The Takedown 10.16.09: The Card Nobody Knew About

Posted by Daniel Bonnizzio on 10.16.2009

A look at the WEC card that delivered, but that not many knew about, a potential rematch for a Middleweight Championship, a drama queen and a poor coach from the Ultimate Fighter, DREAM.12 news and much more!

Welcome to week FIVE of The Takedown!

I have to apologize up front for the lack of interesting stuff thus far, I've still been in ‘just report' mode, but I feel like I'm getting in the groove for the thing.

Drop to your shooting knee and welcome to:


In My Opinion…
Just a section to discuss my opinion on something
I got no opinions this week. I blame a lack of anything happening in my life.

---

WEC 43: Another Stellar Card Nobody Knew About

So WEC 43 came and went and like every other WEC card I can remember it was a fantastic card. Exciting fights, toe-to-toe action, wild finishes and even something which could be in the running for upset of the year. Here's how the fights went down:
Main Card Fights
• Interim Lightweight Championship bout: Donald Cerrone vs. Ben Henderson; Henderson defeated Cerrone via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) to become the WEC Interim Lightweight Champion.
• Lightweight bout: Richard Crunkilton vs. Dave Jansen; Jansen defeated Crunkilton via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).
• Featherweight bout: Rafael Assuncao vs. Yves Jabouin; Assuncao defeated Jabouin via split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28).
• Bantamweight bout: Damacio Page vs. Will Campuzano; Page defeated Campuzano via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:02 of round 1.

Prelim Fights
• Lightweight bout: Anthony Njokuani vs. Muhsin Corbbrey; Njokuani defeated Corbbrey via KO (punches) at 1:42 of round 2
• Bantamweight bout: Scott Jorgensen vs. Noah Thomas; Jorgensen defeated Thomas via KO (punches) at 3:13 of round 1
• Featherweight bout: Wagnney Fabiano vs. Mackens Semerzier; Semerzier defeated Fabiano via submission (triangle choke) at 2:14 of round 1
• Bantamweight bout: Eddie Wineland vs. Manny Tapia; Wineland defeated Tapia via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
• Bantamweight bout: Charlie Valencia vs. Coty Wheeler; Valencia defeated Wheeler via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).
• Featherweight bout: Javier Vazquez vs. Deividas Taurosevicius; Taurosevicius defeated Vazquez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).

Starting off the event we saw bantamweights in action as the Angel of Death took on Will Campuzano in a trademarked flurry of leather flying and after taking Campuzaon to the mat following a wild swing we saw Page take Will's back and choke him out in just over a minute for the submission win. Now 3-1 in the WEC with his only loss to current champ Brian Bowles, I think within a fight or so we could see the rematch between the two for the 135 pound title. Sorry Will, try again.

We saw a unsuspectingly competitive fight belying the nature of the grappler v striker in the Assuncao/Jabouin fight, which saw the Brazilian stand and trade with Jabouin, who showed that he could be a potential player. A win or so could also put Rafael Assuncao into the title picture versus Mike Brown sometimes next year.

In a stunning fight which saw a newcomer to the WEC get a win over a veteran coming off a layoff Dave Jensen stole the judges' scores with his relentless takedowns. Also in this fight we have a contender for Steve Mazzagatti's crown as Worst Ref Ever with his constant warnings for the fighters to work despite only getting about 5 seconds to work when the fight hit the ground, which is sad because that was where Dave Jensen showed he really knows how to work a guy over on the ground.

In my Fight of the Year we saw two top flight contenders fight for the interim WEC Lightweight Championship in a high paced fight which saw Henderson get put into at least 6 different submissions and shrug them all off, including an omoplata in the final round that saw him use that arm to thumbs-up the ref to let him know he was okay. Henderson showed great composure and while it could be said ‘the wrong guy won' we're still going to get a great fight come the event headlined by Henderson vs. Varner. Cerrone, regrettably gets knocked back down the ladder to start over, but in the thin WEC lightweight division it won't take hi long to get another shot at gold.

In the upset of the night we saw WEC newcomer Mackens Semerzier not only score the win over top 5 featherweight Wagnney Fabiano but also submitting him in the first stanza with a deep triangle choke that saw him make the world class grappler tap out. As stated on the forums, "apparently the matchmaker knew something we didn't." Expect big things from Mackens, expect some serious dumping to take place on Wagnney.

---

The Gator Could be Getting a Shot at Gold

After Cung Le ‘vacated' the Strikeforce Middleweight Title some time ago we were given Mayhem Miller fighting Jake Shields for the vacant title. Come November 7 we will have a new Middleweight Champion who will hopefully defend his belt.

But then what?

Scott Coker has hinted that submission expert Ronaldo ‘Jacare' Souza could be next in line for the belt. This fight could be HUGE, especially if Mayhem manages to get the win over Shields as it would be a rematch from DREAM.9 where the two fought for another Middleweight Championship that ended with a NC from an illegal kick. The sheer amount of trash talking the two gave each other after that event was stunning, so to imagine the talk they would give each other over THIS 185 title would be fantastic.

Jacare, not having fought since the DREAM.9 mishap, would likely relish the idea of getting an actual win over Miller after the illegal kick, and I would love it. The story they'd be able to run on the history between the two would be great and it might be able to garner some of the attention from the DREAM fans and such. This would be a great headliner on its own and even with a less stacked card.

Miller would have to get past Shields first though, who is great in his own right and a challenge for anyone. Hopefully, Miller gets the win come November 7 and we get Miller/Jacare II.

