Date: 11/11	8:00 PM
Views: 2,681

We'll be covering WEC 52: Faber vs. Mizugaki tonight starting at 9 PM ET. While the show is in progress you can hit F5 or refresh as often as you like for all of the latest updates!

ILLUMINATI - A SECRET SOCIETY DO EXIST. One of many things I'll miss about WEC - the opening theme music. We're in Las Vegas tonight, via The Pearl at the Palms, for WEC 52! Joining us on commentary is Todd Harris, who notes that the three weight classes of WEC will now fight in UFC, before being joined by Stephan Bonnar. "It makes no sense to develop two brands, it's hard enough to develop one, so let's make that one UFC." I suppose Bonnar has a point, but that won't make me miss WEC any less. Both men preview the Mizugaki vs. Faber fight, and note that this is Faber's natural weight and the one he used to wrestle at in college, so he belonged here all along. The co-main will be the 8-0 Chad Mendes vs. the 15-4 Javier Vazquez. Harris calls it "the tip of the proverbial iceberg" and notes Benavidez will fight Fabiano, Koch will fight Rivera (5-0 with 3 wins by stoppage) and Damacio Page vs. Demetrious Johnson in the bantamweight division. Page: "His goal is to outspeed me but I don't think he has the power to stop me." Johnson: "He's ranked top ten but it's my time baby." Both men warm up as we go to break.

* Damacio Page vs. Demetrious Johnson (WEC Bantamweight Bout)

Harris reminds us it's the 235th anniversary of the USMC as we start. Tale of the Tape: 28 to 24, 5'6" to 5'3", 136 to 135 and 66" reach each from Page to Johnson. Joe Martinez makes the introductions and sadly this may be the second to last time I hear him do so. Johnson is 11-1 and fights out of Parkland, Washington. Page is 12-4 and fights out of Albuquerque, New Mexico with the nickname 'Angel of Death.' Our referee is Josh Rosenthal. Here we go!

The two men touch up gloves calmly before Page starts charging forward with strikes and kicks. Bonnar: "These guys are coming out hard!" No question. We're reminded Page has had a year off for shoulder surgery. Johnson has him on the ground but is unable to sink in a guillotine. They're both back to stand-up as we pass the one minute mark. Johnson throws a leg kick and closes the distance, but Page hits a leg trip throw and immediately takes side control. Johnson finds his way to the fence and tries to get back up but Page pulls him away and winds up in half guard in the process. Page tries to stand over the top as we get to the halfway point of the round and uses it successfully to take full mount. Page spins him around away from the fence but in doing so Johnson bucks him off the mount and gets back up. Page tries to grab a guillotine when he stands but nothing doing. Page opts for another head throw to the ground. Johnson gets out and double legs Page! Back and forth this whole first round - I don't think there have been more than 3 seconds where something wasn't going on. SLAM by Page. I think Johnson's head bounced off the mat. That HAD to hurt. 30 seconds. Johnson has his head stuck in the fence as Page grinds away. Page keeps him on the ground as we get the horn and he probably earns a 10-9 in the process.

Page tries to get him back on the ground right at the start of R2 but Johnson seems to be controlling the limbs and arms on the ground. Rosenthal warns him about an elbow to the back of the head. Page pushes him across the fence into the cage but Johnson gets free. KICK TO DA GROIN. Page is down. We see the left skin going straight to Page's johnson on the slow-mo' replay. Rosenthal gives Page time to recover then goes over to advise Johnson he won't take a point for it, but he has to be more careful for the rest of the fight. Action finally resumes with 90 seconds gone in R2. Johnson's boxing movement is strong - side to side and bobbing his head. Johnson times a shoot perfectly and puts Page on his back charging across the cage. Johnson starts passing to his back and hitting elbows as he goes, but Page is able to slip out on the attempt. Johnson dumps him back down though with a double leg and suddenly the cameraman gets knocked over and loses focus. Alternate angle finds them through the fencing. Johnson seems well ahead in this round with 70 seconds left to go. Page is using the butterfly guard though and keeping Johnson at bay well. Johnson does sneak in a couple of nasty right hands though. Page almost gets back up with 20 seconds left but Johnson keeps him on the ground 'til the horn. I've got this tied going into the third 19-19 overall.

