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 WEC, World Extreme Cagefighting, was probably one of the best non-UFC MMA organizations ever. What started from humble origins, WEC grew into a name-brand thanks to its consistently great cards, fun and exciting fighters (many of whom would go on to be household names), and in its latter years a focus on the lighter weight divisions that continue to deliver to this day. It gave us the Featherweight, Bantamweight divisions, and also by default the Flyweight division when it merged into the UFC. WEC also had a loving cool belt that I still think beats the old UFC belt.  Needless to say, I was and still am a fan of the WEC but there's a question worth asking; "Is it rose-tinted sunglasses making the WEC seem so great in comparison to today, or was it actually good?" Join me as I embark on a really silly and pointless journey of re-watching all 53 events held under the WEC banner. This should be once a week or so which will means this will take just shy of over a year of watching, reviewing, reminiscing, and probably regretting doing something like this. Relive the moments where we see Paulo Filho stare at a ghost during his fight with Chael Sonnen, The Showtime Kick, Rob McCullough the establishment of small men fighters, and also the crowning of a Super Heavyweight fight which honestly I don't think I've ever seen ever despite watching the Superhulk Tournament in Dream. The first event in the WEC and was held on June 30, 2001 meaning we are roughly 21 years from the beginning. I probably should have done this last year now that I think about it. gently caress. Mekchu fucked around with this message at 11:51 on Jun 18, 2022 |
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Jun 18, 2022 11:48
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Sick! Looking forward to reading this thread.
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Jun 18, 2022 12:07
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This is an insane project and will become a really, really cool way to examine the evolution of lighter weight classes in American MMA. But first you're going to have to get through so much bad loving heavyweight
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Jun 18, 2022 16:03
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when WEC was good it was really good, and when WEC was bad it was often memorable and hilarious. you're gonna have a good time.
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Jun 18, 2022 16:08
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hell yeah, this is rad and cool
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Jun 18, 2022 16:51
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i support mek wec
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Jun 18, 2022 16:54
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There is sad news in that I could not find a copy of WEC: Princes of Pain the first WEC event. I'll post the write up I did because it looked pretty interesting and worth watching all things considered. To begin we have WEC 1: Princes of Pain, which I keep reading as Princesses of Pain for some reason and I think I am probably losing my sanity and this is a symptom of it. Anyway, the event was held at Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, CA. Yes, that Tachi who would go on to create Tachi Palace Fights which was also a pretty solid C-league MMA Org. Take a look at this card and tell me you A) don't get weird nostalgia and B) would probably confuse it for a UFC Fight Night if you didn't know this was 20 loving years ago. Travis Fulton vs Dan Severn Gan McGee vs Seth Petruzelli Bruce Nelson vs Lalo Moz Bryant Garcia vs Tony Alanis Bryson Haubrick vs Scott Carson Gabriel Garcia vs Phil Ensminger Chris Sanford vs Bobby Martin Ray Benavides vs Nick Agallar Leonard Garcia vs Victor Estrada Cruz Gomez vs Isaias Martinez Overall? Not bad. Some notable names in Fulton, Severn, McGee, Petruzelli, and Leonard Garcia when you look across the history of MMA. Let's break down these fights. Travis Fulton vs Dan Severn First, Dan Severn & Travis Fulton going into this fight had, combined, over 150 fights between them. Granted they are also insane old dudes who probably should have stopped WELL BEFORE THIS FIGHT for their own sakes. However, since this is MMA and even in 2022 we see matchups featuring old people well past their prime, this isn't really shocking or strange. Gan McGee vs Seth Petruzelli Although they would go on to be notable names respectively, at least in the early to mid 2000s, this is a weird pairing. McGee is 8-1 going into a matchup where Seth is a 1-1 rookie. McGee had, prior to this match, actually fought in the UFC versus Josh Barnett at UFC 28 in a losing effort. Seth? Well he had 1 regional fight, and then a losing fight in World Vale Tudo Championship (either 12 or 13, as both events supposedly took place on the same day) that per Tapology was only 21 days prior to this match. Probably had some affect on this match but also this is the early 2000s where people didn't care about actually taking time to heal your body between fights. Bruce Nelson vs Lalo Moz This is the professional debut of Lalo Moz and that's about all to be said. His opponent is the veteran Bruce Nelson who has going into this fight 14 fights as experience. The catch is that Nelson is 3-11 going into the fight. That's right, 3-11. He genuinely had only won his 3 victories in the regional scene up to this point, and actually lost to Travis Fulton prior to this fight. Oh and Matt Hughes. But was that Matt Hughes PRIOR to his UFC days right? No, Hughes had already been in the UFC a few times with fights versus Marcelo Aguiar and Dennis Hallman as well as going to Japan for some fights in Rings. Needless to say, Nelson is about as much of a tomato can as you can be. Amazing tidbit is that Nelso would go on to kep fighting until 2018 and ended his career at 27-36-1. The rest of the card is a lot of younger talent who would, in all but the Garcia/Estrada and Gomez/Martinez fights, be very new to the sport. Even in those mentioned fights, they are still relatively young with under 10 fights. Also just want to point out two amazing things about Cruz Gomez. 1) His nickname is "Little Big Man" and fought at Lightweight. 2) He has a tribal belly tattoo.  As I mentioned, WEC 1 seems lost to time as UFC Fight Pass doesn't have it and the various other sources to find them seem to be coming up blank as well. Oddly UFC Fight Pass has WEC 2, but not WEC 1 or 3. WEC was on HDNet for a period so maybe the tape got lost due to incompetence. Gonna take the week to either try and find a way to get these fights viewable, or probably just skip ahead and look at WEC 2: Clash of the Titans and prepare for that one. Mekchu fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Jun 19, 2022 |
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Jun 19, 2022 16:19
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looking forward to an eventual writeup on Aaron Brink, the real california kid
Ad by Khad fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Jun 19, 2022 |
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Jun 19, 2022 17:31
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Little Big Man is such a good fighter name
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Jun 19, 2022 22:01
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WEC was loving magical. At its peak it was just the perfect platonic balance between genuine talent being tested and fun matchups between entertaining fighters. It was a place where English people could wrestle and where Japanese challengers had fight of the year nominee title fights (Mizugaki/Torres and Maeda/Torres are both amazing) instead of getting crushed by some dude from Idaho. I watched an event a night when I was working a job I loving hated and, honestly, it got me through it. Also, watching so many of its alumni do really well in the UFC is how I imagine Pride fans expected things to go. This should be a treat.
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Jun 20, 2022 00:38
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Snowman_McK posted:WEC was loving magical. At its peak it was just the perfect platonic balance between genuine talent being tested and fun matchups between entertaining fighters. It was a place where English people could wrestle and where Japanese challengers had fight of the year nominee title fights (Mizugaki/Torres and Maeda/Torres are both amazing) instead of getting crushed by some dude from Idaho. I watched an event a night when I was working a job I loving hated and, honestly, it got me through it. First MMA event I saw was a replay of a WEC show it ruled.
