411’s WEC Wrekcage Report 07.01.08
Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 07.02.2008
Doug Marshall defends the WEC Light Heavyweight Title and Jason Miller may have met his match in Hiromitsu Miura. Plus, don’t forget the banana split.
WEC Wrekcage Report
This edition of World Extreme Cagefighting features four fights from The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino from Las Vegas, Nevada. All of the contests took place at WEC 27 on May 12th, 2007. Our main event is a WEC Light Heavyweight Championship defense for Doug Marshall against Justin McElfresh. Your hosts, as usual, are Todd Harris and the smartest man since sliced bread, Frank Mir courtesy of Versus TV.
Our opener is a welterweight battle and features a former finalist on UFC's The Ultimate Fighter show last year. The Matt Hughes-like farm boy, Tommy Speer joined the cast of the show after this fight. His next pro fight would be against Mac Danzig at the TUF Finale in December of 2007.
(9-1, 22 years old) Tommy Speer vs. Sidney Silva (6-1, 35 years old)
Silva is a BJJ guy out of Brazil so it's an interesting fight in that you would assume Speer doesn't want it on the ground. But, he is a big wrestler so the takedowns are his bread and butter.
The fight kicks off with Silva landing a nice right head kick but Speer charges, they clinch and he lands a few knees. Silva gets a takedown and passes from half guard to side control on the ground. Speer is able to roll out and returns to his feet. Back in the clinch, not much is happening but the referee doesn't pull them apart. Thankfully, this doesn't last much longer as Tommy Speer lifts Sidney Silva up and SLAMS him hard to the mat and goes in to half guard. Speer is working with elbows as Silva is in open guard and throws a few up kicks. Speer cocks his right hand back and fires away landing several bombs. Silva is out cold and the ref jumps in to stop the fight. Silva's eyes are blank as he lays on the mat with the doctors on their way into the cage. The replays show Speer landed two free shots after Silva was out.
Your winner via KNOCKOUT is Tommy Speer at 4:33 of the first round.
Our next fight is a middleweight battle between the fan favorite Jason Miller and from Japan, Hiromitsu Miura. Both men debuted in WEC with this fight, Miller coming from ICON Sport and Miura from K-1 Hero's.
(19-5, 27 years old) Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Hiromitsu Miura (7-3, 25 years old)
In the pre-fight video's, Miura (with translator) says he wants to fight an entertaining fight and make his home country proud. Miller spoke about his Mayhem Monkeys. According to his MySpace page, "I am the leader of a cult called the Mayhem Monkeys that perform random acts of silliness, as well as further or goal of interplanetary domination and funniness." Sounds cool to me.
In the first round, both men exchange leg kicks. Miller shoots for a takedown but Miura sprawls. Miller slams him down for the takedown. Miura spins on the ground and gives up his back. Miller working body punches and lands head shots. Miura defends a choke attempt by controlling one of Mayhem's wrists. At the end of the round, Miller mounts Miura and lands some ground and pound. Note that the majority of the round, Miller had a body lock on Miura and according to Mr. Mir, his lungs had to be compressed for over three minutes. Mayhem Miller takes the first round, 10-9.
Despite what Mr. Mir says, Hiromitsu Miura comes out like a fireball in round two, the man is in shape. Miura throws a flurry and once again, they exchange jabs and kicks. Miura clearly wants to keep it standing and Miller rather have it on the ground. Miller shoots for a takedown, gets it but Miura quickly returns to his feet. Miura this time, judo throw's Miller and lands some punches at the end of the round. Miura was more active and judo throw clinched the round, 10-9 for Hiromitsu.
