Man. The WEC almost ALWAYS delivers the good right? I said before the show last night that I'm not usually pumped to see most of the WEC events, however, I'm always glad I watched about 99% of the time and last night was no different. We got to see 7 fights, a couple of wars, a lot of heart, and some cool submissions. On to the fights:
-Wineland vs. Campuzano: Great fight to start things off. The former WEC champion Wineland was moving very well and countering Campuzano who was landing some good leg kicks to try and slow Wineland down. However, that was his downfall as those punches were beating those kicks to the spot as Wineland continiously landed that overhand right. Campuzano showed a TON of heart though as Wineland had him rocked, yet Campuzano absorbed the punishement and kept coming. It wasn't his night though as Wineland kept the pressure on and forced the referee to stop the fight. Wineland has quietly won three in a row, so it'll be interesting to see if he gets a jump up in competition. How do yall think he matches up with current champ Dominick Cruz?
-Horodecki vs. Downes: It just appeared that Horodecki was too much for Downes from the onset of this one IMO. Horodecki was pretty much landing at will, but Downes did exhibit a good chin and the ability to keep coming forward. Albeit, that doesn't really do you much good unless you are landing offense yourself. Horodecki gets back on the winning side of things, so we'll see if the Shawn Tompkins product can put some more wins together. It is me or does all Shawn Tompkin trained guys have like ZERO power in their strikes?
-Koch vs. Casimir: Koch struck me as an arrogant little sucker in the pre-fight staredown routine. The way he had his neck and head postured up and out to Casimir was pretty funny. Yet, he backed up the body language with a dominate performance. He slapped that triangle on with the quickness and those elbows he landed were pretty nasty as well. Nice performance to rebound off his first career loss the fight before.
-Grispi vs. Davis: It appeared to me that Grispi was trying to gauge the distance and get his timing down in the fight initially. He didn't look really comfortable at first and Davis was moving pretty well and landed a couple of decent shots. The takedown Davis got was pretty nice but you could see Grispi working for that guillotine before his feet ever left the floor. Grispi has a nasty guillotine too, as that's the same move he got Jens Pulver with. Nice win for Grispi after the long layoff and he's a HUGE featherweight. I'd like to see him get one more win then challenge Aldo for the title. The way Davis's eyes rolled back into his head was one of those ewww moments.
-Hominick vs. Jabouin: Oh man. I loved this fight. I'm usually not a fan of ultimate kickboxing bouts, but this one was action packed while both guys looked fairly technical in their striking. Jabouin came out the shoot blasting and I was have been very surprised to see him sustain that pace. Actually, I could see the momentum changing in the fight as Hominick kept applying the pressure while landing some solid strikes of his own. The end of the fight was great as well as Hominick landed some strikes that put Jabouin in trouble, yet he survived to drop Hominick with a devastating right hand I think it was. Only to see Hominick keep his composure and sweep the exhausted Jabouin and pound him out. Hominick has won three in a row and the kickboxer has definitely added some tools with his ever improving ground game. It'll be interesting to see how they through at him next. Maybe a re-match with Josh Grispi?
-Kerr vs. Darabedyan: Nothing else to say but nice armbar transition after being pinned up agaisnt the cage. What has happened to Darabedyan? He's dropped two in a row via armbar after making an impressive WEC debut against former champ Rob McCullough.
-Varner vs. Shalorus: I have to say this. Jamie Varner might be the most whining, complaining, milk something for what it's worth MMA fighter ever. Now. I'm not saying those kicks didn't hurt or didn't hit him square in the nuts, but to see his moaning and rolling around on the canvas was pretty pathetic. Oh wait, it gets worse! He actually BEGGED the referee to take another point way from Shalorus. Should the referee have done so? Probably, but a fighter shouldn't be begging the referee like that IMO. That's bush. I mean he said F*** dude when Rosenthal said he wasn't going to take a point away. Anyways. It was a good fight in that both guys landed some leather in this one. However, Shalorus implored the Jorge Gurgel gameplan of being exciting opposed to winning. That was dumb. I thought Varner should have gotten the decision, but I'd like to see a re-match with Shalorus implementing his wrestling into the gameplan.
Keep doing your thing WEC, even though not many people get to see it. It is the #2 MMA organization in the world IMO.