The final WEC card took place last Thursday and once again fulfilled all my expectations in a fight card. Exciting from top to bottom and punctuated by Milwaukee’s Anthony Pettis landing an Ong Bak inspired kick to win the 155 title. Here is what’s in store for the winners of the WEC 53 main card.
Anthony Pettis: Won a unanimous decision over Ben Henderson (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) to become the last WEC Lightweight Champion in history. The fight was extremely close until arguably the greatest single strike in MMA. Check out “Showtimes” highlight kick here.
It’s already announced that he will fight the winner of UFC 125’s title fight between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard to unify the belts.
Dominick Cruz: A commanding performance over top challenger Scott Jorgenson. Cruz got 50-45 scores from all three judges and was never in any real danger.
I would say that there is a high likelihood of a Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber fight coming up. Nothing is announced, but after his defense of the 135 belt Cruz had some interesting words: “I’m ready to fight Urijah. Lets do it in Sacramento or here in Arizona”. Right now Cruz could use hand surgery that would keep him out 4-6 months, but he has stated that he would delay surgery for the opportunity to coach opposite of Faber on “The Ultimate Fighter”. Personally I would like to see Cruz get the surgery and have Faber win one more fight at 135. Miguel Torres vs. Faber for the title shot sounds excellent.
Donald Cerrone: Won via triangle choke in the second round over Chris Horodecki. Another dominant performance, never in jeopardy. A low point of the fight was announce Todd Harris suggesting referee Herb Dean will stand the fighters up---while Cerrone had a triangle locked in.
Cerrone has looked unstoppable in his last couple WEC fights and I think he should get a respectable opponent in his UFC debut. He called out Cole Miller after the fight. This fight should happen regardless of Miller winning or losing at UFC 125 against Matt Wiman.
Kamal Shalorus: Split decision win over Bart Palaszewski. He showed great wrestling and powerful striking at times, but the 38 year old fighter gassed dramatically.
He deserves a shot in the UFC- he is undefeated after all. I wouldn’t be against a fight against fellow WEC 53 winner Shane Roller happening. Or, if he is getting a UFC “name”, Joe Lauzon would be interesting.