Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight mainstay
Cub Swanson will meet Korean prospect
Chan Sung Jung in a preliminary matchup at
WEC 48 “Aldo vs. Faber” on April 24 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif. Nine fights are now official for the event, which marks the promotion’s debut on pay-per-view.
Swanson has posted three wins in four fights, losing only to current featherweight king
Jose Aldo in that span. The 26-year-old Californian, who has spent time honing his skills at Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts in Albuquerque, N.M., submitted
John Franchi with a third-round guillotine choke at WEC 44 in November. Wins over 2009 Dream featherweight grand prix finalist
Hiroyuki Takaya, UFC veteran
Shannon Gugerty and American Top Team’s
Micah Miller anchor his resume.
The 22-year-old Jung rose to prominence inside Sengoku, where he was eliminated by eventual winner
Masanori Kanehara in the promotion’s 2009 featherweight grand prix quarter-finals. The Korean Top Team standout, who holds a 2008 victory over the world-ranked
Michihiro Omigawa, has not competed since August, when he submitted
Matt Jaggers with a triangle choke at Sengoku “Ninth Battle.”
Other elite bantamweights also found their way onto the landmark card, as
Rani Yahya will square off with former WEC title contender
Takeya Mizugaki.
Yahya has won three of his last four fights, but his momentum was stymied in a lopsided 95-second technical knockout loss to
Joseph Benavidez three months ago. A three-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion and 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships winner, the 25-year-old Brazilian has delivered 14 of his 15 career wins by submission.
Mizugaki last competed at WEC 45 in December, when he dropped a unanimous decision to the surging
Scott Jorgensen. The 26-year-old Japanese import has posted six wins in eight fights and has earned “Fight of the Night” honors in two of his three appearances inside the WEC cage. In 18 professional bouts, the 2008 Cage Force bantamweight tournament winner has never been submitted.
Meanwhile, former Cage Rage champion
Brad Pickett will lock horns with unbeaten newcomer
Demetrious Johnson.
Picket will carry an impressive eight-fight winning streak into the match. The 31-year-old American Top Team representative dazzled in his promotional debut in December, as he submitted
Kyle Dietz with a Peruvian necktie and earned “Submission of the Night” honors for his efforts. Fifteen of Pickett’s 18 career wins have come by knockout, technical knockout or submission.
A King of the Cage veteran, Johnson has finished each of his first five opponents inside one round and has emerged as one of the top bantamweight prospects in the sport. Anchored at
Matt Hume’s AMC Pankration and Kickboxing in Kirkland, Wash., he knocked out
Jesse Brock with a head kick in little more than a minute at an Alaska Fighting Championship show last month.
A pair of featherweights answered the WEC 48 bell, too, as the undefeated
Brandon Visher will collide with Strikeforce veteran
Tyler Toner. The two were originally scheduled to meet in December.
Perfect through 13 fights as a professional, Visher stopped
Courtney Buck on first-round strikes in his promotional debut at WEC 45. The 25-year-old Hawaiian has proven a potent stand-up fighter. Nearly half (six) of his 13 victories have come by KO or TKO.
Unbeaten over his last five appearances, Toner last competed in August when he outpointed
Fabio Serrao in a unanimous decision under the Ring of Fire umbrella. His lone career defeat came in a 2007 decision loss to Jorgensen, a current contender for the WEC bantamweight championship.
A showdown between featherweight champion
Jose Aldo and former titleholder
Urijah Faber will headline WEC 48. In addition, WEC lightweight champion
Benson Henderson will defend his crown for the first time against
Donald Cerrone in a rematch of their 2009 “Fight of the Year.” Finally, American Top Team standout
Mike Thomas Brown will take on “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 runner-up
Manny Gamburyan.
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