Article by Dave Meltzer of yahoo sports
But an offshoot of the deal is also the addition of a new powerhouse team to join to camps like Black House, American Kickboxing Academy, American Top Team and Jackson’s MMA.
Team Alpha Male of Sacramento, Calif., a group of top-level lighter-weight fighters with wrestling backgrounds, scored a clean sweep on the next-to-last WEC show on Thursday night in at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. The sweep wasn’t unexpected, since Faber, Chad Mendes and Joseph Benavidez were all favored in the top three fights on the show.
But the nature of how the fights went in all three cases was the story. Faber (24-4) choked out Takeya Mizugaki (13-5-2) in his bantamweight debut with ten seconds left in round one. Mizugaki, who came one round away from winning the bantamweight title from then-champion Miguel Angel Torres last year, was known for his staying power, having only been stopped once in his career, and having never been submitted.
Mendes (9-0) swept three rounds against Javier Vazquez (15-5). He not only put Vazquez on his back repeatedly, as most would have expected from the best wrestler in the featherweight division. But he surprised many by dominating the standing exchanges, putting notice that he’s a lot more complete and dangerous a fighter than his reputation coming into the fight as a one-dimensional wrestler
Benavidez (13-2) used a guillotine choke to finish Wagnney Fabiano (14-3), a third-degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, at 2:45 of the second round. This makes two submissions fn black belts by Benavidez in his last three fights, who also finished Torres with the same move in March.
Faber had insisted throughout his career that the 135 pound weight class would be his best, but he had always been either champion or a top contender at 145. After being knocked out of contention at featherweight in a devastating loss to Jose Aldo Jr., in April, Faber didn’t appear to show any negative effects from the weight cut.
“I felt more agile,” said Faber told Yahoo! Sports minutes after the victory. “I feel leaner, faster on my feet, with better scrambling.”
Faber closed his WEC career with the kind of a win that would likely put him in a top position when he makes his UFC debut next year ¬– perhaps a UFC bantamweight title opportunity at the winner of the Dec. 16 fight between WEC champion Dominick Cruz and challenger Scott Jorgensen. The Cruz-Jorgensen winner goes into the UFC as its first-ever 135-pound champion.
Faber took Thursday’s fight when he first went for a takedown, then grabbed an attempt at a guillotine. He let the hold go, wound up on Mizugaki’s back as the Japanese fighter was standing, and went for a choke. Mizugaki tried to shake him, but ended up on the ground with Faber behind him. Faber kept maneuvering as the round wound toward a close, finally sinking in a tight choke. Mizugaki tried to hold out, but the end of the round may as well been an hour away instead of 15 seconds. Mizugaki refused to tap, went unconscious, and ref Josh Rosenthal jumped in and stopped the fight.
“The Japanese have that fighting spirit,” said Faber. “This guy is known for going to the very end. I had to do something drastic, which I did.”
Faber took some punches early, including a hard right just before he shot in with the sequence that ended up as the finish.
“Yeah, I wanted to finish, I’m a finisher,” he said. “It’s what this division needs. We’re going to the UFC, it’s been an awesome run in the WEC. I love these guys. It’s time to step it up and to win my belt in the UFC and live the dream”. “I’ve been in title contention for like six years now. When I started, there was no 135 pound weight class. I was the best guy at 145 or in contention. It’s a whole new era here.” Mendes showed great improvement as an overall fighter compared to his previous WEC wins, where he relied almost exclusively on his wrestling pedigree. When he told people before the fight he was going to stand and trade with Vazquez, few believed him. But after standing exchanges, it was Vazquez who wanted the fight on the ground.
In the first round, Vazquez did a tremendous job of guard play, really controlling the fight and doing more damage from his back, although he never threatened with a submission. All three judges gave the round to Mendes since he was on top, but it was a round that could have gone either way.
Rounds two and three were no question. Mendes did some crowd-pleasing maneuvers, including two slams, using low back power to pick Vazquez up while being held in guard, and hurling him to the canvas. But the highlight sequence was in round two, with Vazquez on his back trying to throw up kicks at Mendes standing. Mendes jumped over Vazquez’s legs and flipped over, landing on him with a splash, and then scrambled to take top position.
Mendes started fighting after going 30-1 and placing second in the nation at 141 pounds in 2008 as a college wrestler at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.
“Chad has only been at this for two years and people don’t know he’s got a Tyson punch, he’s short with strong arms,” said Faber.
As far as Mendes going for the title, Faber doesn’t want to rush things, but he does think he’s got a chance right now.
“I think we’d want to wait until he gets better,” said Faber. “He could stylistically be the guy who can beat Aldo by taking him down and winning a decision, or at least we’d see just how good Aldo is. He’s only going to get better. He’s been the best in competition at every level, from elementary school, junior high, high school and college.”
While not as heralded as his training partner, Benavidez, who lost his title opportunity by a close split decision to Cruz on Aug. 18, came back and although giving away what appeared to be significant size, showed superior quickness and a multifaceted attack of punches and high kicks, forcing Fabiano to mostly play defense in the first round.
In the second round, when Fabiano, the former International Fight League featherweight champion, went forward with a takedown, Benavidez went for a guillotine. Fabiano escaped the first attempt, as well as a second and a third attempt. But on the fourth attempt, Fabiano was checkmated and tapped out.
“He had practiced 12 different guillotines and he used four of them in the fight,” noted Faber.
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