---

The Ultimate Fighter is DRAMATIC

In this week's installment of everyone's favorite MMA-based reality show (sorry Mayhem) we saw Team Rashad extend their win streak to five straight wins, still not losing a single fight. In one of the three fights I saw potentially going to Rampage we saw Team Rashad's Justin Wren take on UFC vet and all around a-hat Wes Sims in a quick and dominant fashion.

The fight itself was good, but the main focus was actually on Mr. Meathead Matt Mitrione and his drama he wanted to put forth for the other guys in the house to watch. The whole episode he kept telling Rashad his shoulder was hurting, but as soon as he wasn't training he was just fine and able to do stuff like throw footballs and basketballs (and eat as Big Country showed). I would side with Rashad because Mitrione looked like a drama queen here and I think he just doesn't want work at all. He just wants to fight and no practice. Bad form for an athlete.

The fight itself was interesting. Wes Sims was definitely the bigger man in the fight and had the reach advantage but Justin has the good coaching to counter that by getting in quickly and taking Wes down. Wes may have been training with Hammer House, which has good wrestlers, but apparently Wes becomes instantly blind and deaf whenever the guys there talked about wrestling. He did good for about ten seconds of the fight but as soon as Justin took him down we saw Wes look like a newbie on the mat. Justin passed, mounted, and locked in the game-winning triangle like he was a nine time Mundials champ against a quadriplegic, but what happened after was funny. Wes wasn't tapping (even though that choke was deeper than any I've seen recently) and as the saying goes, tap or nap; Wes chose to nap. Herb tried to do the whole ‘raise the arm and if it drops too much stop the fight' and like Rampage said post-fight I thought Wes was seriously going to Hulk Up and just throw Justin off of him but instead Wes went to sleep.

Post-post-fight we saw Rampage again leave his fighter in the cage and left for the back room immediately. Rashad came back to him and attacked him again, calling him a bad coach and a bad person in general. The word selfish was thrown around quite a bit and I think it visibly affected Rampage. Rampage admits he's a fighter not a coach, but the fact is he signed up to be a coach and he needs to be a coach right now, not a fighter. Tiki tries to defend him but gets handed his ass by Rashad who calls Tiki basically Rampage's lapdog. Ouch man.

All in all a solid episode full of drama and character advancement. Wes Sims is a joker, Rampage is a douche, Rashad's a nice guy and everybody hates Meathead. In a foreshadowing we saw Big Baby Marcus Jones get pissed at Rashad after not picking him to fight, so I pity the fool who has to fight against Marcus when his time comes.

---

In the Lands of the Rising Sun
Here I'll cover the happenings in Japanese MMA

DREAM.12 – Fighters Confirmed
DREAM.12 has been confirmed to have several fighters present, but as with all things we could see some change. I was excited to see one fighter on the card, which shows DREAM has the right idea with their titles.

• Middleweight Bout: Melvin Manhoef v Zelg Galesic
• Middleweight Bout: Paulo Filho v Dong Sik Yoon
• Lightweight Bout: Eddie Alvarez v Katsunori Kikuno
• Lightweight Bout: Kuniyoshi Hironaka v Won Sik Park
• Featherweight Bout: Chase Beebe v Yoshiro Maeda
• Welterweight Title Bout: Marius Zaromskis (Champion) v Kiyoshi Tamura

Seeing another title fight on the card gives me hope that DREAM will be a truly good promotion. Like all Japanese MMA they have exciting and entertaining shows, but they also know where the champs lie. Earlier this month we saw the first ever DREAM title defense in Hellboy v Aoki which saw Aoki claim the lightweight belt, so will we see Zaromskis be a one and done or will the Lithuanian striker show us he's for real? Against someone like Tamura, we are going to see the relatively green champion truly tested, but I feel that he has the chance to knock Tamura out much like how he got the strap in the first place.

Other fighters confirmed for the event but have as-of-yet unannounced opponents include Myeon Ho Bee, Daisuke Nakamura, and everyone's favorite Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem.


Still a badass trailer.

---

Quick Jabs
• The UFC is expected to make their Virginia debut for UFC Fight Night 20, which is tentatively scheduled for Monday, Jan 11. This excites me because it's taking place about an hour from my house, so I am totally going. And I will be super excited.
• Frank Mir is "extremely" interested in a fight with Anderson Silva. In other news, word on the street is Frank Mir has recently admitted to being a bit sadomasochistic.
• The event bonuses for WEC 43 went to Mackens Semerzier for Submission of the Night; Anthony Njokuani, for KO of the Night, and Cerrone/Henderson for Fight of the Night. Post-event, Lorenzo Fertitta called Reed Harris and told him to double the bonuses for Cerrone/Henderson from $10,000 to $20,000 for the display they put on. This is good news for the future as sometimes these bonuses are the difference for some fighters between Mickey D's and…well, not Mickey D's.
• Scott Coker has stated that he expects to have Alistair Overeem defend his title sometime in early 2010, possibly in February. What's the over/under on him re-re-injuring his hand between now and then?

---

Bozo's Corner
Just stuff about me for the week.

It's been raining all week, ergo I am a sad person. I'd be fine with rain but it's also really cold so I don't wanna go outside and no outside equals unhappy me.

Otherwise, there's really nothing to say this week.

---

And that finishes the shot for today people. If you wanna say something, feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what you have to say, or you can drop me a line at my email at [e-mail].