WEC 33 didn’t provide the most spectacular night of action, but it did manage to give us some moments that likely had fans up out of their seats. The most notable win of the night was in the Light Heavyweight title bout between challenger Brian Stann and champion Doug Marshall. Marshall’s awful technical skills in the striking department left him open to a devastating counter left hook from Stann that crumpled Marshall to the canvas to end the bout in the first round. Overall, our picks garnered a 6-3 record for the evening while my bets broke even after I decided to put some heavy units on Brian Stann. Let’s take a look at the rest of the results from Wednesday evening.
Stann lays the leather on Marshall
Brian Stann came into the bout on Wednesday night as a slight favorite over Doug Marshall. Most people who are within the casual fanbase questioned why the odds were skewed in favor of Stann, but for hardcore fans who have followed the sport for quite some time and have seen Doug Marshall fight before, it was obvious why Stann was favored. His size, reach, and knockout power was enough for him to overcome Marshall’s aggressiveness in many fans’ minds. Stann’s chin also became a factor early on in the battle as he took some heavy blows to the head. Fortunately for Stann, his chin was solid for the short flurry.
Stann wasn’t very technical, nor was dynamic in his striking, but he was able to withstand and defend against Marshall’s early flurry. During Marshall’s second barrage, Stann snuck out a heavy left hook that clobbered Marshall’s chin and put him to the canvas. Stann landed an extra blow on the ground for good measure, and the fight was ended instantly by referee Herb Dean.
What’s next for Brian Stann? Steve Cantwell has likely earned a title shot after dismantling Tim McKenzie in a quick submission victory. Cantwell was explosive, precise, and powerful with his strikes which led to McKenzie scrambling to recover. It was an impressive fight for Cantwell, and he should prove to be dangerous for Brian Stann if he can continue to be accurate and powerful on his feet. We may see a Doug Marshall vs. Tim McKenzie matchup down the road for a number one contendership bout, but the fact is that Marshall needs to seriously think about his striking abilities. If it’s his cardio that is lacking that is causing his boxing to become weak and limp during the bouts, he needs to work on it because he has left himself open in other battles in which his opponent simply didn’t capitalize. Stann capitalized to a victory and a title.
Chael Sonnen dominates Bryan Baker; Hicks impresses over Ratcliff
Chael Sonnen was a question mark to many fans coming into this bout. Even Frank Trigg over at MMAJunkie.com was touting Bryan Baker as a real deal, but to anyone who actually saw Baker’s battle against Jesse Forbes, it was evident that Baker still had a lot to work on. Forbes wasn’t exactly the best competition for Baker, but he did manage to work some decent wrestling against him and at one point caught him with a hard shot that nearly ended Baker’s night. Instead, Baker reversed his fortune and won the fight. Unfortunately for Baker, Chael Sonnen is not like Jesse Forbes, and he found that out the hard way.
Sonnen absolutely dominated this fight. In fact, two judges scored the fight 30-25 with two rounds going at 10-8 rounds. I’m not going to go into heavy detail on the domination of Baker, but it wasn’t pretty. The fight featured some heavy ground and pound, a suplex, and a lot of takedowns that Baker couldn’t stop if he tried. Pure domination by Sonnen.
Hicks was the surprise of the evening for me. Although I thought he’d be an able challenger for Ratcliff, I thought his size would be a heavy disadvantage for Hicks due to Ratcliff’s dynamic striking, but it didn’t come into play. Hicks landed some nice blows early on, and ran over Ratcliff as he moved in for the kill. Ratcliff was caught in multiple guillotine chokes that had Frank Mir screaming “It’s OVER!” before the fight was even close to over yet. Hicks may have small size, but he’s a mean ball of muscle that could prove to be a tough fight for anyone, especially with some decent jiu-jitsu skills coupled with the power he has. As we know, big power and jiu-jitsu (i.e. Paulo Filho) can be a devastating way to win fights.
Hicks will likely be in the title picture very soon, and Sonnen will likely get his rematch with Paulo Filho after Filho’s depression rehab ends. I’m very interested in seeing Hicks against some able ground opponents. If he can move through that type of competition quickly, there’s no reason he doesn’t have a great shot at Varner.
Crunkilton runs a takedown clinic, Alessio gets DQ’d
Crunkilton’s battle with Sergio Gomez was, in an eerie way, how I thought the fight would run its course. Although I picked Crunkilton to put Gomez down for the count, Gomez did strike me as a possible spoiler in this matchup. He proved that his striking was much better than Crunkilton’s standup, but he had no answer to Crunkilton’s constant takedowns. If Gomez could develop a decent sprawl, he could be much more dangerous. Unfortunately, Gomez didn’t have any takedown defense skills, and “Cleat” cruised to a decision win in a tough, hard fought battle.
Alessio killed my betting night with his DQ loss to Brock Larson. Although Larson should have been favored, I felt that Alessio had a great chance at defeating Larson since his takedown defense is fairly good. He also has a bit more power than Larson in his hands, and the combination of a great takedown defense and good hands can be crushing to a wrestler. Unfortunately, Alessio kneed Larson while he was trying to get back to his feet, and Larson stated that he could not continue. I’m sure we’ll see a rematch.
Other action during the evening…
Alex Serdyukov was an easy pick for me. His record indicated that he had hung with much tougher competition in the past, and Ryan Stonitsch had a record that resembled Jason Reinhardt’s 18-0 record with nothing but newcomers and low-echelon talent. At 8-0, Stonitsch looked great at a glance, but his talent level wasn’t where Serdyukov’s level was at. Somehow, this win by Serdyukov was the most surprising win at MMAPredictions.com. Stonitsch received 86% of the vote… come on people, do your research.
Miura looked very good at his new weight class, and his power should prove to be formidable to other opponents in this division. Look for good things from him. Chris Manuel remained undefeated with a win over Kenji Osawa by a split draw. It was a very close fight, but the ATT product moves on. Hopefully he’ll gain some more skill at ATT and impress us the next time out. Logan Clark defeated Scott Harper in an easy TKO victory in the first round of their matchup. He improves to 10-1, and may be on the road back to fighting Eric Schambari again with another win.
Overall thoughts
Mir was once again a very good in his analysis role, but he was also jumping the gun once again. Telling the audience that the fight is over and then having the fighter squirm out of the hold makes you sound stupid, come on Frank. The production values weren’t bad, and were of a typical WEC show. The interviews during the event didn’t provide much heat, but Pulver did sound pretty amped about the showdown, and he looks like he’s enjoying himself at 145 lbs. It should be a great battle, and I think people are underestimating him a bit.
Overall, the event gets a C+/B- from me. The matchups didn’t pan out to be incredible fights, but Gomez-Crunkilton provided some back and forth action that I was enjoying very much. Cantwell was explosive and surprised me in his battle with McKenzie as did Marcus Hicks’ domination of Ed Ratcliff. Check out those fights online or on the re-air of WEC 33 on Versus.