WEC puts on Card of the Year contender, but a question still lingers

Again the issue of fighters not finishing fights rears its ugly head. This time at Saturday’s WEC 48, or whatever you want to call the non-WEC-branded event that probably had a lot of casual fans thinking they were watching the UFC (and paves the way for a further melding/absorbing of the WEC/UFC brand).

No, Jose Aldo didn’t clown Urijah Faber the way Anderson Silva did Demian Maia, but the WEC featherweight champ’s decision to play it safe and allow Faber to limp his way to a lopsided unanimous-decision loss certainly put a damper on the top-to-bottom most-exciting MMA card so far this year.

The 17-1 Brazilian made a convincing argument for inclusion among the top-5 pound-for-pound fighters in the sport with his precision dismantling of the former champ.

Anyone who says leg kicks don’t win fights, well, here’s exhibit A: Aldo chopped at Faber’s left thigh like he was building a log cabin. It left him hobbled, it left him dropped to the canvas on several occasions, and – in the evening’s most-ridiculous moment that didn’t include Joe Rogan praising Kimbo Slice as a true mixed martial artist  – it saw him carried back to his corner between rounds by his sunglassed-and-headbanded cornerman who looked like he stepped out of a Bruce Lee knockoff movie.

The punishment was relentless as Faber’s leg was tenderized and ready for the barbecue (see the evidence here). Left without a leg to stand on, Faber gamely tried to get off with strikes to no avail against the elusive Aldo, who avoided damage with effective-yet-unflashy head movements and countered with heavy body attacks. Still, Aldo very clearly eased off the gas pedal in the later rounds, choosing to play it safe and unscathed as he cruised to victory even though he probably could’ve ended Faber’s suffering outright on several occasions.

Of course, I can’t be too upset. It was still an impressive, dominating performance by Aldo, and it came on the heels of the co-main event, a rematch between lightweight champ Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone.

Their fight lasted all of 1:57, a far cry from the five-round war that they put on last year that proved to be the most exciting bout of 2009. Henderson opened up quickly, landed a couple of huge knees that raised a goose egg on Cerrone’s forehead and then locked in a deep guillotine choke. Fight finished. Over and done. And Henderson cashed a $65,000 bonus cheque for Submission of the Night in the process.

Speaking of submissions, Shane Roller guillotined an overwhelmed Anthony Njokuani in the opening frame of their main card tilt.

And if you’re wondering about the Knockout of the Night, well, that belonged to Manny Gamburyan. After eating a couple of strikes, Gamburyan unloaded a right hook from hell on the ducking Mike Brown, who crumpled to the canvas and was finished with a handful of hammerfists. Doesn’t matter that Brown was dealing with personal issues (a bad break-up, a couple of weeks of missed training camp), Gamburyan looked like a mini-monster.

The main card opened with a three-round bantamweight slugfest between Scott Jurgensen and Antonio Banuelos. Jurgensen won the unanimous decision and the pair would’ve shared the Fight of the Night bonus except…

And it’s a huge freakin’ except…