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Jun 20, 2022 07:31
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Yeah part of my love of WEC was that it was on late night on Versus and I could watch it while doing shifts at my college job and nobody bothered me since it was 10p to 2am.
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Jun 20, 2022 13:51
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CarlCX has pointed out that WEC 1 is in fact on UFC Fight Pass, but its all individual videos of the fights and not the whole card and you have to search each fight individually and honestly given how lovely UFC Fight Pass' search function is I'd rather just skip ahead to WEC 2 than put myself through that lol.
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Jun 20, 2022 18:43
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https://ufcfightpass.com/video/33846/cruz-gomez-vs-isaias-martinez-wec-1 https://ufcfightpass.com/video/33787/leonard-garcia-vs-victor-estrada-wec-1 Okay the third fight is just straight up missing I have no idea https://ufcfightpass.com/video/33856/chris-sanford-vs-bobby-martin-wec-1 https://ufcfightpass.com/video/33806/phil-ensminger-vs-gabriel-garcia-wec-1 https://ufcfightpass.com/video/33825/scott-carson-vs-bryson-haubrick-wec-1 https://ufcfightpass.com/video/33808/tony-alanis-vs-bryant-garcia-wec-1 https://ufcfightpass.com/video/33804/lalo-moz-vs-bruce-nelson-wec-1 https://ufcfightpass.com/video/33807/gan-mcgee-vs-seth-petruzelli-wec-1 https://ufcfightpass.com/video/33810/dan-severn-vs-travis-fulton-wec-1 in case someone wants to start there, I ended up as far as Fight Pass's facebook page (which has an entire WEC playlist posted) trying to find Nick Agallar vs Ray Benavides but it was just not meant to be.
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Jun 20, 2022 20:42
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Thank you for doing the work I was too lazy to do myself. I'll watch these tonight and lmao at having to use the UFC Fight Pass Facebook page to find the links. Billion dollar company ran b6 a promoting genius.
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Jun 21, 2022 05:46
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OK so I have sat down and watched WEC 1: Princes of Pain and it was pretty good! I enjoyed some of the throwbacks to MMA of old and also happy that most of the fights were relatively fast and competitive for how new the sport was. I would also like to shoutout the old pentagon cage they used in early WEC and also the fact they did this outside and it looks like it had a decently sized crowd in what looks like a parking lot and honestly? I could dig to see more of that these days. First up was Cruz Gomez vs Isaias Martinez. Martinez has a weird mark or something on his pec and its very gross looking. Tra Telligman's missing pec didn't gross me out as much as this thing does. Like it looks infected. My first and initial comment is that both guys are wearing Tapout vale tudo style shorts just of different colors so this could just pass for a TUF finale and you'd not really know nor care about that difference. Also this was in the era of people allowed to wear wrestling shoes which is another silly thing from the past that I still love to laugh about. Round 1, Martinez starts off with a flying knee of sorts and winds up falling over, but also sorta awkwardly falls so that Gomez is in his guard. Gomez tries to pass to half guard but winds up in guard and Martinez goes for rubber guard. Remember that being a thing? There's this odd scramble which sees Martinez throwing seated hooks to Gomez who eventually passes and gets side control again. Just that image is funny and good comedy on its own.  Gomez passes again. There's an armbar attempt by Martinez but Gomez scouts it easily and elbows and forearm chokes Martinez a bit for daring to do that. More elbows and knees and Gomez knocks Martinez out. It was pretty nasty. Gomez wins via KO in Rd. 1 Next there is Leonard Garcia vs Victor Estrada Good ol' Leonard Garcia before he became known as a human punching bag and had such a cute baby face. Also holy poo poo is Josh Rosenthal pre-weed bust and that's fun to see. Round 1, Fight starts off with both guys coming out standing and looking to exchange. Garcia throws a kick, misses, and falls so the fight goes to the ground with Estrada in Garcia's guard. Estrada tries to get some punches in while Garcia goes for a comically easy to see triangle/armbar. Estrada avoids it, tries to pass but Garcia gets guard again. There's a pause cuz Garcia's glove slipped in a way that meant his pinky wasn't in it properly which they fix. Estrada stacks, attempts a pass, Garcia throws his foot up for some reason, Estrada goes for an ankle lock/heelhook and messes that up so Garcia stands up and starts walloping on Estrada who still has the ankle, trips Garcia and we end up with Estrada trying hard for a leglock while Garcia throws an odd punch, laughs and then is just kinda defending it. Eventually they get back to standing with Estrada shooting for a take down and getting into Garcia's guard again. Estrada gets to standing again with Garcia throwing some knees that seem to land pretty hard. Estrada turtles up on the ground and Garcia lets him up to his knees to grab Garcia's legs and take Garcia down and now has Estrada in his guard again. Just watch this sequence. https://i.imgur.com/RewBvvL.mp4 I loving love it. Not much happens, and the round ends in that position more or less. I'd argue that its a 10-9 to Estrada cuz he had better position throughout the whole round. Round 2, starts the same, Estrada throws some low kicks and eat a punch that sorta knocks him down a bit. Garcia goes for the finish and ends up in a leg entanglement with Estrada and Garcia going for double ankle locks at one point but Garcia gives up and slips out. They stand back up and Garcia gets a glancing headkick as Estrada tries to duck/cover up and it ends with Estrada on the ground KO'd. Garcia wins via KO, Rd 2 Third fight is missing like Brut said so its now Bobby martin vs Chris Sanford both making their pro debuts! Rd 1, These are some bigger boys and Sanford is wearing a tank top while also having this amazingly awkward look look on his face. Beautiful poo poo really. Martin looks like a fat discount Tiki Ghosn/Rafael Torre. Sanford is fighting in the tank top! YES! This is the poo poo I wanted to see. There's a lot of clinching in the round with Sanford mostly in control with Martin seemingly helpless to do anything but throw an occasional punch or kick. The striking is quick poor but Sanford does dow a roundhouse into heelkick combo which looks