WEC 44 live coverage

Welcome to our live coverage to WEC 44 Aldo vs Brown at the Palms in Las Vegas.




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Prelim coverage by Mike Sawyer


Frank Gomez vs Seth Dikun

Gomez land nice left. Clinch along the cage. Gomez gets takedown. Seth working on a triangle from the bottom. Not happening. Herb Dean stands them up. Gomez gets second takedown. 10-9 Gomez


Seth lands high kick. Gomez recovers. Kick to the body by Gomez. Seth lands nice right hand. Clinch. Gomez back on top. Gelatin attempt by Seth that Gomez escapes. Gomez going for kimora. Moves to mount. Rains down some punches but round ends. 10-9 Gomez


Gomez opens round with nice jab . Clinch along the cage. Gomez ends up on top. Both guys working hard. Seth busy from the bottom. Goes for leglock. Gomez escapes. Gomez going for kimora again. Doesn't get it. Dean stands them up with a minute left. They clinch and fight ends. 10-9 Gomez


Gomez wins 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.



James Krause vs Ricardo Lamas

Both guys come out swinging. Lamas on top. Krause rolls for a kneebar. Doesn't get it. Back up. Lamas with takedown and has his back. Can't get the choke. Stands up with 15 seconds left. Good round. 10-9 Lamas

Good exchange to start round 2. Clinch. Krause more aggressive and kicks kicked in the balls for it. Lamas knocks him down. Gets his back. Nothing. They stand. Lamas on top again. They get up again. They exchange to end round. 10-9 Lamas

Great exchange to start the third. Both landing. Lamas back on top. Now standing over him dropping down the occasional punch. Stacks him up. Drops a few more. Krause back to his feet. He is trying, but this is Ricardo's fight. 10-9 Lamas. Got it 30-27 Lamas and all 3 judges agree.

Kenji Osawa vs Antonio Banuelos

Chuck Liddell is in Banuelos corner. Banuelos lands nice shot and drops him with an overhand right. Back up. Good exchange. AB landing more and takes a shot to the balls for his troubles. Spinning back kick by AB. Good round. 10-9 Banuelos

Start the second. Osawa coming forward despite eating a few shots. Nice leg kick by Osawa. AB just winging that right hand. Goes for a takedown. Reverse. Back up. Both landing. Good round. Could go either way. 10-9 Osawa.

Osawa comes forward. Decent exchange. AB bleeding from the nose. Good exchange. Both guys landing. AB lands more to end the round. Crowd on its feet. Good round and a good fight. Close fight to call. I've got it 29-28 for Banuelos. So do all 3 judges...

Cub Swanson vs John Franchi

Franchi gets takedown. Cub back up. Clinch. Good knees by Swanson. Cub lands spinning roundhouse kick. That was nice. Drops a few punches to the teeth. 10-9 Cub

Good exchange. Both fighting mean. Uppercut by cub. Flying knee lands. Cub fighting with aggression, but gets taken down. Back up. Cub showboating. He better relax. Cub gets takedown with 30 seconds left. Good round. 10-9 Cub

Come out swinging in the third. Cub goes for takedown. Doesn't get it. Clinch. Now he gets it with a beautiful throw. Both staying busy. Cub controlling the round. Guillotine. Its tight. Its over. Winner: Cub Swanson. Good fight.


LC Davis vs Diego Nunes

Long clinch to start things. LC gets takedown. Nunes back up. And back down. They clinch. Both working hard. Huge takedown. Another takedown. Nunes guillotine. Can Davis survive. He does. 10-9 Davis

Start second with a Davis takedown. They get back up. LC landing some shots. Nunes pushes forward for a takedown. Gets it. Back up. LC gets guillotine but can't finish. 10-9 LC

Takedown by LC to start the third. Back up. Nunes gets a point taken away for grabbing the fence. Davis gets another takedown. Back up. Nunes misses spinning backfist. 10-9 LC.

I got it 30-27 for LC Davis. This should be an easy call. It is. Winner LC Davis.


Will Kerr vs. Kamal Shalorus opens the TV show


Shalorus was throwing hard punches and Kerr was doing nothing to block them, which is never a good strategy. Shalorus got a knockdown with a left in the first exchange. He rocked Kerr in another exchange and decked him with a second right and Steve Mazzagatti stopped it in 1:26. Shalorus, a 37-year-old former wrestler who is from Iran and talks EXACTLY like the Iron Sheik, I mean you'd think he was trying to imitate him, except he makes more sense.

Shane Roller vs. Danny Castillo

Castillo won the first round, getting the better of the striking game and taking the three-time All-Americna wrestler down three times. The second time saw the best exchange, as Roller reversed and grabbed a guillotine, but Castillo escaped. Roller nailed Castillo with a knee on the third takedown attempt but he still got Roller down and kept on top until the round ended, doing some eak ground and pound. 10-9 Castillo

Good second round. Castillo scored with a hard right and then took Roller down. Roller came back and finally got a takedown, went or a guillotine, then got Castillo's back and threw punch after punch to Castillo's right ear while working for a choke. Castillo came back late and hurt Roller with a punch late. 10-9 Roller, even going into the third.

Roller went for an early takedown, but Castillo sprawled and got on top. Castillo did some damage. Roller escaped and scored a takedown and immediately got Castillo's back and got the choke for the tap out.

Karen Darabedyan vs. Razor Rob McCullough

First round all standing and boxing. There were several big exchanges and it was mostly an even round until the end when Darabedyan cut McCullough on the bridge of the nose and scored with strong punches. 10-9 Darabedyan

Darabedyan got a takedown right away in the second round, and connected with some body and head shots and some elbows. McCullough got out of trouble and scored with some punches and low kicks in the middle of the round. Darabedyan came back with punches. The announcers said McCullough won the round but I thought Darabedyan took it and is up 20-18.

This is going to be a close decision. Third round was all standing, as Darabedyan's lone attempt at a takedown was blocked. McCullough connected with a lot of low kicks. Darabedyan did some hard counters but McCullough was controlling most of the round. So the second round should decide it. I've got Darabedyan 29-28.

Scores were 30-27, 27-30 and 29-28 for Darabedyan. I have no idea how a judge could go 30-27 either way.

Leonard Garcia vs. Manvel Gamburyan

Slow first round, not what would be expected. Maybe a slight edge to Garcia with kicks. Gamburyan had one takedown but Garcia was up quickly from it and Garcia did have the striking edge. Gamburyan had him off his feet and ready to throw just as the round ended. 10-9 Garcia

Gamburyan came on strong late in the round. He ended up with three takedowns and had some ground and pound late in the round. 19-19

Gamburyan connected with hard punches and set up takedowns and did some more ground and pound. Gamburyan even did a spinebuster slam early in the round. Gamburyan never really hurt Garcia but there's no way he didn't take this round. Garcia never established enough of an offense. I see this as a pretty solid 29-28 for Gamburyan.

30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 all for Gamburyan

Mike Brown vs. Jose Aldo Jr. for the featherweight title

Aldo has been too quick and he's been able to keep Brown from taking him down. But Aldo hasn't been as aggressive as usual. He's mostly connecting with body kicks. One time he had Brown in a little trouble but Brown closed the distance and went for takedowns and only had Aldo down for a brief moment. 10-9 Aldo

Aldo came out aggressively and Brown tried a takedown and couldn't get it. Aldo ended up landing in a mount, and then Brown turned his back and Aldo threw one quick hard shots from the Hughes/Gracie position and Brown wasn't doing anything to get out of trouble and ref Steve Mazzagatti stopped it giving Aldo the title. Also looked scary good in this match.