WEC 36 Faber vs. Brown

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WEC 36 Faber vs. Brown Promo

Live on Saturday, November 8, at the Madison Square Garden in New York,  live by HBO PPV, beginning at 9:00 E.T. Roy Jones (52-4) eight time world champion will take on Joe Calzaghe (45-0) for his Ring Magazine light heavyweight title.  Odds are -265 Calzaghe / +205 Jones Jr. at Sportsbook.com.

Roy’s last fight was against Felix Trinidad, where Jones Jr. was noticeable bigger, faster and looked very strong dropping Trinidad twice during the fight. Roy is currently on a  three fight win streak, with three straight unanimous decision wins. Prior to these three fights, Roy was in a slump losing three straight, back in 2004 to 2005. Losing  twice to Antonio Tarver  and once to Glen Johnson. Roy seems to have the fight back in him and wants the belt once again.

Calzaghe is coming off a split decision victory over Bernard Hopkins, where he took the Ring light heavyweight title away from Hopkins. Calzaghe is fully recovered from his hand injury, which led this fight to be delayed from September 20th. He will look to defend his belt from a hungry and determined Jones Jr. Calzaghe owns the honors of the longest reigning title holder in any weight class in boxing history.

Who knows maybe Roy Jones Jr. will pull out a performance like Hopkins did a few weeks ago and put on a clinic for Calzaghe. Joe will be ready for this fight and expect to see the best of both fighters and may the best man that night win.

Roy Jones Jr. vs. Joe Calzaghe

Sportsbook.com Odds

• Jones Jr. (+205)
• Calzghe   (-265)
• Over 11.5 rounds   (-260)
• Under 11.5 rounds (+200)
• Calzaghe by Decision  (-130)
• Calzaghe by KO, TKO, or DQ (+300)
• Jones Jr. by Decision  (+380)
• Jones Jr. by KO, TKO, or DQ (+700)
• Draw (+1700)

Betus.com Odds

• Jones Jr. (+220)
• Calzaghe (-300)
• Over 9.5 rounds   (-300)
• Under 9.5 rounds (+220)

Fight Outcome

• Calzaghe by KO TKO or DQ  (+330)
• Calzaghe by Decision or Technical Decision (-140)
• Jones Jr. by KO TKO or DQ  (+800)
• Jones Jr. by Decision or Technical Decision  (+400)
• Draw or Technical Drwa  (+2200) 

Fight Odds & Betting Lines

• WEC 36 Betting Odds
• MMA Betting Sites

WEC 36 Fight Card

• Full WEC 36 Fight Card

Pat’s Expert Predictions

• Quick WEC 36 Predictions Page

Detailed Predictions

• Faber vs. Brown - (Main Event)
• Filho vs. Sonnen
• Pulver vs. Garcia
• McCullough vs. Cerrone

Fighter Profiles

• Urijah Faber
• Mike Brown
• Paulo Filho
• Chael Sonnen
• Jens Pulver
• Leonard Garcia
• Rob McCullough
• Donald Cerrone

Video

• Pulver vs. Garcia Promo
• WEC 36 Fight Promo
• Faber vs. Brown Promo

Urijah Faber vs Mike Brown

Urijah Faber will look to defend his title for a sixth time, against the number one contender Mike Brown.

Urijah “The California Kid” Faber (20-1) looked extremely good against Pulver in his last performance. I did not think his stand up would be as sharp as Pulver’s, but as we all saw it has improved tremendously. Faber a superb division 1 wrestler out punched, wrestled, grappled Pulver to a 5 round unanimous decision. Faber is also equipped with great take down and submission defense.

Faber is the number one featherweight in the world with the most overall skills in his class. Look for Urijah to start off boxing and if he is successful there, will continue to box Brown. If he finds trouble on his feet, he always has his wrestling and take downs to back him up if he needs to ground and pound Brown to a win.

Faber is looking to continue his win streak and bring it up to 13 in a row. I believe it will take a world class striker with excellent take down defense to defeat Faber, which Brown is not.