pretty slick even though both whiffed the air. Round ends and its easily 10-9 Sanford. Rd 2, Both come out and Sanford seems more...controlled? His shirt is soaking wet after having water dumped onto him. Martin tries really hard to get some offense and in doing so Sanford throws a sort of lazy hook that lands flush on the money and KOs Martin. It was probably the most solid punch landed in the whole fight and it flatlined the guy. https://i.imgur.com/LM7aqQ2.mp4 Sanford wins via KO, Rd 2 Next is Gabriel Garcia vs Phil Enminsger both are relatively new fighters with the two both being 1-3 as professional. Ensminger's nickname was apparently "The Great White Nightmare" and...yeah I'll just leave that there. Rd 1, Fight begins with Ensminger doing some weird as gently caress movement that I guess is blocking as he walks towards Garcia but its so comically weird I think its meant to be playing mind games? They exchange and it leads to a few scrambles where they go from one side of the cage to the other before a 1-2 rocks Garcia who gets swarmed and the ref calls the fight. Ensminger wins via TKO, Rd 1 The referee then has to forcefully pull Ensminger off Garcia because Ensminger refuses to listen to the ref. Ensminger then starts to argue with the referee that he didn't hear anything, he didn't deserve to be choked then he flips off the crowd. Apparently this guy wound up dying in 2006 and this was his lone WEC fight. His last pro fight, as a tidbit of history, was in 2002 and it was a loss to Jason "Mayhem" Miller. Weird poo poo. Now its time for Bryson Haubrick vs Scott Carson. Heavyweights! gently caress yes. Rd 1, Carson is very clearly the more fight athlete here lol. If I had to describe them in words only, imagine Luke Rockhold body vs Tim Sylvia and that's this. Haubrick looks legit scared and Carson is just kinda throwing whatever relatively smoothly with confidence. Fight goes to the ground and Carson clearly knows how to grapple while Haubrick doesn't and Carson takes his back and gets a choke. Carson wins via Submission, Rd 1. Bless you trashweights. God Bless You. Next we have Tony Alanis vs Bryant Garcia both making their pro debut. Rd 1, Alanis and Garcia come out swinging with Garcia's chin VERY high. Garcia throws a leg kick which leads to a take down by Alanis. Garcia then tries for a very sloppy armbar which Alanis throws off, then in a scramble throws a knee on Garcia which leads to more grapple scrambling. Alanis is throwing bombs and pummeling Garcia. One eventually lands perfectly and knocks Garcia's mouthpiece out as he goes to sleep. Fight is over according to Josh Rosenthal. Alanis wins via KO, Rd 1.  We are finally at my hyped fight of the night, Lalo Mox (0-0) vs Bruce Nelson (3-11)I don't care that the result was spoiled for me looking on Wikipedia/Tapology. I am so hyped to see this. Rd 1, Short exchange of punches, Mox lands a few glancing shots before hitting a three punch combo that sends Nelson to the mat. Mox wins via KO, Rd 1 gently caress it, here's the whole fight. https://i.imgur.com/65Tjn8d.mp4  Nelson went on to fight for another SEVEN-loving-TEEN YEARS  He is the true MMA Goon hero In the co-main event we have Gan McGee vs Seth Petruzelli. Seth looks loving huge here and I am really impressed he lost so much weight later in his career. Also they mispronounced his name which is funny. Gan is still monstrously big. Rd1, Seth comes out confident and throws some hard legkicks. McGee goes for a take down which given the size difference is certainly a choice. He fails but shoots again and gets a single leg before getting into Seth's open guard. Seth throws some upkicks while Gan grabs Seth's other ankle and sits back for a belly down ankle lock and gets the tap. McGee wins via Submission, Rd 1 A quick fight, Seth actually showed some decent fighting versus a more veteran fighter and knowing Seth's future as a fighter not a bad debut all things considered. Main Event time Dan Severn vs Travis Fulton AKA battle of the journeymen. Fulton is fighting in a wrestling singlet while Severn is in his black undies. Rd 1, Severn shoots for an early take down and gets it. A lot of time is spent jockeying for position before Fulton attempts an armbar which forces Severn to take a step back and they go back to standing. Severn shoots for another take down but Fulton is on top before they scramble to a standing clinch. Severn does a great belly to belly sort of toss which leads to Fulton doing another sorta toss and ends up in top full mount on Dan. Dan then bumps and reverses and ends up in Fulton's guard. A lot of back & forth when it comes to grappling with some decent knees and elbows to end the round. 10-9 for Severn as he got more take downs and better position. Rd 2, Second round and it starts slower. Fulton seems a bit more timid/gassed I would argue. Dan clinches and gets another take down but Fulton stands so Dan gets his back standing and does basically a German suplex. Dan end sup in top open guard. They're stood up a few times but Dan gets the take downs and ends up in Fulton's guard and just does his work. Round ends with a small scramble 10-9 for Severn again for the take downs and position. Rd 3, Third round is literally the same as the second and Fulton very clearly is getting out-wrestled by Dan Severn. Fight ends with Severn still in top position. Fulton knows he clearly lost. 10-9 for Severn same as for Rd 1 & 2. 30-28 for Severn in my book. Judges saw it the same way, Dan Severn wins via Unanimous Decision. Honestly the only stinker of a fight was this last one and even then its not awful but it was very much a Dan Severn style of fight so whatever. Overall, card was really solid for a regional show of sorts as well as for being a first event for WEC. I would rewatch this than watching a Bellator card from 2022, let's just say that. Mekchu fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Jun 21, 2022 |
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Jun 21, 2022 16:07
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Following the thread, I loved WEC it's golden age coincided with my brief love of MMA and yeah the lower weight classes have always been my favorite bit of combat sports. As much fun as big fat dudes tossing murderbombs can be there's something about the fast and technical fight game that's always stood out to me.
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Jun 21, 2022 16:27
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Didn't Fulton end up being accused of some pretty gross sex crimes stuff? I can't remember if it was rape or child abuse or something equally gnarly, really took the shine off "man with the most MMA fights" thing.