The final round will likely decide the fight. Early on, Miller accidentally kicks Miura right in the groin (OUCH!). Hiromitsu takes about a minute or two to recover and the fight resumes. Miller takes his back but Miura attempts a knee bar. Miller puts Miura in the banana split (seriously) and tries for a twister (Frank Mir was loving every minute of this) and then a choke, but to no avail. Have you ever seen a banana split in an MMA fight? Miura reverses positions and is on top with fifty seconds remaining. He lands some punches until they stand up. Another judo throw from Miura, but they stand near the cage and Miura throws an accidental knee to Mayhem Miller's groin. Miller takes about thirty seconds to rest and the fight resumes, only to end about ten seconds later. A great fight with a lot of action. In my book, Miller was in control for most of the third round and gets the 10-9.
I am scoring the fight, 29-28 for Jason Miller.
Your winner is Jason Miller due to a unanimous decision (29-28 from each judge).
Following that great fight will be tough but we have a couple of lightweights on the card. Sherron Leggett takes on Charlie Kohler.
(11-3, 32 years old) Charlie Kohler vs. Sherron Leggett (22-1, 28 years old)
Note that Leggett has a 73"-67.5" reach advantage. We'll see if it comes into play.
Beginning of the first round is a stand up war with each fighter throwing flurries. Sherron Leggett grabs Kohler's right leg and gets a takedown. He's in the guard and Kohler lands elbows from the bottom. Leggett picks Kohler up in the guard and drops him to the mat. Kohler catches his left arm and appears to have a submission hold locked in. Leggett is trying to get out but Charlie Kohler transitions to an arm bar. Finally, Leggett gets out and is in side control. He lands punches to end the round. Safe for the two submission attempts, Leggett had the round. 10-9 for Leggett.
Round two begins with a Leggett takedown. Kohler eats several punches and knees and is not doing anything to defend himself. The referee can do nothing but stop the fight.
Your winner via TKO is Sherron Leggett at 2:25 of the second round.
It's now time for the main event of the night. This fight is for the WEC Light Heavyweight Championship. This is Doug Marshall's first title defense since winning the championship by beating Lodune Sincaid in August 2006. This was McElfresh's WEC debut, coming off several wins for the Xtreme Fighting Organization.
(5-2, 31 years old) Champion Doug Marshall vs. Challenger Justin McElfresh (5-1, 27 years old)
Another pre-fight note, McElfresh is 6'6" tall and has an 82.5" reach. Marshall is 5'11" and has a 69.5" reach.
With the size differential, Doug Marshall begins the fight by landing a few leg kicks. McElfresh doesn't appear to be using his size advantage to his aid, running towards Marshall and closing the distance himself. Marshall lands several nice combos (ranging from punches, elbows to knees). They clinch and McElfresh lands a few knees but that doesn't last for long as Marshall responds with more combos, knocking the big man for a loop. Marshall ends the fight with a right punch to knock McElfresh out, as the big man falls to the mat.
Your winner and STILL WEC Light Heavyweight Champion is Doug Marshall via KO at 2:16 of the first round.
Final Thoughts: This show was basically a highlight reel from WEC 27, and that's not a bad thing. Tommy Speer showed a glimpse of what the nation would see out of him on The Ultimate Fighter. However, after losing in the finals and his following UFC fight, he was let out of his contract. He returned to the WEC and is likely to fight before the end of the year. Jason Miller is always entertaining to watch and Hiromitsu Miura would just not give up. Miura pushed the pace, when he was not on the ground and took it to Miller. That banana split submission attempt was bedazzling. When Frank Mir mentioned it, it took a few seconds to realize he wasn't kidding. I know, who am I to doubt Frank Mir? Sherron Leggett looked strong in his TKO victory, but for some reason is not sticking around in WEC. Since this fight, he's fought in Extreme Challenge (3-0), WEC (0-1) and in Gladiator Fighting Series only a few weeks ago (0-1). Doug Marshall looked like a champion with the destruction of McElfresh. I don't know why he even received a title shot, but Marshall made quick work of him. Marshall eventually ran into the wall that is Brian Stann in March 2008 at WEC 33.
Don't forget to check out 411's Roundtable for UFC 86 on Thursday or Friday. We'll see how well the great 411 MMA staffers can pick the big show.
