WEC 39 Breakdown: The Main Card

WEC Featherweight Championship

Mike Thomas Brown vs. Leonard Garcia

Mike Thomas Brown Scouting Report
Ht/Wt: 5’6”/145 lbs.
Age: 33
Hometown: Portland, Maine
Fighting out of: Coconut Creek, Fla.
Team: American Top Team
Record: 20-4

The breakdown: All it took was a flailing elbow by Urijah Faber and a perfectly timed counter hook by Brown for an overnight sea change of unprecedented proportions in the featherweight division. Not only has Brown, formerly a journeyman lightweight, taken over Faber’s featherweight monarchy, but he’s also become the de facto face of a weight class on the verge of evolving past its niche beginnings.

Along with all that pomp and circumstance, there’s the added pressure of Brown making his first title defense against Garcia, whose featherweight fights have looked more like the scene from “Transformers” in which Megatron rips Jazz in half. Getting into a brawl with Garcia is obviously not Brown’s safe strategy, but what he can do is take advantage of Garcia’s historically undisciplined approach by forcing him to the mat.

Although Garcia has looked physically dominant as a featherweight thus far, Brown dwarfed Faber and muscled around Jeff Curran with relative ease in their bouts. While it will not be easy to stifle a sparkplug like Garcia, Brown not only has the smothering ground-and-pound to frustrate Garcia’s overrated jiu-jitsu but the fight IQ necessary to force him out of his newfound comfort zone.

The X factor: Brown may be a veteran competitor, but he’s entirely unfamiliar with the burden of carrying an entire division on his shoulders. It’s a burden that can make fighters think they have to live up to an impossible standard of excellence in order to satiate the fans. If Brown comes in looking to please the audience by brawling with Garcia, he’ll end up looking like an extra on a George Romero set.

Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia Scouting Report
Ht/Wt: 5’9”/145 lbs.
Age: 29
Hometown: Lubbock, Texas
Fighting out of: Albuquerque, N.M.
Team: Jackson’s Submission Fighting
Record: 12-3

The breakdown: After a stint as the UFC’s likable lightweight punching bag, Garcia’s decision to drop down to featherweight looks like the best call in professional sports since Jacques Plante decided to wear a mask when playing goalie. With stunning first-round starchings of featherweight veterans Hiroyuki Takaya and Jens Pulver already on his resume, Garcia has gone from overmatched sparring partner to imposing brawler seemingly overnight.

Sticking to that style will be key for Garcia, as his combination of brute physicality and one-punch knockout power gives him an uncommon presence in the featherweight ranks. Brown -- who thrives on dictating the terms of his fights -- likely won’t enjoy being forced into exchanges. How Garcia baits Brown into those exchanges will be critical, as it seems doubtful the ATT veteran will oblige Garcia’s desire for a full-scale re-creation of the closing battle from “Kickboxer.”

What Garcia needs to do is establish his reach early, force Brown onto his back foot and resist the temptation to barrel forward in search of the KO. Controlling the distance is actually Garcia’s best hope of scoring that stoppage, as it would keep Brown from dictating the action and allow Garcia to rack up points while he searches for the kill shot. Otherwise, Garcia’s usual head-first tactics will launch him head-first towards defeat.

The X factor: Fighting in your home state has always been a double-edged sword in combat sports; the setting can be inspiring, but the pressure can prove equally crippling. The stakes here are big enough without added stress. Garcia needs to keep emotion from playing a role, as his desire to put on a good show in the UFC damned him as much as the size disadvantage he faced as a lightweight.

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The bottom line: The only obvious part of this fight is that it spotlights two fighters who have gone from journeymen to all-stars by putting aside ego and doing what’s best for their careers. The difference is that Garcia still savors his brawling reputation, while Brown has the savvy to realize his diverse skill set gives him plenty of options come fight time.

While Garcia’s brute physicality has covered up many of his flaws, he’s never been a sound wrestler, and Brown has always preyed on middling grapplers who do not like ground-and-pound. Expect a battle of wills, but Brown will control most of the action and survive some dicey moments on the feet to take a late stoppage win over a wilting Garcia.