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Jun 21, 2022 18:22
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child pornography, and if found guilty he could have faced up to 70 years in prison but he hung himself in his cell also, he was a racist
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Jun 21, 2022 18:26
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I'm watching the fights from the first show and the ring announcer is dressed up like Furio from Sopranos
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Jun 22, 2022 04:35
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yeah i figured the less said about fulton the better since we all know he's a piece of poo poo human whose sole accolade in life is being a bum journeyman fighter who was the first to reach 100 fights mostly against cans for a few bucks like in all his career his sole notable championships/accomplishments in the sport were an M-1 super heavyweight title and winning world vale tudo championship 6
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Jun 22, 2022 05:20
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Boco_T posted:I'm watching the fights from the first show and the ring announcer is dressed up like Furio from Sopranos i really want someone would do a furio gimmick for an mma event on/near halloween
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Jun 22, 2022 05:22
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Boco_T posted:I'm watching the fights from the first show and the ring announcer is dressed up like Furio from Sopranos that kicks rear end
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Jun 22, 2022 07:02
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Here's some extra stuff I dug up to contribute to the thread: - The Wrestling Observer was mostly only covering UFC and PRIDE at the time, so there is no mention of this show. But there was notable historic MMA news that broke on 6/28/01, two days before this show took place: "Dynamite" Dave Meltzer, WON 2001-07-09 posted:During a time when the dynamics of the sports entertainment industry in the United - As Mekchu metioned, the show takes place at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, on the first nations land of the Tachi Yokuts tribe in Lemoore, CA. 22 of the first 24 WEC events took place at the Tachi Palace from 2001 to 2006, when Zuffa purchased the organization. WEC was the first MMA promotion to be aligned with Tachi Palace from 2001-2006. From 2007-2009, Palace Fighting Championship ran 17 events there, followed finally by Tachi Palace Fights, who ran all 35 of their events there between 2009 and 2018. That run included a very brief break, where "the tribal council decided to discontinue mixed martial arts events at the casino in December 2012, but reversed its decision in March 2013, and TPF fights resumed." - In his promo after his main event win, Dan Severn said that he's 43 years old and is entering the final two years of his professional career, do the disappointment of the crowd. He said he was currently working on trying to put together what would be his final big sendoff fight. Dan would actually continue to fight another 11 years after this event, finishing up in April 2012. This event was his 52nd pro MMA fight, and he would spend that 11 years having 75 more fights before finally actually retiring. I searched the text of Dan's book for reference to this fight but he did not write abut it. The only reference he makes to the year 2001 in the book is about his fight with Forrest Griffin in October, which was Forrest's pro debut after a 5-0 amateur start and which Dan won by decision. - I decided to open up one more Observer issue from later in July before I posted and I found the first WEC CONTROVERSY~! "Dynamite" Dave Meltzer, WON 2001-07-23[/quote posted:UFC pioneer and pro wrestler Dan Severn was suspended by the International Fighting
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Jun 22, 2022 14:49
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im honestly not shocked at all that dan severn & travis fulton threw a fight given they did that a few times each iirc
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Jun 22, 2022 14:54
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Oh I forgot to mention, from the "looking through Tapology" file: - Chris Sanford, the "guy in the shirt," was on TUF1 but got sent home by Randy Couture without even getting to fight. He lost to Josh Koscheck on the TUF1 Finale show. - Scott Carson was the second of two guys to lose to professional MMA fighter and absent father Herschel Walker - Bryson "The Outlaw" Haubrick only had 3 MMA fights (0-3), and his pro debut two months before he lost on this show was a loss at KOTC: Bombs Away to a 7-1 Quinton "Rampage" Jackson - An 0-2 Victor Estrada was one of Antonio "Mandingo" McKee's 6 finishes in his 30 MMA wins. - It does appear that there was an entire series of shows in New Zealand called "Princesses of Pain" https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/events/35055-princesses-of-pain-45 Boco_T fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Jun 22, 2022 |
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Jun 22, 2022 16:25
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Boco_T posted:- It does appear that there was an entire series of shows in New Zealand called "Princesses of Pain" https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/events/35055-princesses-of-pain-45 mods???
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Jun 22, 2022 16:27
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OK so now I am watching WEC 2: Clash of the Titans and yeah, it was a bit less crazy than WEC 1 but still pretty good as a sophomore show and event. The card is as follows and there are some familiar names on it.. Terry Dull vs Cole Escovedo Ryan Ackerman vs Rob Cole Kory Hangas vs Eric Duus Benji Radach vs Royden Demotta Nick Agallar vs Charlie Pearson Anthony Hamlett vs Jimmy Terrel Marcus Blood vs Leandro Nyza Cruz Gomez vs David Bancroft Aaron Steed vs Josh Houlgate Rob McCullough vs Jesse Heck Bruce Nelson vs Eric Schwartz Philip Perez vs Justin Jones Gan McGee vs Ron Faircloth So off the bat I personally recognize Escovdeo, Radach, McCullough as names on top of Gomez, McGee, and our boy Bruce Nelson who were all on WEC 1. Didn't realize this was both Radach & McCullough's pro-debuts though! That's kinda cool to see since all I remember of both of them was that by the time I got into MMA they were kinda past their prime/hype factor. If I remember correctly, McCullough started one of those cringe early 2000s fighter wear t-shirt companies or something and mostly used his wife/gf who was a pornstar I think as the model. WEC 2 also took place about 2 to 3 weeks after 9/11 which is another tidbit of history/trivia and they spent some time doing the national anthem etc. Anyway on to the fights... Terry Dull vs Cole Excovedo, comically the announcer calls him EscoTITO which...yeah lol. Rd 1, Cole comes out and goes for a quick takedown but basically as a result pulls guard with Dull in his guard on top. Dull stays in Cole's guard for a good portion until a triangle/armbar combo is thrown by Cole and its tight, Dull struggles to get free but fails and has to tap. Cole Escovedo wins via Submission, Rd 1 after the fight Dull his writhing around on the floor in pain or something. Probably from the rollover attempt he tried to do to get out of the triangle, which seemed to have hurt his neck or so. He had to get taken out on a stretcher which, yeah you don't ever wanna see that. This was his last pro-fight as well. On-air they mentioned the doctors said it could be a pinched nerve/slipped disc.  Ryan Ackerman vs Rob Cole, Cole is a member from Frank Shamrock's gym and making his debut, Ackerman is 2-0 going into the fight. Rd 1, Cole shoots for a takedown, misses and goes for a quick guillotine choke. Ackerman gets out and works from inside the guard of Cole. There's a scramble up and a reversal with another takedown where Cole is now in Ackerman's guard. They break apart again and Cole gets a good hip toss takedown on Ackerman and gets on top in Ackerman's guard again. Cole is, in essence, dominating the fight with a lot of takedown/throws, grappling positioning etc. After a standing guillotine attempt by Cole, Ackerman takes him down and gets his back, but Cole reverses and the round finishes with a lot of back and forth positional grappling. Comically at one point the lights go out and since its dark out you can't see anything, all while Cole and Ackerman are in a clinch throwing punches at each other. Lights come back on briefly later and the fight continues. Cole hits a big right which forces a desperation takedown by Ackerman which again sees Cole go for a guillotine as the bell rings. 10-9 for Cole Rd 2, They continue off with more takedowns and grappling for position. Cole seems less explosive and energetic when compared to Ackerman who is doing more of the grappling this round. Ackerman dominates and finishes the round in top back mount throwing hard punches. 