WEC 36: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The man is this picture should not be smiling. Although he did provide us with the ugly...

The Ugly:

The entire Paulo Filho/Chael Sonnen fight. I won’t torture you with the details because there weren’t any. Filho looked useless and Sonnen was active enough to get a tepid decision win. This fight is a candidate for “worst fight of the year.”

Who knows what the future holds for Filho? He was supposed to be new blood in the UFC’s middleweight division but I wouldn’t be surprised if Dana White doesn’t even offer him a fight.

As for Sonnen, who cares? He should have tried to finish the fight. Instead he killed time and got a useless decision win.

The Bad:

Urijah Faber & Jens Pulver: It’s hard to believe that these two, who fought to a 5 round decision in their last fight, would both be TKOed in the first round. Especially Faber. So much for the P4P talk.

He obviously wasn’t that hurt; more so caught off guard. But the referee had to stop the fight as Faber gave Brown his back, and was getting unloaded on. The uber laid back Urijah was "california stoned"  in the post fight interview and will go back to the drawing board.

Maybe Faber and Pulver can rematch to get back into title contention. I am not that familiar with the WEC’s featherweight contention but I am sure each fighter will get a tune up fight, against each other, or someone else.

The Good:

Perhaps Mike Brown will give Leonard Garcia a title shot in their next fight. Garcia made quick work of Pulver, who had showed nothing in defense. Leonard gave Jens nothing but stiff shots and sent him sinking to the canvas.

Mike Brown looked steadfast in victory over the former champion. Will they give Faber an immediate title shot before giving Garcia a title shot? Only time will tell as Faber simply got caught off guard. Although Brown looked like he was ready to push the champ around for the whole fight.

The Future:

Look for Jake Rosholt to step into the UFC’s octagon sometime in early 2009. He ran his MMA record to 5-0. His wrestling looks superb, which isn’t surprising, and his BJJ defense held up against a scrappy Nissen Osterneck.

Jake will need to improve his stand up if he ever wants to challenge for the belt but his wrestling and improving BJJ should keep him in most fights. One things for sure, Rosholt can take a shot to the face, or two, or…quite a few. The UFC is very high on this rising wrestling star.

That’s it from WEC 36. If you got to see the fight card I hope you enjoyed. If you didn’t make sure you get the VERSUS channel on your cable. I just found mine in time for this fight card, channel 408!

Brian Oswald is a new staff writer for Inside Fights. For all the latest in MMA news please check out the site!