Memories from the WEC

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No Wonder They Put These Two on Pay-Per-View

Rodney Dean: My first introduction to WEC headliner Urijah Faber was during an MSNBC documentary on MMA. The fighter presented himself as a true California Kid, complete with surfer attitude and hippie parents. One scene stuck with me: before every fight, Faber shaves his prodigious chin razor-smooth. He says this creates a frictionless surface wherein his opponent’s hands will find no purchase. I've always thought Kimbo Slice should have tried this trick.

Jack Encarnacao: I can still picture Kimbo Slice’s portrait on the spring 2008 cover of “ESPN: The Magazine.” With EliteXC set for primetime network TV, the media declared that Slice, with two pro fights on his record, represented the essence of MMA. The day after that card, WEC, the little promotion that could, smashed all of its prior records for a brilliantly-promoted WEC 34, headlined by Urijah Faber-Jens Pulver. 12,682 fans packed Arco Arena in Sacramento for the fight, a record WEC crowd. An average of 1.54 million people tuned in on Versus, a level several UFC events on Spike don’t reach. Faber-Pulver and the Miguel Torres-Yoshiro Maeda fights were crackerjack affairs that exemplified how dynamic the sport can be. Jose Aldo and Mike Thomas Brown made their WEC debuts on the undercard. I loved the fights and what they represented, the promise that this brand of MMA could also move the needle, not just the dumbed-down version that fleetingly had the nation’s attention the night before. That weekend, it was WEC 34 that captured mixed martial arts’ essence.

Tomasz Marciniak: It was special to watch Urijah Faber try to get his title back in his hometown of Sacramento against his conqueror Mike Thomas Brown, who, at that point in time, really tore through the division. The crowd reactions during the walkouts, the deafening cheers before the showering boos; it had the atmosphere of an epic fight. With two broken hands, Faber desperately tried to make something happen, throwing elbows and refusing to give up. It was not unlike Monty Python’s "Black Knight," to whom dismemberment was merely a flesh wound. Unfortunately, as in the sketch, Faber succumbed to Brown, who retained his title in an instant classic.

Jake Rossen: The Mike Thomas Brown-Urijah Faber rematch stands out to me. Faber's confidence was in question following the TKO loss in their first fight, Brown was the worst possible match-up for him, he broke his right hand in the first and dislocated his left thumb ...but he still went five hard rounds, doing whatever he could with the weapons he had left. I put off going to the dentist; this is a level of attrition I don't understand. Faber's best performance.

Mike Sloan: One of my closest friends, Cathy DeShazer, was a huge Urijah Faber fan. There was something about “The California Kid” that that made him her absolute favorite fighter to watch. As a member of the media, I never ask for autographs, but I texted Urijah to see if he could hook Cathy up. Even though he'd just lost his featherweight title to Mike Brown, Urijah wasted no time in sending me a glossy photo of him signed to Cathy. When she opened up the oversized envelope and saw what was in it, the expression of joy on her face was priceless. It was something simple yet so powerful and for that I always hold Faber in much higher regard than 99 percent of the other fighters out there. Cathy unfortunately lost her life in a tragic car crash the following summer, but whenever I feel down in the dumps or whenever I miss Cathy’s presence, I always think of how Urijah Faber made her the happiest person on the planet that morning and it changes my mood for the better.

Chris Foster: The first memory that enters my mind was WEC 38. Greg Savage and I went to the San Diego Sports Arena, and Jose Aldo absolutely destroyed local favorite Rolando Perez. The entire crowd was pro-Perez, the hometown fighter, and were against Aldo. Yes, Aldo completely dominated him and it was exciting, but it was him immediately jumping out of the cage and running 70 rows up into the stands that makes the memory so great. I thought the fans were going to jump him for beating their boy, and instead he was on his way to becoming a star.

Marcelo Alonso: My favorite WEC moment was seeing Jose Aldo beat Mike Thomas Brown for the featherweight title, then crying in the cage. I've been following this guy since he was a purple belt; I saw him sleeping in the Nova Uniao dojo after he came from Manaus to Rio, and later living in a favela. But, that moment when he won the belt, I could just remember his mother telling me, “When he was a very young kid, he said, 'Mom, one day I´ll see the ocean.'" For that poor woman, just seeing the ocean was a huge dream to achieve, and there is her son with a world title on his shoulder, recognized all over the world. He's such a source of pride for his humble family.

Mike Whitman: I didn't think Jose Aldo was going to beat Mike Thomas Brown at WEC 44. Yes, "Junior" had ravaged every man put in front of him since he joined the organization the year before, but Brown was a different breed. Humongous for 145 and strong as an ox, Brown had conquered one of the sports finest competitors in Urijah Faber, and he did it twice. Aldo's jaw-dropping destruction of Cub Swanson was impressive, but I didn't think for one second that he'd
repeat the trick against Brown.

And yet, he did. Brown had nothing for the Brazilian. Aldo was too fast, too strong, too accurate. What he did to the champion that night made my eyes pop out of my skull. Aldo had his coming out party that night, and I had my wake-up call. It will be a long, long time before I ever make him an underdog again.

Gleidson Venga: Jose Aldo's performance against Urijah Faber showed the lessons of his teacher: Aldo is a declared fan of Pedro Rizzo, and he always says in his interviews that Rizzo was one of his first teachers and a great source of inspiration. But it's impossible to watch that fight without remembering of the master of Rizzo, the legendary Marco Ruas. 15 years ago, At UFC 7, Ruas destroyed the legs of the giant Paul Varelans with strong kicks, showing the strength of muay Thai. Against Faber, Aldo gave his own muay Thai class, leaving the legs of his opponent destroyed and the crowd in awe. Sure, it wasn't a knockout, but after a show like that, who cares?

General Loveliness and Nostalgia

Todd Martin: When I look back at WEC, I think I’ll most fondly remember the early Zuffa shows at the Hard Rock. Zuffa’s lighter weight class oriented WEC shows had the appeal of an underground record or cult movie. The excitement wasn’t just that you were getting the best action shows in the world, it was that you were in on a secret that most MMA fans weren’t aware of. WEC’s formula would become more successful over time, like a band or director that finally made it. The television ratings rose, the promotion moved to much bigger buildings, and Urijah Faber became a genuine star. But those early days, with all the same action but none of the bells and whistles, felt like a special little treat just for fans who really loved the sport.

Lutfi Sariahmed: When looking over all the different WEC moments over the last decade, I can't really narrow it down to my one or two favorites, which is what made WEC so great. We've seen the major development of the featherweight and bantamweight divisions, and the lightweights had their fair share of big fights too. Each fight card offered us a potential title change we seemingly never saw coming. There was never a dull moment and all of it was on basic cable for the past few years.

Guilherme Pinheiro: The thing I'm going to miss the most about WEC is that certain feeling that a card would deliver. From Joe Martinez in the cage to Sean Shelby behind-the-scenes, WEC events were always action-packed and fun to watch from top to bottom. I feel compelled to mention Shelby's body of work as the WEC matchmaker. The promotion really hit its stride after he assumed matchmaking duty. Part of the reason the WEC delivered so many fun fights in the last few years is Shelby's skill at putting fights together and helping drive the bantamweight and featherweight divisions forward. Now everyone else will get to see those skills in the UFC.