Johnson POURS it on at the start of the third and lands a kick to the face while Page is reeling. Johnson is landing NASTY elbows on the ground 35 seconds in and Page doesn't seem to have any way to stop them connecting. Johnson rides him from the guard and keeps throwing shots, although Rosenthal warns him about landing to the back of the head. Page tries to push out to his feet but Johnson moves him toward the fence from guard and won't let him out. Two minutes gone. Page gives up his neck and Johnson has unlimited options now, and he chooses the guillotine one. IT IS ALL OVER - DAMACIO PAGE TAPS OUT! Joe will give us the official time and announcement after commercial.

We're back at 9:33 ET for Joe Martinez to make it official. 2:27 IN R3 SUBMISSION BY GUILLOTINE FOR THE WINNER OUT OF PARKLAND, WASHINGTON - DEMETRIOUS 'MIGHTY MO' JOHNSON! Craig Hummer goes to interview him. "I want to thank my sponsors (bunch of names I didn't catch) I'm a small 135er so I had to get on the meat and muscle to be strong." Johnson talks about a million miles a minute. "I had to be smart and draw him in and X and X and X X X and X and I was the shark who got him from beneath." Someone take this dude off the Ritalin!! Pre-fight promos for our next contest. Benavidez promises to dominate him, but Fabiano promises he's plenty tough for this fight. Commercial.

* Joseph Benavidez vs. Wagnney Fabiano (WEC Bantamweight Bout)

26 to 35, 5'4" to 5'7", 136 each, 65" to 69" reach from Benavidez to Fabiano on the Tale of the Tape. Fabiano is in the blue corner, 14-2, and fights out of Rio De Janeiro. Benavidez is 12-2 and fights out of Sacramento, CA in the red corner. Our referee in charge is Kim Winslow. Here we go!

Benavidez is in the black trunks and Fabiano is in the white. A lot of dancing for the first 30 seconds and not much striking thrown or landed. Benavidez finally cracks Fabiano with a shot. We're reminded Benavidez comes from the same team as Faber and Mendes. 100 seconds gone now. Benavidez throws a head kick and falls on his ass in the process but is back up quick. Harris notes that Fabiano is holding back on strikes. Now it's Fabiano who slips on a keep and Benavidez almost pounces on him and catches it. 2:45 gone. Benavidez is controlling the fight so far - Fabiano has spent most of the time on defense avoiding kicks and punches. He does finally throw a nice body kick but Benavidez gives him one right back. Benavidez keeps changing up his stance from regular to southpaw and Fabiano seems totally perplexed. Benavidez closes the distance, throws knees, and pulls out with a head kick. Right now this is a one man exhibition of sparring by Benavidez. Bonnar calls it "a pretty close round" but does score Benavidez as head. I've got it 10-9 Benavidez too.

We see Team Alpha Male warming up backstage as we go onto R2, and the crowd is chanting for Benavidez. Fabiano slips as Benavidez lands a nice leg kick and immediately tries to come over the top. Fabiano tries to transition to a single leg takedown and winds up in a guillotine that ALMOST finished him. Benavidez jumps out and then jumps back on for another choke and Fabiano is doing all he can to hang on and not get caught... and it works. Bonnar: "He eventually got out but he sure had me worried!" Benavidez sprawls and goes for a THIRD GUILLOTINE AND GETS IT - THIS FIGHT IS OVER. That was BEAUTIFUL. We see Team Alpha Male going nuts in the locker room as we go to a break.

