WEC 48 Preview: Mike Brown vs Manny Gamburyan

Since wining the WEC featherweight title in November of 2008 Mike Brown had looked like an unstoppable force until running into the explosive Brazilian Jose Aldo. When earning the exciting knockout win over Urijah Faber many pundits were afraid that the WEC lost their only star in Faber. Since the fight Brown has turned into a viable draw himself by having high profile exciting fights. Many people forget Mike Brown was a fairly boring fighter before his WEC run. He hasn't changed as a fighter, he has just lost some weight and stepped into a clearly weaker weight class. Brown uses awful footwork to close the distance on his opponent, and clinches. From the clinch Brown likes to either punish his opponents or take them down and work a submission. Lately though Brown has been letting opponents come to him, as he loads up his right hand and counter. I hope he goes back to using his wrestling, the skill that got him to the top. On a slightly different note, Mike Brown fights a lot like Dan Henderson.

SBN coverage of WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber

Since moving to the WEC Manny Gamburyan is undefeated going 2-0. Before moving to the WEC, Gamburyan was on a 2 fight skid. What changed? Just the level of competition, that is how weak the WEC's 145 division is, a fringe UFC Lightweight can become a serious contender. To put it bluntly, Manny has been really boring to watch in the cage. Gamburyan fights much the same as Brown, he wants to clinch up with opponents and take them down. When on the matt, Gamburyan isn't the most aggressive guard passer. He is a guy that will take what he can get and work from there. Gamburyan's punches are terrible, he wildly swings them like Helicopter blades. He has a bit of pop on them, but they are so inaccurate they are rarely effective. Throughout Gamburyan's career he has shown a propensity to get tagged quite often.

Breaking down this fight it is obvious Zuffa wants to hand Manny his first loss in the WEC. Manny's best asset (his wrestling) is not better than Brown's. Brown can do everything better than Gamburyan. I think this fight is going to be kind of funny because both fighters have awful footwork and bad head movement. So it will be funny watching them close distance. At 155 Manny had a pedestrian chin, so I don't think moving down 10 pounds is going to change that. I see Manny going in trying to take Brown down and Brown just lays his right hand hammer on Gamburyan and the fight is over. Anthony Njokuani vs. Mike Brown anyone?

SBN coverage of WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber