bones on his right hand. The latter injury required steel plates to hasten recovery.

Faber says now that he has "no idea" when he'll be able to return to the cage, and that "it's going to be some months." In fact, it's quite likely that we won't see him back in the cage until 2010.