2:45 R2 SUBMISSION BY GUILLOTINE FOR THE WINNER FROM SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ! Craig Hummer with the interview. "I'm always in shape, I have my two brothers up next, I was going to let them have all the fun but I'm a fighter and I always take the fight, that's what I do. He's a grappler, a black belt, but I got that Joe-jitsu on him and on the third one he finally tapped." Hummer congratulates him on setting the standard for Team Alpha Male tonight.

Promo for WEC 53 on December 16th when we come back. Anthony 'Showtime' Pettis and 'Smooth' Ben Henderson and the crowd when we come back. The 11-1 Pettis promises to show he's the best in the world and take Henderson's title. Henderson promises he'll make the hometown crowd from Glendale happy. He's working on tiny little things in his game to get even better before the fight. Hummer asks if he's excited about getting a chance at the title in UFC, and says he's not looking past Pettis, but would love the chance to fight Frankie or Gray if he comes out the victor. From here they throw to the announce team breaking down UFC 125 on January 1st and preview Edgar vs. Maynard, then switch back to running down the final ever WEC card. This sends us to another commercial.

* Erik Koch vs. Francisco Rivera (WEC Featherweight Bout)

22 to 29, 5'9" each, 146 each, 70" reach each. It's like carbon clones except the skin tone! (Koch is the younger of the two though.) Rivera's record is 5-0 and he fights out of Buena Park, California. Koch is 10-1 and fights out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Steve Mazzagatti is our referee. BRING IT ON, C'MON!

Koch throws a head kick less than 10 seconds in. He could give Sheamus a run for the most milky man on TV this week. Rivera has some tattoos that are eerily like Jamie Varner on his chest, and a ton of ink on his back. RIVERA CRUSHES HIM WITH A HIGH KICK AND THIS FIGHT IS ALL OVER!!! Every replay of the spinning left to Rivera's head makes it look even more brutal. Bonnar says it's like taking a baseball bat to the skull and I can't argue one bit. THAT WAS NASTY. He only needed to throw one or two shots on the ground before Mazzagatti rushed in to make the save. We go to commercial.

THE END COMES AT 1:36 OF R1 VIA STOPPAGE DUE TO STRIKES FOR THE WINNER VIA TKO VICTORY: ERIK 'NEW BREED' KOCH! Koch campaigns for a knockout bonus in the interview with Craig Hummer and gives huge respect to Rivera for taking the fight on two weeks notice. Koch says what he landed was an Anthony Pettis kick and calls him "my brother from another mother."

* Cub Swanson vs. Mackens Semerzier (WEC Featherweight Bout)

Tale of the Tape from Cub to Mack: 27 to 30, 5'7" to 5'9", 145 each, 70" to 72" in reach. Herb Dean is our ref. Here we go! Cub is in the purple trunks, Mack is in the red. Cub is throwing low leg kicks from the start. Cub gets taken down on a low kick by Mack but he's back up to his feet 10 seconds later. One minute gone. There's an accidental low strike that's only glancing so Herb Dean doesn't stop the action. Cub in a quick span lands a head throw, a combo when Mack pops back up, and a kick for good measure. Cub seems to be getting better as the fight wears on and he's starting to bob and weave as we pass the halfway point of R1. Cub goes for a single leg at 2:15, Mack tries to get the neck, Cub turns his head and blocks him sinking anything around the neck. They break apart and both throw bombs. They continue to mix it up on the feet for the last 30 of R1. Cub lands a nice high kick but eats a big shot with 10 seconds left. Herb Dean has a look on his face like he'd let it go if he could but we take time between rounds for a breather.

Neither man wastes any time throwing down as we come back from break for the bonus fight. You can tell this was much earlier in the night at the Pearl because the crowd isn't nearly as loud as we heard in the previous fights. 80 seconds in they're just throwing shots at each other willy nilly. Cub times a double leg well but can't hold Mack down when he connects and they end up body-locked in the fence. Cub gets wobbled for a split second on a counter shot as we pass the halfway point. Mack slips on a kick then Cub lands a spinning backfist followed by a knee. Cub ducks under a couple of shots and if I'm not mistaken he's smiling - he's enjoying himself in this one. It's blow for blow. Straight left jab from Cub lands. Kick to the left leg lands. Mack may be getting a little gassed. Cub lands a series of lefts and rights that back Mack up to the fence. Bonnar: "This is the best I've seen Cub Swanson." He does seem to be pulling away as R2 closes and he gets the double leg takedown to solidify that point. Mack can't get up before the horn.