10-9 for Ackerman Rd 3, During the break between Rounds 2 & 3 you can hear Cole saying to his corner he wants to retire and he doesn't answer the bell thus ending the fight. Ryan Ackerman wins via TKO/Retirement, Rd 1, Ackerman would actually go on to fight some notable names in Miguel Torres a few times (winning one of their fights) as well as Jeff Curran. Cole seems to have never fought after this match. Kory Hangas vs Eric Duus, another pair of pro debuts Rd 1, Duus gets Hangas on the ground and sits in his guard while throwing some strong punches and working show elbows. That is basically how the whole round goes. 10-8 for Duus Rd 2, Duus & Hangas stay standing, Hangas throwing wild and sloppy comparatively to Duus. Duus goes for a takedown but Hangas sprawls, but Duus works it so that he is in Hangas' guard again. After some time, a good portion of the round, Rosenthal stands them up and Duus gets another takedown to get into Hangas' guard again just as the round ends. 10-8 for Duus. Rd 3, Again Duus gets another takedown, is on top and just controls the position throwing punches and elbows being active so the fight doesn't get stood up. They eventually do get stood up, which sees Duus, you guessed it, score another takedown and they're on the ground again for the remainder of the fight. 10-9 for Duus. Eric Duus wins via Unanimous Decision, neither guys will go on to have anything considerable of a career both calling it quits under 5 fights into their respective careers. :alert: we get a promo break and (at the time) IFC Light Heavyweight Champion Bobby Southworth shows up to do a hype up promo for the main event, Southworth falls very flat and disinterested.:alert: Benji Radach vs Royden Demotta, this is both Radach & Demotta's pro debuts. Rd 1, A lot is made of Demotta with some praises mentioned by the commentary team by Tony DeSouza from the UFC. Radach eats a hard punch that stuns him a little. Demotta swings for a punch which Radach counters rocking Demotta, and follows up with more punches. Radach throws two knees to Demotta, who is on his knees when they land, and falls face first to the mat both times. The second time is what prompts the referee to step in and stop the fight. https://i.imgur.com/aDym43Y.mp4 Benji Radach wins via TKO, Rd 1. Radach would go on to have a somewhat notable career with some big wins, towards the end he even beat Murilo Rua in Strikeforce in those horribly dark times. Nick Agallar vs Charlie Pearson Rd 1, Agallar gets a clinch on Pearson against the cage and the two work it hard. Its a lot of clinch work in this round, but active so not bad and the round ends with mostly Pearson in control of the clinch. 10-9 for Pearson. Rd 2, Agallar gets a takedown and is in Pearson's guard and works the position a lot. Pearson eventually goes for a guillotine, uses it to sweep and ends up standing against Agallar who is on his back. Time passes and they're stood up. 10-9 Agallar, Pearson did score something with that sweep at the end but he didn't really do much to stop Agallar's takedown. Rd 3, the round starts with Agallar swarming Pearson and getting a takedown into butterfly then full guard. Pearson cagewalks up to standing clinch with Agallar doing a lot of grappling on him working for a takedown. Eventually Pearson reverses the position and scores a really slick foot stomp/foot sweep combo that you gotta see. https://i.imgur.com/1LrvsfA.mp4 They get standing after that and Agallar scores a takedown again, they get stood up after a while and the fight basically ends with them staring at each other. 10-9 Agallar I think its just due to his takedowns but I could see the round going to Pearson. Charlie Pears wins via Unanimous Decision which I think is bullshit. That was not a UD. Pearson wouldn't do much in his career, but Agallar would go on to fight names like Matt Wiman, Yves Edwards, and Jorge Masvidal on the first Bellator card of all things. Anthony Hamlett vs Jimmy Terrel Rd 1, Much is made of Hamlett's ADCC performance where he placed 4th. He takes Terrel down down and is in his guard and throws a lot to work open Terrel to get better position. Terrel works his way to standing in the clinch and gets double underhooks which lets him use his height advantage to press Hamlett against the cage. Mostly that's how the round ends, Terrel holding Hamlett against the cage. 10-9 for Hamlett getting the takedown and the work there was more effort than holding Hamlett against the cage in my view. Rd 2, Hamlett starts the round with a nice headkick but slips on the mat. He stands up and then is able to shoot for a takedown but Terrel gets a good sprawl and throws a kneed to the head. Hamlett gets his guard and Terrel is now on top. Terrel works Hamlett to the cage, is able to break away and stand up and lets Hamlett stand up. Hamlett gets another takedown, this time on top in Terrel's guard. A lot of work is done here but they're stood up after a lull in the action. Hamlett again gets a takedown and ends the round in Terrel's guard. 10-9 for Hamlett again for the takedowns. Rd 3, Both guys seem a bit winded. Hamlett gets another takedown and is on top. Terrel works his way up, Hamlett goes for a guillotine but doesn't really get it and now Terrel is in top open guard. They're stood up again. Hamlett goes for a takedown and Terrel is able to stuff it and then lets Hamlett stand up. Terrel lands an elbow just as Hamlett throws a kick and Hamlett falls and is clearly spent but is still stood up by Terrel giving the space. The bell rings just as Terrel tries a spinning heel hick on Hamlett as Hamlett awkwardly falls back in his defense and upkicks Terrel near the bell. 10-9 for Terrel, Hamlett was spent but Terrel did a lot of defensive grappling and good striking towards the end. Jimmy Terrel wins via Unanimous Decision. Again, not sure how that is a UD when Terrel didn't really get much off other than defensive grappling? I could see it as a Split Decision, but Unanimous seems generous. Marcus Blood vs Leandro Nyza Rd 1, Nyza is a Nova Uniao guy and immediately ties up against Blood. Nyza gets the takedown and passes to half guard. Blood turns his hips and lets Nyza get his back and just throws tons of punches until the referee takes him off. Leandro Nyza wins via TKO, Rd 1 Cruz Gomez vs David Bancroft Rd 1, Bancroft is wearing gi pants (or possibly sweat pants) so we are definitely in the early 2000s of MMA. Cruz ends up in top guard with Bancroft going for an armbar setup but Cruz stops it. Bancroft works a lot of rubber guard to setup a submission and Cruz is just throwing what he can onto Bancroft. A triangle gets locked on and is very tight with Cruz throwing more and more strikes to loosen/stop Bancroft. From inside the triangle, Cruz throws a knee and it lands on Bancroft's head rocking him. Cruz then starts to unload more and more as Bancroft's head is more or less wedged against the corner. Bancroft then just taps and seems to be really hurt and unable to stand possibly from an injured leg. Cruz Gomes wins via TKO, Rd 1. Very weird way to end the fight but very interesting. Aaron Steed vs Josh Houlgate Rd 1, Immediately Steed shoots and gets a takedown and just throws so much at Houlgate. Literally everything you can think of from a top side position in terms of striking is thrown. Steed gets on the back of Houlgate after a short scramble and throws an ungodly amount of elbows at the back of Houlgate's head that leads to a TKO but really should be a DQ. Aaron Steed wins via TKO, Rd 1. Steed very much an early 2000s musclehead MMA guy with his demeanor and style lol. Rob McCullough vs Jesse Heck Rd 1, Heck looks super scrawny and very much not an athlete compared to McCullough. A short exchange and Heck goes down and is out. McCullough threw 5 strikes and the punch/headkick combo at the end just ended Heck. Rob McCullough wins via TKO/KO, Rd 1. This was a big mismatch. Heck barely looked like he knew what he was doing in there. :alert: we get another promo but this time is UFC's own Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell! Both had recently fought at UFC 33, widely regarded as the worst UFC event ever. Tito is...coherent? He's actually making sense and not fumbling over his words. Tito poo poo talks Frank Shamrock for some crowd response. Chuck is then asked if Tito/Chuck will happen, Chuck says its possible if there's enough money. Says he'd want to fight Wanderlei Silva next. "We're gonna pound on each other" is Chuck's quote of the promo. Chuck and Tito clasp hands like buddies.:alert: Bruce Nelson vs Eric Schwartz. Our boy Bruce is back! Rd 1, Schwartz is a teammate of Chuck and is said to have heavy hands than Chuck. We'll see. The fight starts and Nelson tries to get a takedown but Schwartz stops it. Schwartz breaks from the clinch and... Wait we need to talk about this. Schwartz has the same loving The Pit/Kempo tattoo as Chuck.   Back to the action... Nelson goes for another takedown. Schwartz is standing and throwing elbows and punches to Nelson's side/ribes and Nelcon just taps. Our boy Bruce is done! Eric Schwartz wins via TKO, Rd 1. Also holy poo poo we need to find WEC 3 because Schwartz fights a debuting Glover Texeira, then retires from MMA for good.  This is just for good measure because I can Philip Perez vs Justin Jones Rd 1, Perez goes for a takedown on Jones and gets him against the fence. Perez is on top working hard to throw and also advance position but Jones isn't making it easy throwing punches back at him. Perez and Jones do a lot of grappling back and forth but Perez eventually gets top mount and throws punches until Jones taps. Philip Perez wins via Submission (Strikes), Rd 1 Gan McGee vs Ron Faircloth Rd 1, Faircloth and McGee are more or less equally skilled. That is until McGee throws his first punch, a counter left, which lands and rocks Faircloth who goes for a desperation takedown. Gan of course being a giant just sprawls and is able to throw tons of punches and elbows to Faircloth's head which makes the referee step in. Gan McGee wins via TKO, Rd 1 Gotta say, I am still in this "I love WEC" mindset and even with some hilarious mismatches, the card overall went pretty smooth and was enjoyable to watch. UFC Fight Pass doesn't have WEC 3 at all, nor does it exist on ~other locations~ so I think I may have to skip that one. 
