WEC 39: “Brown vs. Garcia” is set to go off from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, this Sunday night and will air live on the Versus network beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Featherweight champion Mike Thomas Brown will defend his title for the first time since knocking off superstar Urijah Faber in November. He’ll face the heavy-handed Greg Jackson trainee, Leonard Garcia, in the main event.
There are several other exciting match-ups featured on the card, too, and five bouts will be featured on the televised main card scheduled to air on fight night.
Here’s the full WEC 39 lineup:
Main event:
WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Thomas Brown (20-4) vs. Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia (12-3)
Main card (Televised):
145 lbs.: Jose “Junior” Aldo (13-1) vs. Chris Mickle (26-11-1)
155 lbs.: Bart “Bartimus” Palaszewski (30-11) vs. Ricardo Lamas (5-0)
155 lbs.: “Razor” Rob McCullough (16-5) vs. Marcus “The Wrecking Ball” Hicks (8-1)
170 lbs.: Johny Hendricks (4-0) vs. Alex “The Russian Crusher” Serdyukov (8-4)
Under card (May not be broadcast):
135 lbs.: Marcos “Louro” Galvao (6-2-1) vs. Damacio “The Angel of Death” Page (10-4)
155 lbs.: Mike “Wildfire” Budnik (7-1) vs. John Franchi (4-0)
170 lbs.: Justin Haskins (4-2) vs. Mike Pierce (6-1)
155 lbs.: Alex Karalexis (9-4) vs. Greg McIntyre (5-3)
155 lbs.: Danny Castillo (6-1) vs. Phil Cardella (7-2)
135 lbs.: Kenji Osawa (14-8-2) vs. Rafael Rebello (5-2)
It’s looks like we’re in for another solid night of fights from the WEC. To help get you better prepared for fight night, we took a closer look at each of the five main card bouts and provided our highly unofficial predictions below.
Check it out:
WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Thomas Brown (20-4) vs. Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia (12-3)
Garcia’s been on a tear since joining the WEC. In his two appearances for the promotion, he’s handed out first round knock outs to both the world-ranked Hiroyuki Takaya and the former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver.
This fight, however, is a little bit different stylistically. Where Takaya and Jens both prefer to stand and trade leather, Brown won’t hesitate to utilize his wrestling background by looking for takedowns to maintain cage control and land ground strikes.
That’s not to say necessarily that he won’t test Garcia on his feet for a while first, but if he starts to feel like he’s in trouble, Brown can and will turn to his wrestling.
For Garcia, that’s certainly something to be worried about. In April of 2007 at UFC 69, Roger Huerta basically exploited Garcia’s wrestling game, or lack there of, en route to a pretty one-sided beatdown … albeit an exciting beatdown.
You wouldn’t know it from his last two fights either, but Garcia does have a solid background in jiu jitsu. He’s dangerous on the ground from his back and can pull a submission off from anywhere.
But Mike Brown is one of the strongest 145-pound fighters in the world. If he can manage to keep control of this fight with his strength and wrestling base by keeping a dominant top position when the fight goes to the mat, it’s going to be a long night for the challenger.
It’s easy to get sucked into thinking that someone’s going to sleep early on in this one because of the devastating manner in which they both finished their last opponents. But the fact is that both of these guys are grapplers when it comes down to it. This one’s going to the scorecards.
Final prediction: Brown via unanimous decision
145 lbs.: Jose “Junior” Aldo (13-1) vs. Chris Mickle (26-11-1)
Mickle is a submission guy with notable career wins over Jeremy Stephens, Brian Geraghty, TJ O’Brien and others. He’s making his debut for the WEC in this fight.
Aldo, on the other hand, is making his fourth straight start for the promotion. And he’s been very impressive each time out. He boasts a fantastic striking game and is also a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu. And at only 22 years old, the confident fighter already believes he has what it takes to be the best pound for pound mixed martial artist in the world.
Here’s a snip:
“I’m the number one pound-for-pound fighter just above Georges St. Pierre. I consider myself so because the way I see it is that I have the three prerequisites: I’m great standing, with my takedowns, and on the ground, with Jiu-Jitsu.”
Mickle — a cagey veteran with numerous underground fights to his credit as well — will no doubt look to avoid trading strikes with the lighting quick Brazilian, but he better be careful when he shoots for takedowns or he might end up on the wrong end of an Aldo knee.
