The MMA Juggernaut 11.05.08: WEC is BACK and What Happens to Chris Leben?
Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 11.05.2008
The Juggernaut looks at a great WEC card featuring Urijah Faber and Paulo Filho plus examining what happens now to Chris Leben after failing a drug test. All that, plus a look at the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter.
Thanks for checking back in with The Juggernaut as we are hours away from the next WEC show, featuring several top fighters. Plus, some rather big news broke earlier in the week and I will offer my thoughts as well as preview the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter.
First up, Chris Leben tested positive for Stanazolol after taking a drug test the day of his fight with Michael Bisping last month. He lost the entertaining fight by decision and this week, the UFC has suspended him for nine months.
ANDERSON SILVA, moments away from bashing Chris Leben...holy cow
The interesting note here is this test was conducted by the UFC's Marc Ratner (former head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission) because the event took place in Europe. When the UFC goes overseas, they handle hiring the referees, judges, do their own drug testing, etc.
This sucks for Leben who remains one of the more entertaining fighters in the UFC's middleweight division. A guy can deal with losing a good fight, a main event fight at that (Leben's first in the UFC). However, now Leben will have to prove himself all over again. You can argue the impact of failed drug tests. Sean Sherk seems back in the title hunt in the 155-pound division. Stephan Bonnar is far from a top fighter in the company, but is expected to return from injury in early 2009. Melvin Guillard's "fame" also came from the TUF series and returned from his suspension in 2007 and lost at UFC 79. James Irvin tested positive following his loss to ANDERSON SILVA this past summer. Kazuhiro Nakamura failed a drug test in 2007 and returned to lose to Sokoudjou at UFC 84 this past May.
Leben will serve his suspension and return better than ever. Nine months without fighting, without earning a paycheck from fighting, that is where it really hurts.
WEC Is Where It's At
WEC presents its 36th event this evening on VERSUS and I suggest you check it out. Just check out some of the classics WEC has recently promoted: Carlos Condit vs. Hiromitsu Miura, Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver and Miguel Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda. The main event we will see pits WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber (arguably the best and most popular fighter outside the UFC...not named Fedor) defending against Mike Brown. Brown is a strong wrestler with a fierce ground and pound. Brown (17-4) last fought in WEC against Jeff Curran and won via unanimous decision. The fight was pretty cut and dry with Brown taking Curran down at will and inflicting a ton of damage. However, Brown's weakness was his stand-up. He has power but his boxing skills were sub-par. As we all know, Faber is an all-around great fighter. He has terrific boxing skills (see the Pulver fight) and he is a great wrestler with a good submission game.
Mike Brown will try to take Faber down and we will see just how strong he is. If Faber finds himself pulling guard or worse, mounted by Brown, we may be watching history in the making. However, all that is a GIANT if. The chances are, they will start out standing and once Brown gets the worse of that, he'll try to shoot. Faber should be able to stuff Brown and land some big shots or lock on a submission.
The other high profile fight on the card features the return of WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho as he fights Chael Sonnen for the second time. Filho won their first fight by submission in the second round. Filho has not fought since that December 2007 fight. Sonnen won a decision against Bryan Baker back in March. Filho should be able to successfully defend his championship tonight, however we don't know if this Filho (post-rehab) will be as effective as the Filho of last year. We can only wait and see.
The legendary lightweight and current featherweight, Jens Pulver returns to the cage for the first time since his great fight (although he lost) with Uriah Faber. Pulver fights Leonard Garcia in what should be an all out slugfest between two entertaining fighters.
Also on the card are fights involing Jake Rosholt/Nissen Osterneck and Donald Cerrone/Rob McCullough to round out the show. Check out the 411's Roundtable Preview for all of our predictions on this show.
MID-CARD BREAK
I'm a sucker for a flying armbar submission but like most fans of the sport, knockouts will do just fine. Check out this explosive, wheel of a KO from an MMA fight. Can't say who any of the fighters or promotion is though, can you?
Team Nogueira constantly eats Tom Lawlor's fruit. If it's one thing we have learned thus far on TUF 8, it's Shane Nelson can't hold his liquor and you don't mess with a man's bed. After tonight's episode we can add 'don't mess with a man's fruit to the list.
Lawlor Says WHAT?!
Lawlor hatches a prank to get back at Team Nogueira in a pretty terrible way. For those who don't know, I won't spoil it but damn. All I have to say is, we have seen WAAAY too much urination on television during this season. Way too much.
After all the child's play, the fight results in the creation of a superstar. At least, if you believe the advertising.
Dana White reacting during a lightweight fight.
That wraps up another week here at 411 H.Q. and don't forget to tune in to VERSUS for WEC 36 followed up with The Ultimate Fighter on Spike. Next week, The Juggernaut will present a Devil's Advocate Preview for the big UFC 91 extravaganza. Time sure does fly...now watch the fights!
