Punch Drunk Preview: WEC 51

Last time out, Garcia paired with Chan Sung Jung to deliver what has easily been the Fight of the Year thus far. Regardless of whether or not you thought Garcia won the fight or not, there is no denying it was awesome.

The Greg Jackson trainee throws with nasty intentions every time he swings his hands, making him one of the most beloved fighters in the WEC, if not the sport. He’s in there to put on a show and swing for the fences, and it doesn’t matter who is standing across from him.

Canadian Mark Hominick will get the pleasure this time after calling out Garcia following his win over fellow Canuck Yves Jabouin in Edmonton this past June. The Team Tompkins student has been very impressive in his second run with the WEC, notching consecutive finishes.

Garcia plays a bit of a gatekeeper role in the 145-pound division and this will be a chance for Hominick to show he belongs in the upper tier and title contention.

Chan Sung Jung (10-2-0) vs. George Roop (10-6-1)

Honestly, this fight confuses me.

“The Korean Zombie” comes off his Fight of the Year effort opposite Garcia which many – myself included – believe he won, and instead of taking a step up the 145-pound ladder, he gets TUF cast away George Roop and his 0-1-1 record in the WEC.

While it can be argued that Roop managed a draw opposite Garcia in his last and lost his debut to resurgent title holder Eddie Wineland, neither of those carries enough weight for me to like this pairing.

That said, it’s a very winnable fight for a fighter who has emerged as highly-marketable and extremely popular, so it makes sense on that level. Expect to see lots of Tri-Coasta Korean Zombie t-shirts in the stands.

Miguel Torres (37-3-0) vs. Charlie Valencia (12-5-0)

Charlie Valencia is either going to get bludgeoned or be the man to send Miguel Torres tumbling down the depth chart. Is that enough to get you interested?

After reigning over the 135-pound division for a year-and-a-half, Torres was upset by Brian Bowles, his first loss in seventeen bouts. Five months later, the former champion returned, only to be steamrolled by Jospeh Benavidez. He got his head split to his skull and forced to tap for the first time in his career. Two-straight losses after a five year winning streak are bound to have motivated Miguel Torres.

Valencia has put together three-straight wins using his strong wrestling and tremendous conditioning to get the best of Seth Dikun, Coty Wheeler and Akitoshi Tamura. He boasts a 5-3 record in the WEC, though two of those losses came to the current (Dominick Cruz) and former (Brian Bowles) bantamweight champion.

This is the definition of must-win for Torres, which gives Valencia the ability to come in relaxed and simply stick to what has been working.

Jamie Varner (16-3-1) vs. Donald Cerrone (11-3-0)

While Cerrone’s trash talk went too far earlier in the month, the fact remains that these two lightweight just plain don’t like each other. They didn’t before they met the first time for what was then Varner’s lightweight title, they didn’t after the somewhat controversial ending of that meeting and the bad blood has only continued brewing since.

Varner got screwed out of a win when he faced Kamal Shalorus at WEC 49 in Edmonton; despite a point deduction for “The Prince of Persia,” the cards still came back as a draw. Brutal, but you have to move on, and now he can take some of that frustration out on his arch enemy.

Outside of being allergic to winning title fights, Cerrone is a tough S.O.B. with a strong all-around game. Even though he fired some errant shots into the nether region of Ed Ratcliff last time, he displayed a sense of urgency in the final round and earned the finish. If he could ever start a fight they way he finishes, maybe he would get over his allergy to winning the big one.

While you would think this bout would have title implications somewhere along the line, it presents an interesting dilemma: Cerrone has been beaten twice by Ben Henderson and a third fight isn’t something we need to see any time soon. Varner, on the other hand, has only lost to the current lightweight champ once, but he’s got to get through Cerrone before he can even think of chasing the belt again.

This one could be Fight of the Year.

Jose Aldo (17-1-0) vs. Manny Gamburyan (11-4-0)

Aldo just might be the best overall fighter on the planet. The crazy thing is that we don’t really know for sure because he’s dominated everyone he’s faced and never really been tested.

He left Urijah Faber hobbling around on a jacked up leg, chopping him down with leg kicks for twenty-five minutes in their meeting at WEC 48. No one has even come close to challenging Aldo since he arrived on the scene in June 2008, though Gamburyan has the makeup to be the first.

The former TUF finalist was always too small as a lightweight, but fits in perfectly at 145. He’s strong, had heavy, heavy hands and the takedown ability to perhaps put Aldo on his back and force him to display his ground skills for the first time. Gamburyan has shown the stamina to grind out decisions, but the additional ten minutes available in this bout will be a new experience.

A win here and Aldo will have to wait on a challenger; no one is really in position to fight for the title yet and those who are close are more than a win away. If he does win, expect the “Aldo to Lightweight” talk to heat up again.

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