WEC 31 – Faber vs Curran Results
One of the hallmark qualities of any successful sports franchise is to have repeated recognizable figures and it seems that the WEC is not only doing well in that regard but also recruiting for the future.
I’ll discuss the top 3 fights on the card. First up was Paulo Filho vs Chael Sonnen. Chael dominated Filho for the first couple of rounds which surely surprised a lot of people watching. Sonnen made a sloppy mistake with just 5 seconds left in round 2 and was caught in an armbar. Sonnen clearly was in a lot of pain, but after the fight stated that he was not submitting, but instead pleading for the ref not to stop the fight. Regardless, the ref stopped the fight on a submission victory for Filho. In the postfight interview, Sonnen admitted that he should not have gotten caught in the armbar and acquiesced the loss. I personally found this a bit contradictory. I can see Sonnen wanting to be a good sport, but if he really didn’t get submitted, then a real competitor would have been quite disappointed and would have continued the protest. I have a feeling that Sonnen realized that even if he didn’t submit, he would have a broken arm and would not be able to fight and that would have been a worse fate.
WEC 31 marked the return of Jens Pulver to MMA action. Jens was always a smaller 155 lb fighter and despite his successes at that weight class in the UFC, after his loss to BJ Penn, Jens joined the featherweight division at 145 lbs. Jens was undefeated at 7-0 coming into the fight against Cub Swanson who was a hometown favorite. Jens and Cub were previously scheduled to square away months earlier, however; Jens reported a knee injury which delayed the matchup. Cub was outwardly perturbed with this hiatus and at the very least suggested but rather even accused Jens of ducking him. Jens flatly denied any of these claims and demonstrated in the cage that he had nothing to be apprehensive about as he submitted Cub with an anaconda choke only 35 seconds into the first round. While these things happen at times and in some cases are not true indications of a fighters overall ability, but rather a costly lapse of strategy, it still must be a frustrating loss for Cub who had promised to take out his ferocity on Jens. Jens is now touted as the #1 contender for the featherweight title by many. Is just one fight enough to prepare the former UFC lightweight champion for the featherweight title in the WEC? It shouldn’t take long to find out as Jens has asked to fight within the next few months.
So, who would Jens be matched up against for the featherweight title if this should occur? The winner between Urijah Faber and Jeff Curran would produce that opponent. This bout resembled the Chael Sonnen and Paulo Filho fight in many respects. It went past the first round and well into the second with the challenger seemingly dominating. However, as champions always do, Faber rose to the occasion and picked his time to amp up the energy level after Curran may have tired himself trying to gain a more favorable position with which to choke out Faber. Faber cut Curran with some vicious elbows and ended up submitting him with a guillotine choke of his own. After the fight, Faber asserted that he was never in trouble and was prepared to fight for five full rounds if required. Faber also mentioned that it would be an honor to fight Pulver if the WEC puts that match together.
Again, the WEC put on a great show. The undercard was entertaining as well with its own rivalries. As mentioned, the WEC is becoming more successful with more recognizable champions such as Filho, Faber and Doug Marshall who retained his belt as well. Also, the WEC has recognized that the lighter weight classes are a nice market and make for very entertaining fights. With the increased great performances by their champions and bringing new quality fighters into the mix like Jens Pulver, the WEC is doing well to place its own mark in the world of MMA.