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Jun 26, 2022 15:29
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i'm gonna wec it
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Jun 26, 2022 20:13
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This rules and the debut of Benji Radach is also a moment to talk about one of the best dumb things that happened in MMA. Back in 2003 Benji Radach got into a feud with a dude named Danny Lafever. Depending on who you ask, Lafever had either stolen his girlfriend or she had started dating Lafever after their breakup and Radach wasn't taking it well. Because MMA wasn't real and you could still do this kind of thing at the time, Benji, who at the time was 15-1, a three-time UFC veteran and considered one of the top prospects in the world, demanded Lafever, an amateur boxer with no professional fights of any kind, fight him at ULTIMATE RING CHALLENGE 6 at the COWLITZ COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS. The fight lasted fifty-five seconds. https://twitter.com/Grabaka_Hitman/status/1275191252829569030 It was one of the most widely-circulated fight clips on the early MMA internet and (supposedly) Radach paid a firm to get it taken down wherever possible and it only resurfaced a couple years ago. Radach also publicly agitated for a rematch for years and at one point put up $10,000 of his own money to do it, to which Lafever replied that he was just fine being a retired electrician.
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Jun 27, 2022 21:28
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Oh my god that's amazing
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Jun 28, 2022 04:21
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OK so WEC 3: All Or Nothing does not exist anywhere in video form from what I find, so I'm moving on to WEC 4: Rumble Under The Sun as that's actually available. The card is as follows WEC 4 Jeremy Horn vs. Aaron Brink Luciano Oliveira vs. Rich Crunkilton Kurt Pellegrino vs. Mac Danzig Zach Light vs. Tony Fryklund Jay White vs. Christian Wellisch John Rallo vs. Erik Mainiai Randy Rowe vs. Jason Jones Mike Swick vs. James Gabert Jeff Curran vs. Bao Quach Hey look its some more notable names! Horn, Pellegrino, Danzig, Fryklund, Real Quick Mike Swick, Jeff Curran and Bao Quach! Should be fun.
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Jul 7, 2022 15:55
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I watched WEC 2 this afternoon so I could get caught up on the thread. - Unfortunately for us, the big missing piece in WEC 3 is pro debut of Glover Teixeira, which he lost to Eric "The Great" Schwartz, he of the huge body blow TKO in at WEC 2. Those were Schwartz's only fights. - There is a big time gap for WEC 3, the second show was October 2001 and the third was June 2002. WEC 4 is on 8/31/2002 so we're force into skipping ahead almost a full year. I cannot find any coverage of WEC 2 or 3 in old Wrestling Observer Newsletters. - It was very funny hearing them call him "Rob the Razor" instead of "Razor Rob" and I wonder how many "undocumented on Tapology" kickboxing fights he'd had before switching to MMA. Bobby Southworth mentioned seeing in him Strike Force Kickboxing on commentary. I should look for those. - WEC 3 had the promotional debut of Richard "Cleat" Crunkilton, but we'll hear more about the man with one of the funniest last names in MMA on future shows including WEC 4. At WEC 3 he beat our tribal belly boy Cruz Gomez. - The main event of WEC 3 was Aaron "The Frijolero" Brink quickly defeating the 2-9 UFC 1 loser "Nasty" Zane Frazier. The next month Brink defeated Valentijn Overeem in Nevada before returning for WEC 4. - It was interesting hearing reference to Nova Unaio from 2001. I see that they were founded in 1995 but I did not know that the pipeline to the US was open for them this early. Nyza being on WEC 2 seems to be a direct line to Jose Aldo showing up there at UFC 34. - Bobby Southworth is most famously remembered for calling Chris Leben a "fatherless bastard" on an episode of the original Ultimate Fighter.
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Jul 8, 2022 19:04
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Nova Uniao had links to BJ Penn who, if memory serves was doing BJJ with them around this time so maybe that's a possible link into the US plus with any of the Gracies.