Cub gets another takedown 45 seconds into R3. If Mack can't get any of his own in this round he's probably going down to a loss via unanimous decision. Mack escapes 70 seconds into the round. Bonnar: "Dead even, could be anybody's fight!" Mack DOES get a takedown off an errant kick. "Big big takedown. Cub's gotta get back up here." Two seconds later he does and Cub lands a HARD right hook as he gets out. Cub blocks a kick at the halfway point and gets another takedown into guard. Mack LAUNCHES him off with his knees - it was damn near a pro wrestling monkey flip! Mack clips him with a left and goes for a takedown but can't get it so he hops on Cub's back instead. Shit, I have no idea who's gonna win this one now. Cub is turtling up to avoid damage and that can't look good to the judges. He's got to get out of this to have a chance. 60 seconds. Cub is eating HARD shots to the ribs as he looks up and sees 35 seconds left. Did Mack do enough in R1 or R2 that his hammerfists in R3 are enough? "He's beating him down like Donkey Kong!" CUB GETS TO HIS FEET AND THEY BOTH SWING FOR THE FENCES RIGHT TO THE HORN. AWESOME.

Here's Joe Martinez! WE GO TO THE SCORECARDS ONE MORE TIME PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR THE WAR IN THE CAGE BETWEEN THESE TWO YOUNG MEN. 29-28 SWANSON, 29-28 MACK, AND 29-28 FOR THE WINNER BY SPLIT DECISION - CUB SWANSON! The crowd has no problem with that call.

* Chad Mendes vs. Javier Vazquez (WEC Featherweight Co-Main Event)

The 15-4 Vazquez, hailing from Santiago, Cuba comes out first. He told Bonnar that "you ain't seen nothin' yet" before the fight. Bonnar notes he's 2-2 now but the two losses were both close split decisions. Chad 'Money' Mendes makes the best entrance of the night though by coming out to "Money money money money, MONEYYYYYY." If you don't know the song, that's "For the Love of Money" by the O'Jays. 25 to 34, 5'6" to 5'7", 145.5 to 146 and 66" to 69" reach from Mendes to Vazquez. Joe Martinez thanks all the sponsors before the co-main introductions. Vazquez fights out of Rancho Cucamonga, California in the blue corner. Mendes fights out of Sacramento, California in the red corner. Our referee is Herb Dean. Here we go!

Vazquez is in the pink trunks, Mendes is in the white and grey. Mendes CRACKS Vazquez with a shot when he tries to pull guard. 40 seconds. Vazquez stays on his back and finally gets back up of his own volition. He's throwing hard leg kicks. The second time Mendes ends up taking him down on a leg kick and that's exactly what Vazquez wants. He goes for the rubber guard and starts pitter patting him with shots, so Mendes picks him up and SLAMS him down from guard. 140 seconds gone. Vazquez keeps working from the ground and almost slipped into position for an armbar. Vazquez is definitely the more active of the two fighters now on the ground. 55 seconds. Bonnar thinks Mendes is winning since he's on top. I'm not so sure. He does land a couple of elbows with 20 seconds to go. We're off to R2!

Mendes is throwing kicks right at the start of the round. Flying knee, BIG SHOTS, but Vazquez has enough of the right hands and pulls guard to avoid taking more damage. Mendes picks him up and slams him down again. Vazquez tries to pull him close but eats an elbow to the face anyway. Vazquez boxes the ears from the bottom as we pass the two minute mark. SLAPBOXING AND THE SHAOLIN SWORD STYLE. Mendes throws a left down the pipe and just avoids an upkick. Vazquez keeps kicking his left knee as Mendes backs out. Mendes BACKFLIPS over his opponent. OUTRAGEOUS. Vazquez is being smothered by Mendes with a minute left in the round. Bonnar: "He's keeping his weight heavy. He's keeping his head close to Javier." Dean stands them up with 15 seconds in the round but it's too late to help Vazquez. Off to R3!

