Sunday, February 22, 2009

WEC 39 Preview

Hey there everyone it's time again for another solid WEC card. This card will be taking place in Corpus Christi, Texas. It will feature Mike Brown v. Leonard Garcia for the featherweight title.

Brown will be walking into hostile territory as Garcia will be the home town favorite. This should be a solid card as the WEC normally puts on and I can wait for next Sunday! Let's break down the fights:

Marcos Galvao v. Damacio Page: Galvao is 6-2-1, 0-1 in the WEC, with no wins by stoppage. He is a BJJ fighter. Page is 10-4, 1-1 in the WEC, with 9 wins by stoppage. He is a well rounded fighter.

Both of these guys are coming off a loss to the very tough Brian Bowles who is the number one contender. Galvao is a tough fighter but Page comes out of a great camp - Jackson's submission fighting. I expect a great fight but I think Galvao's grappling will be the difference.

I'm going to pick Galvao by decision.

Rob McCullough v. Marcus Hicks: Rob is 16-5, 7-3 in the WEC, with 12 wins by stoppage. He is a striker. Hicks is 8-1, 3-1 in the WEC, with 8 wins by stoppage. He is a well rounded fighter.

McCullough is trying to rebound after a tough loss to Donald Cerrone back in November. Hicks is also trying to rebound after getting destroyed by Jamie Varner in August for the lightweight title. A win here will be a big step back to a title shot for both fighters.

I think Hicks has the more well rounded game and his grappling will be the difference. I'll pick Hicks by decision.

Bart Palaszewski v. Richard Crunkilton: Bart is 30-11, 1-0 in the WEC, with 23 wins by stoppage. He is well rounded. Rich is 16-2, 6-1 in the WEC, with 13 wins by stoppage. He is also well rounded.

This should be a great scrap. I think Rich is a better overall fighter but this is kind of a toss up. I'll pick him by submission in the first round.

Jose Aldo v. Chris Mickle: Aldo is 13-1, 3-0 in WEC, with 10 wins by stoppage. He is a striker. Mickle is 26-11-1, making his WEC debut, with 24 wins by stoppage. He is a submission fighter.

This should be a good clash of styles. Normally I would go with the grappler but I think Aldo is the better fighter and I don't like fighters making their debut on the big stage. I'll pick Aldo by TKO in the first round.

Mike Brown v. Leonard Garcia: Brown is 20-4, 2-0 in the WEC, with 15 wins by stoppage. He is mostly a grappler. Garcia is 12-3, 3-0 in the WEC, with all 12 wins by stoppage. He is mostly a submission fighter.

This is a great match up of two top featherweights and two solid but different types of grapplers. Brown is mostly a wrestler with solid skills in the other departments. Garcia is a tough, scrappy striker who is also a good BJJ artist.

I would really like to see Faber get his rematch with Brown so I'm going to stick with Brown in this fight by decision.

That's all for now folks. Stay tuned for my February fighter rankings, my WEC 39 Review next week, and my UFC 96 preview. Until then,

Soccer kicks and head stomps...

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