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Jul 9, 2022 05:04
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I know I said I'd do this weekly and I'm sorry! I got sidetracked by dumb stuff and being sorta "meh" about things for a while but I watched WEC 4 today. WEC 4: Rumble under the Sun! We have a preview that this PPV is going to be East Coast vs West Coast at the Mohegun Sun Casino! So first up, the show seems much better at this venue as compared to the parking lot style venue they were at Tachi Palace, so that's a good sign! The show began with a warrior shield dance done by a native american tribe (I assume its the host tribe of the Mohegun Sun Casino). This sort of beginning for a show is very early 2000s but also works really well given the venue and general history of the WEC's shows in Tachi Palace. I dug it. After the national anthem we get the show start with the ring girls making the walk down the ramp after a build up using...."Bawitdaba" by Kid Rock which honestly as an opening song rules still and I'll defend that opinion until I die. Pat Miletich is also on the commentary team but the least said about him the better. Bao Quach vs Jeff Curran Ooh boy this is an old school matchup. Bao wouldn't have as notable of a career but I know his name thanks to World of MMA's mod and always picked him up in the early days of MMA mod because there wasn't ever any lightweights around that had some good records. I once got him to be the innaugural PRIDE FC lightweight champ. Anyway one thing I found out, he would go on shortly after this fight to face Kid Yamamoto. Coincidentally so did Jeff Curran (who lost to a young 3-1 Kid), so I think maybe Bao didn't fight on that card? Rd 1, First off, the referee is wearing a T-shirt and track pants so that's hilarious. Quach goes for a takedown and gets kneed hard in the chest but scores it and ends up in Curran's guard. Curran gets Quach off him and stands up, with Quach going straight for a takedown but ends up clinching up against the cage. Eventually Quach gets another takedown. They stay in that position without much happening. 10-9 Quach, for the takedowns Rd 2, Quach shoots for another takedown but Curran defends and keeps it standing. After a good length of time standing and trading, Curran gets a hip toss and ends up in Quach's guard. Unlike the last round, Curran seems more active from the top and stands up and then gets two throws/takedowns on Quach. Curran tries a takedown, that sets up a guillotine, and spikes his own head down on the mat in the process. Then in the ensuing scramble ends up in bottom guard to end the round. 10-9 Curran, for the takedowns Rd 3, Quach gets another takedown and Curran can't stop it. Quach then breaks away, and then passes to side control. Eventually Curran stifles Quach to the point that Quach stands up and wants to strike rather than grapple. Curran then lands a series of decent combinations with Quach being more stiff with his striking. Quach eventually goes for a takedown but ends up in a guillotine as the round ends. 10-9 Curran, more striking/damage done Jeff Curran def. Bao Quach, Majority Decision Mike Swich vs James Gabert Swick is back! Also Jens Pulver is on commentary now for some reason. Rd 1, Swick lands a really loud body kick early on. Think the 10 second clapper sound, it was like that. Swick goes for another kick but Gabert grabs it and tries to clinch but Swick throws a bunch of knees, most of which are glancing at best. Swick is pressed against one of the corners as Gabert disengages. Another kick by Swick is caught by Gabert and again is pressed against the cage. This happens for a while and Swick lands a great elbow on the break to the side of Gaberts head cutting him open immediately. They continue to exchange with Swick getting the better as teh round ends. 10-9 Swick, better striking and damage overall Between rounds we see the cut and it is a deep one for an elbow on the side of the head. Rd 2, Gabert tries to clinch again and forces Swick against the fence but eats a good number of knees before disengaging. They break and start to exchange, with Gabert having some success with boxing combinations while Swick is throwing more kicks and using his range a bit more effectively. The round ends with a light amount of striking. 10-9 Swick, better striking again Rd 3, Gabert clinches again and tries really hard to get Swick down but eats knees to the side of the body more than anything. Eventually they break and we're back to a good amount of striking, mostly Swick landing easily at range and only getting clipped as he comes into Gabert's range. This was the tale of the whole round, if not the whole fight. 10-9 Swick, striking Mike Swick def. James Gabert, Unanimous Decision Jason Jones vs. Randall Rowe So this is an intersting one for what you'll see in a moment. One factor is Rowe actually fought Tim Sylvia in the amateur league, and Jones fought Gan McGee as his pro-debut. Heavyweights, huh. Rd 1, Jones is the much larger of the two, with Rowe being more compact. Jones goes into distance and eats a hard right by Rowe but then presses him against the fence. Rowe just does tons of footstomps on Jones which is funny because it was like 20 nonstop. Rowe gets the position and gets a scoop up double leg off the fence on Jones (with Jones fence grabbing lol). Rowe ends up from side position into Jones' guard and they work from that position. Eventually Jones locks on a triangle as Rowe stands and it is very tight. Eventually the referee, Josh Rosenthal, stops the fight as Rowe was, seemingly out, and after they break Rowe is being checked on. Jason Jones def... Oh wait, for some stupid as hell reason Jones starts punching Rowe while the referee is checking on him and waved off the fight and as the commission folks are coming into the cage. We got a mini-brawl between the two of them then as the corners break them apart and bring order back to this situation. Randall Rowe def. Jason Jones, Disqualification This was 1 of 3 professional wins in Rowe's career. Jason Jones never won a fight in his pro-career. He could've at least won this one had he not been a stupid idiot.  There has to be a reason, probably pre-fight poo poo talk. Eric Mainiai vs. John Rallo Rd 1, fight starts and Rallo rocks the hell out of Mainiai and then takes him down. Eventually he is in top position and tries for a North-South Choke. Rallo then transitions and Mainiai gets up on his knees, then Rallo goes for an armbar from back control. He slips off and Mainiai is on top throwing elbows from top half. Rallo gets up and out and off of like three punches from Rallo, Mainiai covers up and turns his back. So when Rosenthal steps in to stop the fight Mainiai then goes "no no, keep going I'm good!" which very clearly was not what he was conveying. John Rallo def. Eric Mainiai, TKO (Strikes) Chris Wellisch vs. Jay White Rd 1, Jay White throws a lot of smooth strikes in the opening minute or two of the fight. Wellisch goes for a single leg but can't get it at first but does secure it. Eventually though Wellisch stands and the referee resets. White trikes up Chris some more before another takedown and then Chris avoids White on the ground after a triangle attempt before the referee again steps in to reset. White gets a knockdown, and the referee steps in for a reason but apparently it wasn't to stop the fight but to tell White to not hit the back of the head. There was some confusion at first as it seemed the fight was over. 10-9 White, striking mostly but the takedowns by Wellisch were good. Rd 2, we start again with White looking to strike and Chris goes for the takedown again. White is slowing down but picking his shots on Chris and landing easily. Chris looks worse for wear and really afraid to exchange. White slows more and more as the round continues and looks exhausted and falls to his but in his corner. 