WEC 50 REVIEW PART 2: THE MAIN CARD

As I mentioned in the first part of my review of WEC 50, a good majority of the fights in this organization of lighter-weight warriors are composed of wild, nonstop, brutal action for 3 or 5 rounds straight. This is true for the main event, and this is true for most of the main card as well.

PALASZEWSKI VS. MICKLEWRIGHT

The first round is a pretty straight forward beat 'em up with Bart Palaszewski at the receiving end of Zach Micklewright's mighty blows most of the time. He seemed genuinely hurt a few times, but never backed down and always came forward with his own aggressiveness, showing good heart.

Amazingly, Palaszewski comes back and knocks out Micklewright at the very beginning of the second round with a vicious straight right. That was an amazing comeback with an outstanding finish! The main event was really great for me, but I gotta say that this is my second favorite fight of the night. The first round was very action packed, plus I'm a sucker for comebacks and awesome finishes.

JORGENSEN VS. PICKETT 

This was another astonishingly action packed match that went through the entire full three rounds with both fighters going full speed. A truly awesome stand up brawl, my favorite moment was when Scott Jorgensen knocked out Brad Pickett's mouthpiece. Pickett quickly backpedaled while putting the mouthpiece back in, but Jorgensen never relented in his assault, and kept pelting Pickett with punches to the head. Pickett winds up pressed against the cage, his mouthpiece back in, and he smiles at his opponent's constant aggression.

Bot fighters never gave up until the end, despite hurting each other continuously. Scott Jorgensen proved the more effective, however, and winds up with the unanimous decision victory.

SWANSON VS. MENDES

This is the fight that made me put "most of the main card" instead of "the entire main card" in the opening paragraph when I mentioned how action-packed this event was. No disrespect to Chad Mendes at all, as he did a truly fine job and obviously performed his game plan perfectly, but out of a main card full of action packed highlights, his match against Cub Swanson really stands out, and not in a very good way.

Commentator Stephan Bonnar compared to Mendes' performance with Chael Sonnen's very recent bout against UFC Middleweight champ Anderson Silva. I very much disagree with this, as I found the performance was more akin to Jon Fitch's fight against Thiago Alves.

When Chael Sonnen constantly took Anderson Silva down and laid on top of him, he was causing some serious damage almost the entire time. The only reason that fight lasted five rounds was because Silva is an extraordinary champion who never gives. If he was a lesser fighter, Sonnen most probably would have been able to put him away within the first round.

Jon Fitch, on the other hand, constantly took Thiago Alves down and pretty much did nothing but grind him into exhaustion for the full three rounds without really causing any significant damage. Now, while grinding an opponent with superior wrestling skills is a legitimate tactic in MMA, it is probably the most boring to watch. Fitch has been continuously criticized of this, and so has current UFC Welterweight champ, Georges St-Pierre.

Mendes did nothing but grind Swanson against the cage for the entire three rounds and Swanson couldn't do a thing. Granted, it's also Swanson's fault for not preparing properly enough against a wrestler with outstanding abilities such as Chad Mendes, but this fight was simply the antithesis of exciting, despite Mendes' awesome takedowns.

Mendes never caused any noticeable damage to his opponent but, of course, wound up with the unanimous decision victory.

ROLLER VS. PETTIS

Alright, I mentioned that the Palaszewski vs. Micklewright fight was my second favorite, right? Well, this one is my favorite of the night. Anthony Pettis showed extraordinary skills both on the feet and on the ground against a superior wrestler. Shane Roller was unable to take Pettis down much of the time, and when he did, Pettis almost always immediately reversed him and wound up on top.

Pettis is also known for his incredibly flashy stand up attacks that are surefire crowd-pleasers, and he showcased some of those moves tonight, including what looks like a Capoeira kick to the head. With his clearly superior overall MMA skills, Pettis was more the aggressor in the fight, but the sheer toughness of Shane Roller prevented him from being finished early.

Pettis prevails outstandingly in the end, however, as he manages to submit submit Roller with a Triangle Choke with only 9 seconds left in the third and final round.


A great night of fights, indeed. Now on to WEC 51 in September!


Check out more amazing photos of WEC 50 over at the official WEC website!