WEC 'Varner vs. Cerrone' Review, Bonuses & More *SPOILER*

[NWOWolfpack]

WEC 38 AWARDS AND BONUSES


WEC 38 Fight of the Night:
Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone


WEC 38 Submission of the Night:
Urijah Faber


WEC 38 Knockout of the Night:
Jose Aldo


**All awards were a $7,500 bonus for each fighter**


UNDERCARD Summary from http://www.WEC.tv:


Anthony Njokuani vs. Ben “Smooth” Henderson

Coming into this bout, the last thing that Njokuani – an unbeaten kickboxer – wanted was for a grappling war with Henderson to break out. But that is exactly the predicament Njokuani found himself in early in round one when Henderson, a Troy Polamalu look-alike, took him down and then hunted for a rear naked choke from his back. To the surprise of many, Njokuani escaped from the rear naked choke position on three different occasions in round one and even secured an armbar that threatened to end the fight. Henderson escaped the armbar and continued his ground assault, taking Njokuani down and never allowing the Nigerian to return to the center of the cage and get the kind of distance needed to be effective with his strikes.

At the start of round two, Njokuani fired a right hand and a kick – and Henderson took advantage of his opponent being on one foot to score a single-leg trip takedown. With Njokuani on his back, Henderson punched away on top. When Njokuani attempted to explode free, Henderson exploited him in the ensuing scramble by locking in a tight guillotine choke, winning the tap at 42 seconds of round two.


Edgar Garcia vs. Hiromitsu Miura

How do you make a name for yourself in the fight business? Do what Edgar Garcia did Sunday: Knock out a top contender. Garcia, a relatively little-known product of Yuma, Ariz., pulled the evening’s biggest upset on the strength of a booming left hook counter that dropped Miura seconds into the bout. The Japanese fighter needed a few seconds to clear his head; Garcia did not afford him that recovery time and instead pounced on the fallen fighter and unloaded some big right hands that only further disoriented Miura. Unable to trap Garcia in his guard, to buy some precious recovery time, Miura made a last-ditch effort at a kneebar. Garcia slipped out with ease and kept firing heavy-handed bombs, forcing a referee stoppage at 1:18 of round one.

“I told everybody I was going to come in and go for the knockout and hopefully that’s knockout of the night,” said Garcia, an unbeaten training partner of The Ultimate Fighter season 8 winner Efrain Escudero. “I’m going to keep striking, that’s my thing, the striking. People think it’s wrestling … I’m ready to go. Anybody else (wants some), come on, I’m ready.”


Ian McCall vs. Dominick Cruz

Cruz put a certified beating on McCall in this one, cracking him with left hooks, stunning him with high kicks, battering him with 1-2 combinations – and McCall simply and inexplicably kept coming back for more. In the span of 15 minutes, Cruz absolutely annihilated McCall with the MMA equivalent of “death by a thousand cuts.” A lesser man would have probably not survived Cruz’ non-stop assault, though McCall will surely be feeling the effects of Sunday’s thrashing for days to come. Cruz, who was born in San Diego and was cheered wildly by the locals, took advantage of his lankier, taller frame by abusing McCall from the outside and then playing matador whenever McCall tried to fire back.

What is there to say about the rounds? In round one Cruz seemed to land at will with one, two and three-punch combinations. McCall’s best moment of the round came with a takedown, but Cruz immediately popped to his feet and resumed his domination. In round two it was more of the same, with McCall bleeding from his left eye and absorbing four left high kicks to the head.

By round three, after failing to get a takedown and then getting whacked with a right hand, McCall let his frustration show by yelling an expletive in the center of the cage. Anyone watching had to admire McCall’s gameness, but in the end the judges awarded a unanimous decision to Cruz, who is now 12-1, with his only loss coming to former featherweight champion Urijah Faber.


Frank Gomez vs. Scott Jorgensen

Jorgensen jumped on Gomez early, scoring a takedown in the opening seconds and then headhunting for a guillotine choke. Eventually, in a scramble, Jorgensen locked in the choke and Gomez tapped out at 1:04 of the opening stanza. With the win Jorgensen, a teammate of Urijah Faber’s, pushed his record to 6-2 (2-1 in the WEC).