Mike Brown (17-4) is a very game opponent who trains with American Top Team. He holds notable victories over Mark Hominick, Yves Edwards, and most recent a unanimous decision over Jeff Curran at WEC 34 in June.

Brown is a well-rounded submission fighter and currently riding a seven fight win streak.  Brown has taken 9 out of his 17 wins by submission.  He must be careful as he will find problems trying to take down Faber.  Brown has fought at 155 and 145 pounds, but feels more natural in the WEC at 145.

Brown will have home field advantage fighting in Florida, and will definitely give Faber a tough fight.  I don’t believe it will be enough for his eighth victory in a row.

Look for Faber getting the best of everywhere the fight goes.  I am thinking it will look similar to the Pulver fight.  I’m calling Faber with a hard fought unanimous decision.

Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen

This is going to be a very good rematch between Paulo Filho and Chael Sonnen.  Their last fight back in December 2007 ended in a big of controversy.  Sonnen was in an armbar by Filho, which the referee stopped, but Sonnen said he did not tap.  Look for this to be an exciting rematch not going the distance again.

Paulo Filho (16-0) will be going into action for the first time in 2008.  This rematch was scheduled to happen in March, but Filho had to pull out due to personal problems.  Filho had checked himself into rehab, suffering from depression and chemical dependency.

Filho is undefeated and is the current WEC middleweight champion.  Filho is an excellent Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo practitioner.  He has 7 submission victories out of his 16 wins.  He has no problem working off his back and will catch you in a submission.

Filho is tired of hearing Sonnen say he did not tap in their last fight and will try to do it once again.  Josuel Pistak, Filho’s coach was quoted saying, “We’ll give Sonnen a rematch, because he keeps saying that he didn’t tap and all those things, and now Paulo will keep hurting him until the judge tells him to stop”.

Chael Sonnen (20-9) is an excellent wrestler and two-time NCAA wrestling champion.  He is very well rounded and has a tremendous heart.  He was slated for a rematch against Filho at WEC 33, but took on Bryan Baker after Filho pulled out of the fight.  Sonnen went on to beat Baker by an impressive unanimous decision, putting him back in the seat to fight Filho as the number one contender.

In the first fight between the two, Sonnen was domination the majority of the fight.  Sonnen made a mistake in round two and gave up his arm on the ground to Filho, where he was submitted by an arm-bar.  Sonnen says he did not tap, but later said it was the right call the referee made.

Although Filho was being dominated in their precious fight, I believe we will see the champion he is.  I am going with Filho and a second round submission victory.

Jens Pulver vs. Leonard Garcia

Former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver will square off with Leonard Garcia.  It is possible that a win for Garcia will land him a title shot against Urijah Faber.  Look for these two fighters to put on a great show.

Jens ‘Lil Evil” Pulver (21-9), recently lost a five round war to the current champion Urijah Faber back in June.  He showered tremendous heart and was rocked several times throughout the fight, but continued to fight back and land several hard shots himself.  Pulver has always delivered exciting fights and looks to knock out his opponents.

Pulver is an excellent wrestler and carries heavy hands with knock out power.  He likes to stand and trade shots with his opponents.  Pulver has 13 KO’s out of his 21 victories.

Pulver was not expected to get back into the octagon until October due to elbow surgery he underwent after his fight with Faber, so he will return a month early to fight Garcia.

Leonard ‘Bad Boy’ Garcia (11-3), is coming off a win in his WEC debut with a first round KO over Kiroyuki Takaya back in February.

I believe Pulver is a much better striker than Garcia.  Garcia will have the advantage on the ground where he could possibly submit Pulver if he gets sloppy.  Garcia has 9 submission victories of his 11 wins.

On TSGG Radio, Garcia has said the WEC has promised him a shot at Urijah Faber if they are both to win on September 10, which may lead to the first WEC fight south of the border, in Mexico.

The only way I see Pulver losing is if he can’t step the take down and let Garcia dictate the fight.  Pulver is a big featherweight and will out box Garcia, stuffing most of his take-downs.  I’m calling Pulver with a unanimous victory.