WEC 39: "Brown vs. Garcia" from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, is in the books. And Mike Thomas Brown is still the WEC 145-pound featherweight champion.
The American Top Team product successfully defended his title in dominating fashion over Greg Jackson trainee Leonard "Bad Boy" Garcia. The champ connected on a hard right hand that floored Garcia very early on in the fight and followed that up with some brutal ground and pound.
A bloodied up "Bad Boy" tried to recover, but the ridiculously strong Brown was relentless. It wasn't long before he sunk in a fight ending arm triangle to collect his first successful title defense.
However, the WEC's featherweight division is perhaps the promotion's deepest. And there are several high profile, young and hungry fighters chomping at the bit to get their shot. However, it'll be ex-champ Urijah Faber who gets first dibs -- they'll like meet in a rematch sometime this summer.
One of those high profile, young and hungry fighters of the WEC's 145 pound division mentioned above was also featured on the WEC 39 card. His name is Jose Aldo, and if you don't know that name yet, get familiar. This guy is the real deal.
He dismantled the heavily outmatched Chris Mickle in just over a minute to get his fourth straight (technical) knockout win under the WEC banner. Urijah Faber might be next in line for a title shot, but Aldo's not far behind. His day will certainly come.
Cross town Chicago rivals Ricardo Lamas and Bart Palaszewski battled it out in a lightweight bout on the main card as well. Lamas came in on super short notice, and Bartimus' experience was supposed to be too much for the kid to overcome.
Somebody forgot to tell that to Ricardo Lamas -- his strength was a problem for Palaszewski. They spent a lot of time in the clinch and Lamas was able to win over the judges with his control. It was a big win for a fighter coming in with a lot stacked against him. We definitely haven't seen the last of him in the WEC.
In the other main card bout, former lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough out-pointed Marcus "The Wrecking Ball" Hicks on the judges scorecards for a lackluster majority decision win. Surprisingly enough, there wasn't a whole lot of action in the fight. We're used to seeing better performances from both guys.
Nevertheless, a win's a win for Razor Rob.
There were plenty of other solid fights and exciting finishes on the under card as well. Here's the full results from WEC 39: "Brown vs. Garcia:"
- WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Thomas Brown defeats Leonard "Bad Boy" Garcia via submission (arm choke) at 1:57 of round one
- Jose "Junior" Aldo defeats Chris Mickle via technical knockout (strikes) at 1:39 of round one
- Ricardo Lamas defeats Bart "Bartimus" Palaszewski via unanimous decision
- "Razor" Rob McCullough defeats Marcus "The Wrecking Ball" Hicks via majority decision (29-29, 30-27, 29-28)
- Johny Hendricks defeats Alex "The Russian Crusher" Serdyukov via unanimous decision
- Damacio "The Angel of Death" Page defeats Marcos "Louro" Galvao via knockout (punch) at 0:18 of round one
- John Franchi defeats Mike "Wildfire" Budnik via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Mike Pierce defeats Justin Haskins via technical knockout (strikes) at 3:39 of round three
- Alex Karalexis defeats Greg McIntyre via technical knockout (strikes) at 4:19 of round one
- Danny Castillo defeats Phil Cardella via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
- Kenji Osawa defeats Rafael Rebello via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 27-30)
Next up for the sister promotion to the UFC is WEC 40: "Torres vs. Mizugaki" which will take place at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois on April 5. Bantamweight champion Miguel Torres will defend his title against Japanese newcomer Takeya Mizugaki in the main event.
The event will mark the promotion's first trip to the "Windy City," which is also Torres' hometown.
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