Mendes gets another takedown 55 seconds into the round. Harris: "Unless they're awarding double points for boxing to the ears, Javi may need something special in R3." Perfect way to describe it. 85 seconds in Mendes backs out and waits for Vazquez to stand up. Mendes lands a head kick FLUSH and double legs Vazquez right back to the ground. This is the road to victory right now - Mendes has to shit the bed badly to blow this. Herb Dean threatens a stand-up and makes good on it with 2:05 to go. Mendes lands a right hand when they do and takes him to the ground again. Javi is wincing in pain. Javi has a cut under his right eye and there's blood flowing. With under a minute this is all Chad Money. Chad stays on top throwing shots at the ribs right to the horn. Should be an easy unanimous decision for Money.

Martinez: ALL THREE JUDGES SCORE IT 30-27 FOR THE WINNER AND STILL UNDEFEATED: CHAD 'MONEY' MENDES. Team Alpha Male is 2 for 2 on the televised portion of WEC 52! No post-fight interview as we're now running long. Commercial.

* Urijah Faber vs. Takeya Mizugaki (WEC 52 Bantamweight Main Event)

Mizugaki promises that "it won't be easy" for Urijah Faber to drop to bantamweight and promises to give him "the fight of his life." He also vows to become a world champion after moving through Faber. Faber was one of the best ever at 145 though and is not shy about his credentials. "I know he'll fight to the bitter end. I'm here to do the same thing he is, but I'm better, so I'm gonna win." Mizugaki comes out to Numb by Linkin Park. And Urijah Faber of course comes out to California Love by 2Pac and Dre. Tale of the Tape: 31 to 26, 5'6" to 5'7", 136 each, and 69" to 69.5" reach from Faber to Mizugaki. Joe Martinez runs down the sponsors again and notes our judges are Patricia Morse Jarman, Tony Weeks and Sal D'Amato. Mizugaki is 13-4-2 in the blue corner wearing blue trunks. Faber is 23-4 in the red corner wearing black trunks. Our referee in charge is Josh Rosenthal. Here we go!

Faber tries to rush forward early, then slows down a little so Mizugaki doesn't clip him. Harris: "He'll bullrush him if he sees an opportunity there." 45 seconds gone. Mizugaki goes for a clinch in the fence and wants a leg trip in the worst way. Faber's balance is solid. 90 seconds. Faber turns him around and almost takes his back in the process. Two minutes. Mizugaki eats a big elbow. Halfway through R1. Mizugaki gets clipped with a right when he finally gets free. Faber is ducking shots and landing his own. Body shot, shoot for a double. Mizugaki prevents the takedown but he's stuck in the fence with nowhere to go. 85 seconds left. FABER TAKES HIS BACK AND GOES FOR THE GUILLOTINE. Mizugaki tries to slam him down and only gets into a worse spot. Rosenthal is checking to see if he's out cold and ROSENTHAL STOPS THE FIGHT - FABER WINS! Mizugaki either didn't have the chance to tap or wouldn't tap but he was out like a broken street light. Commercial.

Joe Martinez: THE END COMES AT 4:50 OF R1 VIA STOPPAGE DUE TO REAR NAKED CHOKE FOR THE WINNER IN HIS BANTAMWEIGHT DEBUT - THE CALIFORNIA KID, URIJAHHHHHHHHHHH FABER! Faber throws a shout out to the troops on Veterans Day in his post-fight promo and talks about how he's looking forward to moving to UFC and continuing to live the dream. "When I first started fighting there was no 135 weight class. It's here now and now it's my time to shine." True indeed. Another great night of WEC fights. Thanks for reading our live recap!