L.C. Davis vs. Josh Grispi: The Wild Card Fight In The WEC Hunt For Jose Aldo?

After a shocking first round knockout win over Mike Brown at WEC 48 in Sacramento, California, Manvel "The Anvil" Gamburyan was thought to be a sure contender to the featherweight champion Jose Aldo, who has some of the most explosive knockouts in the sport of MMA today.

According to WEC General Manager Reed Harris, though, Gamburyan's status isn't by any means in dried ink.

This afternoon, Harris stated that the WEC 49 show, especially the co-main-event between L.C. Davis and Josh Grispi, could be a factor in deciding who is the next man to face Jose Aldo for the Featherweight title.

Should either Davis or Grispi claim the victory at WEC 49 in convincing fashion, the winner might either become the next challenge for Aldo, or they might be the guy to whom a fight against Manny Gamburyan is given.

Is it safe to say that there is no definite contender to Jose Aldo's throne right now?

I'm on the fence and still choosing a side on that one.

On one side, Gamburyan is seen as a definite contender to Aldo's belt given his win over the man who handed Urijah Faber his first-ever WEC loss, Mike Brown.

L.C. Davis and Josh Grispi are among the handful of WEC featherweights who have been impressive in the cage, but they have yet to be featured prominently on a WEC card. Davis' only appearance on a main card was at WEC 47: Bowles Vs. Cruz, and Grispi has yet to make an appearance in the WEC since his first round win by guillotine choke over Jens Pulver.

Gamburyan is a fighter who has beaten a currently ranked and recognized contender to the title, and he has experience from his pre-UFC and UFC days, with fights against guys like Leonard Garcia, Nate Diaz, and Sean Sherk.

Manny has earned the right to call himself a contender.

Davis and Grispi haven't yet.

Now on the other side of the fence, there's a belief that even though one fighter has put on an impressive display, another can one-up that performance with one of their own.

Only Manny Gamburyan could have seen coming what he did to Mike Brown because Manny Gamburyan trained himself physically and mentally to put on that type of performance—one of which snapped Brown out of his element before Brown could even snap into his element.

No one, including myself, could have seen that quick knockout shot on Brown coming.

All the same, only LC Davis and Josh Grispi know what they are going to do in the cage at WEC 49.

We can venture a guess, but we have no real way of knowing exactly how the fight is going to happen.

One of these two fighters could put on an impressive display which rivals Gamburyan's to the point that the winner is seen as just as much of a contender to Aldo as Gamburyan.

Either way, Harris' words make the featherweight situation a bit more intriguing than it already was, what with rumors of Urijah Faber considering a move to bantamweight and Aldo wanting to defend his belt more before moving up to lightweight.

Gamburyan scored the most impressive win of his career over the former WEC featherweight champion, and yet Harris believes that the featherweight co-main event could be a factor in deciding challenger number two for Jose Aldo.

Lo and behold, ladies and gentlemen, the WEC featherweight deck officially has its wild card.