Jesse Lennox vs. Blas Avena

It was clear, from the moment each fighter stepped into the cage, that there was bad blood simmering beneath the surface. The welterweights produced the evening’s most intense and prolonged staredown in the cage and wasted no time mixing it up once the bout commenced. Avena struck first, scoring a trip takedown from the clinch and immediately securing side control. It was optimal position for Avena, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt who possesses a wicked guillotine choke, but Lennox managed to reverse the position and put Avena on his back. Lennox transitioned to side control, occasionally landing punches, and then achieved mount position with about one minute left in the round. Lennox landed some decent shots on top, and then transitioned to an armbar. Avena escaped, jumped to his feet and started raining down punches on Lennox (most of them missing their mark, however). At the conclusion of the round, both men seemed to be breathing hard – but it was Lennox who recovered quickly. Sensing Avena was battling fatigue, Lennox jumped on him with combinations, snapping Avena’s head back in the process. A double dose of hard left hands wobbled Avena, who tried to retreat against the cage. With Avena reeling and covering up, Lennox fired away with one powerful right hand after another until the referee halted the action only 41 seconds into the round, declaring Lennox the winner by TKO.

“Welcome to the WEC!” Lennox exalted as he jumped around in the cage.

“I knew I had it,” Lennox said during the post-fight interview. “You can just look into somebody’s eyes and know. I knew.”


Seth Dikun vs. Charlie Valencia

Valencia came into this fight having lost three of his past four and he desperately needed a win. His performance against Dikun showed why no one should write the nine-year veteran off just yet. Valencia dominated for most of the fight with a diverse attack. He took Dikun down several times – including on one occasion in the first round when he seemed to do his best Matt Hughes impersonation – hoisting Dikun up with a double-leg takedown and then walking him about the cage, building suspense until he finally slammed Dikun to the ground.

Valencia repeatedly hit Dikun with thumping leg kicks and an occasional high kick that didn’t land clean but scored with the judges. Valencia also landed the harder punches, and Dikun just didn’t seem to have all that much pop on his blows, at least not enough to faze Valencia.

In round two it was more of the same as Valencia again scored a double-leg takedown. Dikun showed some craftiness with his closed guard, fishing for an oma plata, a triangle and a heel hook – though Valencia ably defended each attack and never seemed in serious danger. In the last 45 seconds of the round Dikun had his best opportunity of the bout. After a scramble Valencia stood up and Dikun followed him up, taking his back with one hook in. But again Valencia slipped out and clearly won the round with superior punching, kicking and Octagon control.

In the final stanza, a Valencia kick to the rib area produced a loud “whack” and he soon followed it up with a hard right – his best punch of the night. Dikun was game until Valencia delivered another kick to his rib area, causing Dikun to double over in pain. Dikun retreated as Valencia stormed toward him and began throwing punches in bunches. Valencia could not land a big shot so he again took Dikun down with a double leg. The match ended with Valencia mounted on top of Dikun, dropping three hard elbows. In the end, the judges awarded Valencia a unanimous 30-27 decision.

[NWOWolfpack]

PDG WEC 38 'VARNER vs. CERRONE' REVIEW!!

100%,500

[keithlewis]

WEC 38 Fighter Salaries:


Main Card:

* Jamie Varner: $34,000 (includes $17,000 win bonus) def. Donald Cerrone: $9,000
* Urijah Faber: $48,000 (includes $24,000 win bonus) def. Jens Pulver: $35,000
* Danillo Villefort: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus) def. Mike Campbell: $3,000
* Jose Aldo: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus) def. Rolando Perez: $3,000

Undercard:

* Ben Henderson: $5,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus) def. Anthony Njokuani: $2,000
* Edgar Garcia: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) def. Hiromitsu Miura: $6,000
* Dominick Cruz: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus) def. Ian McCall: $3,000
* Scott Jorgensen: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus) def. Frank Gomez: $2,O00
* Jesse Lennox: $4,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus) def. Blas Avena: $7,000
* Charlie Valencia: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus) def. Seth Dikun: $2,000