We’ve yet to really see what kind of ground game Aldo has, but obviously with the black belt, he has to be formidable. This fight could be the WEC’s way of testing his all around skills before granting him a title shot. He’ll be facing a much more experienced and proven fighter who could easily be considered his toughest opponent to date.
Expect this one to be closer than most people think, but Aldo’s overall athleticism and versatility should be enough to get the nod.
Final prediction: Aldo via unanimous decision
155 lbs.: Bart “Bartimus” Palaszewski (30-11) vs. Ricardo Lamas (15-0)
Lamas made his pro debut last January and went on to fight four more times in 2008. Impressive victories over James Birdsley and Cal Ferry are more than likely what prompted the WEC to come calling when Rich Crunkilton went down with a knee injury and was forced to pull out.
He steps in on four days notice to face 12 fight IFL veteran Bart Palaszewski who will be making his second appearance for the WEC.
This match was initially intended to be a number one contender eliminator match, and that offer is probably still good in Palaszewski’s case if he can win impressively.
Bartimus had a tough streak there for a while that saw him lose three fights in a row, but he’s bounced back strong with two technical knockout wins since the IFL went under last year. We look for him to continue that streak by overwhelming the less experienced Lamas.
Lamas looks like a decent prospect, and he has a good amateur wrestling background as a NCAA division III All-American. But facing a well tested veteran like Palaszewski in only your sixth pro fight, on only four days notice, is a recipe for disaster if you ask me.
Final prediction: Palaszewski via submission
155 lbs.: “Razor” Rob McCullough (16-5) vs. Marcus “The Wrecking Ball” Hicks (8-1)
Both these guys have solid wrestling, as well as quick and powerful hands. They’re both explosive and they can both end fights with their hands or with submissions. This is probably the toughest fight on the card to judge.
McCullough’s hit a bit of a dry spell recently, losing two of his last three fights, but to be fair, both of those fights were to top level competition and both were extremely competitive.
In his most recent loss to Donald Cerrone, his chin was tested numerous times and he probably gained a lot of self confidence from that fight in that regard. That might not necessarily be a good thing against Hicks though.
Hicks hits like a truck. If Razor Rob gets too comfortable in the pocket and leaves himself open, Marcus definitely has the power to put him to sleep.
McCullough knows what’s at stake here though — he needs a win more than he needs an impressive win. Hicks’ stamina hasn’t really been tested yet. He’s never even been out of the second round. Meanwhile, Razor Rob’s last two fights have both gone to a decision.
The longer the fight goes on, therefore, the more it should favor McCullough.
Look for him to take sort of a Josh Koscheck approach to Diego Sanchez, where he’ll keep his distance and try to pick his spots, scoring points on his feet while adding some late round take down attempts for icing. Whether that plan will work against the “Wrecking Ball” or not is another story.
Final prediction: McCullough via unanimous decision
170 lbs.: Johny Hendricks (4-0) vs. Alex “The Russian Crusher” Serdyukov (8-4)
This is probably the last welterweight fight in the history of the WEC and it’s one that was supposed to happen originally way back in September on the WEC 36 card.
Hendricks is a decorated wrestler from Oklahoma State University who now trains MMA full time with Team Takedown. He’ll be making his fifth professional start and second under the WEC banner. He has a ton of energy and appears to be able to take a good amount of punishment and still finish a fight.
Serdyukov provides an interesting match-up and a stiff test for the fast rising prospect in that he’s just as aggressive, and he’s probably a little more well rounded with his striking and submissions, not to mention more experienced.
This feels like a dangerous match-up for Hendricks, but Serdyukov has had trouble with good wrestlers in the past, notably Jon Fitch and John Alessio, who he lost to twice by submission. Look for this to be a very competitive, high paced fight with Hendricks’ hand raised at the end.
Final prediction: Hendricks via submission
That’s a wrap. Remember, MMAmania.com will provide live coverage of the action on fight night beginning with the 9:30 p.m. telecast on Versus as well as up to the minute quick results of the entire under card.
Check in early and often. In the meantime, feel free to leave your WEC 39-related thoughts and predictions in the comments section below.
Just six days removed from his unanimous decision loss to Paul Kelly at UFC 95 “Sanchez vs. Stevenson” on February 21, former The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 6 contestant Troy Mandaloniz has been released from his UFC contract according to BJPenn.com.