WEC 36 was originally scheduled to take place on September 10th in Hollywood, Florida but was postponed due to Hurricane Ike. The event featured two championship bouts: Urijah Faber defended his featherweight title against Mike Thomas Brown, and middleweight challenger Chael Sonnen was set to rematch champion Paulo Filho for the belt. However Filho was not able to make weight, and so the bout was changed to three-round affair with no title on the line. Not that it made any difference in the big picture, as Zuffa (the parent company of WEC and UFC) decided to fold WEC’s 185-lbs & 205-lbs divisions, rendering the middleweight championship belt meaningless after this event. Also on the card, two former UFC lightweights Jens Pulver and Leonard Garcia met in a featherweight bout that would likely produce the #1 contender for the winner of Faber-Brown.
Jake Rosholt vs. Nissen Osterneck (185 lbs)
In a middleweight bout with a potential shot at a future UFC contract on the line, Osterneck came out swinging from the opening bell, and was dominating Rosholt in the standup. However Rosholt was able to reverse the course of the round by taking Osterneck down and controlling him on the ground, winning the round despite not doing much damage. In the second round, Nissen once again attempted to work his standup, and had Rosholt reeling at one point, but lost his balance after throwing a head kick and ended up on his back. Rosholt capitalized and mounted his opponent; Osterneck had nothing left in the gas tank at this point and was not able to escape or offer any defense to Rosholt’s strikes as the referee Troy Waugh stepped in to stop the bout.
Fair performance from both fighters, though it’s not clear whether either one is ready for a move up to the UFC at this point.
Fight grade: 4/5
Jens Pulver vs. Leonard Garcia (145 lbs)
After a brief circling and feeling out process, Garcia staggered Pulver with a punch and quickly followed up with a barrage of hooks when he sensed Jens was hurt. Pulver dropped to his knees and covered up, taking heavy blows until the referee stepped in and then bout was stopped.
Garcia claims he is the top contender to Urijah Faber’s title, and is likely to get the next shot. Pulver loses third of his last four fights, and appears to no longer be an elite level competitor.
Fight grade: 4/5
David Avellan vs. Aaron Simpson (205 lbs)
In a very brief bout between two undefeated and inexperienced lightheavyweights, Simpson caught Avellan with the very first punch he threw and knocked him out cold. Not much of a fight.
Fight grade: 2/5
Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen (catch weight non-title bout)
This bout has had a long and unfortunate history behind it. After dominating the WEC middleweight champion Filho in the first bout, Sonnen was caught in an arm bar. The fight was stopped when Sonnen screamed in pain, even though Chael did not tap out. A rematch was immediately scheduled, then postponed when Filho entered rehab for depression and drug dependency issues. The bout was postponed yet again when WEC 36 was rescheduled, and when it finally happened, Filho weighted in at 7.5 lbs over the 185-lbs limit, changing the scheduled title defense into a three-round bout with no belt on the line.
The bout turned out to be nearly unwatchable, as neither fighter seemed interested in engaging their opponent. Visibly distraught Filho was unable to secure a takedown and most of his strikes missed by a country mile. Even his guard pull attempts were unsuccessful and so he resorted to flopping to his back and hoping that Sonnen would follow into his guard like the last time around. Sonnen avoided making the same mistake twice; he also avoided doing much of anything besides than sprawling and landing jabs. Several times Filho turned away from Sonnen and stared off into space, seemingly talking to himself. Sonnen won the decision, 30-27 on all scorecards.
The Filho-Sonnen bout completely killed any momentum that this show had built up going into the main event. Neither man looked good; Filho needs to overcome whatever issues are troubling him and get his head on straight before he can continue his MMA career. Sonnen wins and likely earned himself a fight in the UFC, but his lackluster performance against a barely-there Filho does not indicate that he will enjoy much success on the bigger stage.
Fight grade: 0/5
Champion Urijah Faber vs. Mike Thomas Brown (145 lbs championship bout)
In the main even of the night, the defending WEC featherweight champion and the promotion’s biggest star paid for his unorthodox and often reckless fighting style. After an early exchange, Faber was taken down by a slightly bigger Brown. Urijah bounced right back up, then leaped at Brown with a roundhouse elbow – and right into a perfectly timed right hook that knocked him on his back. Faber never recovered, and the fight was stopped with Brown delivering strikes to the the face and head of the fallen champion.
Brown wins the featherweight title, and appeared to have injured his rib in the process. Though Leonard Garcia should be the top contender, if Brown’s recovery takes a while Garcia may need to fight once more before getting his shot; perhaps against Faber or the winner of the upcoming bout between Wagnney Fabiano and Akitoshi Tamura.
Fight grade: 4/5
Despite highlight-reel worthy knockouts courtesy of Brown and Garcia, this event didn’t quite live up to the high expectations I’ve come to have for WEC. The awful Filho-Sonnen affair took longer than all of the other broadcast fights combined!