10-9 White, strikes did a lot but he was sluggish. Rd 3, White looks way different than at the start of the fight. Slow, barely moving in his stance and letting Wellisch walk circles around him. Wellisch goes for another takedown and forces White to the fence. On the break they exchange a bit but White answers back. White's hands are at his hips and barely walking. Wellisch starts to open up with his striking more though. Wellisch gets a takedown and ends up in top side control and lays in hard punches to White's midsection. He then gets to top mount and lays down punches which White can't really answer and taps to the strikes. Chris Wellisch def. Jay White, TKO (Strikes) White has to be carried out on a stretcher apparently. During the break we get a random Chuck Liddell cameo to hype up his next fight versus Renato "Babalu" Sobral with the assumption he'll get the winner of Tito/Ken Shamrock for the UFC title. Zack Light vs. Tony Fryklund Rd 1, Light scores an early double-leg and has Fryklund defending in guard. They then disengage pretty quickly and Tony exchanges punches with Light before another shoot double-leg. They disengage again but then Light gets another double-leg takedown. However as he's working to pass Fryklund locks a tight kimura on and twists it to the point the referee stops the fight despite Light not tapping, who seemed to be upset. Tony Fryklund def. Zack Light, Submission (Kimura)  I'd argue that's tight and in a position where the referee should probably step in if he's not tapping. Apparently it was a verbal submission per the announcer, but possibly he was mad because it took Fryklund a bit of time to let go. Matt Hughes shows up to hype his fight versus Gil Castillo. Moving on from this guy. Also Frank Shamrock comes out to hype up a fight he will have in WEC in January/February of the next year. Mac Danzig vs. Kurt Pelligreno for the Vacant WEC Lightweight Championship So on the broadcast they say this was a Lightweight Championship fight, however if you go to Wikipedia or any other source they say that Gilbert Melendez was the innaugural WEC Lightweight Champion having won the belt at WEC 10. Tito joins the commentary team and he's very lucid and clear in his thoughts so his more comical recent ramblings are clearly an effect from the beatings his giant head has taken. Rd 1, the fight starts with a series of punches where Kurt clearly wants the takedown which he gets rather easily. He forces Mac's head up against the fence and works some strikes to get positional changes going. Kurt stays in top position for a lot of the round with Mac on the defense. 10-9 Pellegrino, takedown and positional control. Rd 2, things start the same as the first round. Kurt goes in striking but now Mac gets the takedown but Kurt is able to secure half-guard and keep Mac from getting much going at first. Kurt then creates a scramble and gets to his knees and eventually standing. Kurt lands a stiff cross and then takes Mac down but almost gets caught in a kneebar but takes top half-guard. From here he gets stifled and eventually they're stood up and then they exchange. Mac lands a hard punch so Kurt takes it to the mat again and Mac tries for an inverted triangle but Kurt escapes and ends up in top again. 10-9, Pellegrino, takedown and positional control again. Rd 3,Kurt gets another takedown from the start with Mac going for rubber guard. Kurt eventually passes to half-guard and then is stuck there before they're stood up. Kurt and Mac exchange until Kurt goes for a takedown again with Mac more or less stuck on bottom. All of Mac's work is being countered or stuffed by Kurt with relative easy. 10-9, Pellegrino, takedown and positional control. The NEW WEC Lightweight Champion: Kurt Pellegrino (def. Mac Danzig, Unanimous Decision) My best theory as to why they don't count this fight as the real first title fight is that Pellegrino wound up not fighting for WEC ever again despite being their champion. Given he was also 1-0 and the divisional champion, that was also kind of intersting and comical. Richard Crunkilton vs. Luciano Oliveira, Lightweight Superfight (there's even a championship belt!) Chuck Liddell is on commentary for this one. Rd 1, Crunkilton goes for a kick but Luciano counters into a takedown attempt but can't get it so they clinch against the cage. Luciano then is able to slip under and go for the back of Crunkilton but can't get anything going off of it. Luciano tries a trip but Crunkilton counters it into a belly-to-belly and then ends up in top mount with a guillotine which Luciano rolls to counter. From there Crunkilton slaps on a triangle and then secures the win with an armbar. Richard Crunkilton def. Luciano Oliveira, Submission (armbar). Aaron Brink vs. Jeremy Horn. Light Heavyweight Superfight (there's even a championship belt!) Frank Shamrock pops onto the broadcast now. Rd 1, Horn immediately shoots for a takedown but Brink is able to defend it a good deal until Horn forces him against the cage. From there he finally gets his takedown and Brink gives up his back which Horn takes gladly and locks in an RNC and gets a really fast and quick tap early. Jeremy Horn def. Aaron Brink, Submission (rear naked choke). Overall Impressions: I think this was probably the best card so far of the three. Best production value, best fights in terms of pairings of skill and overall was pretty good. Plenty of decent names popping on for color commentary and they had, at times, pretty good things to say and comment on. Mekchu fucked around with this message at 11:23 on Aug 1, 2022 |
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Aug 1, 2022 11:19
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It also could have been retconned because it was a 3 round decision too
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Aug 1, 2022 14:59
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Notes and Research, WEC 4: - They put belts on Pellegrino, Crunkilton, and Horn after they won. It's possible that those belts were simply the equivalent of the trophies given out for the winners of the earlier fights. Though I agree they definitely made it seem like the Danzig/Pellegrino match was a title match. But weirder still because the Crunkilton/Oliveira fight was also at lightweight. - There was a 90-second interval between rounds on this one, that was very weird. - They worked Chuck Liddell into paying to get "www.chuckliddell.com" on the top of the cage. - The Fight Pass file airs the Fryklund fight twice in a row for some reason. - Luciano Oliveira's only other fight was in Milan 12 years later. - I guess I'm unusually familiar with Bao Quach because he was on those early Gladiator Challenge and King of the Cage DVD sets that were very easy to find in Best Buy back in the day. I'm sure those shows are the most represented minor league MMA of that era. Good on Quach for having a 3-4 / 4-5 / 6-8-1 record early in his career and still managing to retire at 19-10-1. He truly fought everywhere you've heard of in that time too: Gladiator Challenge, King of the Cage, WEC, Shooto, EliteXC, ICONSport, Affliction, Strikeforce, Bellator, and M-1 Challenge. Hell, does anyone else have that wide a resume? - Heavy ad representation from "Team Pain Inc." on this show. I thought it was a fight camp but apparently "Pain Inc." was a Tapout competitor apparel company. - Still no coverage of WEC or this show in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
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Aug 1, 2022 19:03
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Boco_T posted:Notes and Research, WEC 4: Horn/Crunkilton were the Superfight winners.
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Aug 2, 2022 01:31
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Boco_T posted:- Still no coverage of WEC or this show in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. One week after Summerlam where Brock beats Rock and Rock goes to make movies I think. Its also in between ufc ppvs in July and September.
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Aug 2, 2022 04:38
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I'm gonna move on and do WEC 5: Halloween Havoc this week as well to catch up for missed time. Honestly the idea of a Halloween themed show done in October is totally good and cool and I wish someone would adopt it. UFC definitely won't but this was a cool and fun pro-wrestling kinda thing that just works. On the card we have (not sure the exact order as I'm phone posting: Cole Escovedo vs Philip Perez (For the Inaugural WEC Featherweight Championship) Antonio Banuelos vs Jeff Bedard Victor Estrada vs Rich Crunkilton Tim Kennedy vs Mack Brewer Chris Mooney vs Diallo Baza Gilbert Melendez vs Gary Quan Alex Khanbabian vs Alex Chu Kung Samm Wells vs Gabe Ruediger Justin Wieman vs Daniel Camarillo Coincidentally this also is the lightest card in terms of weight classes with only one fight being a LHW and the vast majority being Featherweight bouts, followed by Lightweight fights with a handful of Welterweight and Middleweight bouts thrown in. Mekchu fucked around with this message at 12:20 on Aug 2, 2022 |
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Aug 2, 2022 11:44
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