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WEC: Brown vs. Faber Analysis and Predictions

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[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="211" caption="WEC"]WEC® FABER vs BROWN Live on Versus[/caption]

The WEC will be bringing a talent laded card to us tomorrow night for FREE on the Versus channel. We have a clash of two of the best featherweight fighters in the world in a championship bout, and the #2 ranked MW in the world defending his belt against a game opponent. Also on the card, UFC veteran Jens Pulver will be fighting another UFC veteran in Leonard Garcia in what is sure to be a great fight. We also have the former WEC LW champion on the card, along with two fighters making their WEC debuts. It should be a great night of fights, and my analysis and predictions are as follows:

Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown (WEC Featherweight Title)
Well, the WEC's poster boy and featherweight champ gets another time to shine, this time against Mike Brown. Brown's a big featherweight and that could cause problems for Faber as I'm sure Brown will try to smother him and keep him immobile or tire him out to lock on a submission or some ground and pound. However, Faber's better at everything than Brown in my opinion, so I think he'll get smothered for a round or two, Brown will get tired and Faber will do his usual and start picking his shots to eventually drop him or hurt him enough to lock on a submission in round 3.

Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen (WEC Middleweight Title Fight)
This will probably be Filho's last visit to a WEC cage and when we last saw him in one, he looked awkward, gassed and out of shape...but still managed to submit Sonnen. Sonnen's a gamer and has shown to be a tough all around fighter, obviously giving Filho problems in their first encounter, but I see Filho being a little more focused and determined this time around. I think the two will engage early and trade some shots before Sonnen tries to take him down for some groundwork. I think he'll be able to but leave himself open once again for an armbar or triangle and Filho goes to UFC as still the WEC Middleweight champion in the second round.

Leonard Garcia vs. Jens Pulver
After an exciting featherweight title war with Urijah Faber, most people think Pulver still has what it takes to be a top dawg in the MMA world. He's certainly a veteran of both the featherweight and lightweight division and has fought some of the toughest guys in history. However, I think he's going to meet a 145 bump in the road by the name of Leonard Garcia. Garcia's young, fast, explosive, and very tough. All those things will most definitely work AGAINST Pulver. I think Garcia's quickness and explosiveness will batter and wear on Pulver throughout the fight, however I do think Pulver will make it competitive, even taking it to the ground. I think Garcia's good enough to survive there and as we know, every round starts on the feet and I think Garcia will hurt Pulver early and often and keep him more defensive than offensive, leading to a unanimous victory and a title shot.

Nissen Osterneck vs. Jake Rosholt
Battle of the two newcomers! I haven't seen any fights from either but have done my research on both and both are undefeated and both are making their debut Wednesday at WEC 36. Rosholt is a NCAA wrestling champ and thus we pretty much have a good idea what he'll be doing throughout the fight. Osterneck seems to have good jiu jitsu as he's coming off a submission victory. I think that Rosholt will do what most wrestling newcomers do and that's be explosive and gritty and just outwork Osterneck for a decision victory.

Donald Cerrone vs. Rob McCullough
This has fight of the night written all over it, both these guys like to stand and bang, and I'm almost positive that's what both guys will do. 'Razor' Rob is the former lightweight champion, but we saw that someone comparable on the feet could hurt the dangerous striker when he lost the title to Jamie Varner. I don't think Cerrone is as good as Varner in the boxing department, however, I think he's tough enough to hang with McCullough early and hit him with some good shots. If it goes to the ground, I think it's over for Rob because Cerrone has a pretty damn good ground game as well. Of course, Cerrone's undefeated and I think he'll continue that trend on Wednesday by pressuring McCullough early to be defensive and hurting him on the feet and finally getting it to the ground and locking on a submission for a third round tapout.