WEC 51: Aldo vs. Gamburyan

[Built Ford Tough]

For anybody interested, there is a pretty damn good WEC card starting now (at least for me, the card started earlier) that features one of the best Pound-for-Pound fighters in the world in Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. He is arguably the most exciting fighter in all of MMA. He trains at Blackhouse (with the Nog brothers, Anderson Silva, Junior Do Santos, Lyoto Machida among others) and has absolutely sick BJJ, is a beast on his feet and is just an amazing fighter all around.

 

Some of you may remember Manny Gamburyan from The Ultimate Fither (I think it was the season with Nate Diaz and Gray Maynard, although I'm not 100% sure) and he has had a very successful career since moving down to 145.

 

It also has a rematch between heated rivals Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone. In their last fight, Cerrone hit Varner with a knee while he was on the ground in the 5th round and the fight was stopped because of it. The two have talked a lot of smack about each other and there seems to be a genuine hate towards each other. They are two of the better Lightweights in the WEC as well, so should be a good fight.

 

Lastly, Miguel Torres, the former 135 pound king, looks to get back on track after two straight losses and is fighting Charlie Valencia. Along with Urijah Faber, he used to be the face of the WEC but has hit a bit of a rough patch as of late. Don't know much about Valencia, though.

 

Oh yeah, former 145 pound champ Mike Thomas Brown is also in action tonight, but his fight isn't on the main card. He is coming off of a loss against Gamburyan and is looking to get back into the title picture in the 145 pound division.

 

I just realized when typing this that it has probably already aired in the US, so, umm... yeah. Haha.

[Real Deal]

I read somewhere that a lot of die-hard UFC fans think that Aldo is overrated and would be dominated by their top fighters. I've never watched the WEC, actually, and I've never seen the guy fight.

 

Just saw on the news a bit ago that he won his fight, though...and easily. I guess nobody should try and stand toe-to-toe with him?

[Built Ford Tough]

I read somewhere that a lot of die-hard UFC fans think that Aldo is overrated and would be dominated by their top fighters. I've never watched the WEC, actually, and I've never seen the guy fight.

 

Just saw on the news a bit ago that he won his fight, though...and easily. I guess nobody should try and stand toe-to-toe with him?

 

Well, considering the fact that the UFC's "top fighters" (I'm talking about the Silva's, GSP's and Shogun's) are guys that are about 30 pounds bigger than Aldo, yeah, he probably would get dominated by them, haha.

 

I know you were probably refering to the UFC's Lightweight division, though, or at least I hope so.

 

The thing with Aldo is that he is a natural 145 pound figther. He is only 5'7, doesn't really cut to make the 145 limit and doesn't have the frame of a GSP or a Jon Fitch where you can tell that if they wanted to, they could move up a weight class. He could easily cut down to 135 if he really felt the need and I don't think that he would really miss a beat, once he got accustomed to cutting weight as he has never cut weight in his life as far as I know.

 

I do think that he would be the most talented fighter in the UFC's 155 pound division, or second to BJ Penn (but Aldo actualy takes fighting seriously so I give him the edge as he actually gets full use of his talents), but at the same time, I'm not sure if he would be able to handle the size difference that he would have when facing somebody like Gray Maynard or Kenny Florian. I think that no matter how skilled he is, Aldo would struggle with a huge wrestler like Maynard and that he would be smothered to a decision. Then again, Frankie Edgar could easily fight at 155 as well and he is currently the champ in that weight class, so who knows. Personally, I think Aldo is certainly better than Edgar is in every aspect other than wrestling, but I also think that Maynard will be able to smother Edgar to a win when they fight as well.

 

Despite the size advantage that most guys would have over him, I still think Aldo could do really well in the UFC's 155 pound division, but when fighting the absolute cream of the crop of the division, I think that the size difference will be too much of a factor for him to overcome, despite how amazingly gifted he is.

 

What I hate about comments like your first one (I know they aren't from you) are that they are irrelevant. Aldo is a Featherweight, so why should he have to fight at a weight class that isn't his natural weight class? It is the same thing with everybody crying about GSP and him not moving to 185. The bottom line is that Jose Aldo has absolutely ran through the best 145 pound fighters in the world. Manny Gamburyan absolutely lit up the WEC in his first three fights, beating Leonard Garcia and knocking out Mike Brown, yet he looked like a fish out of water against Aldo. He knocked out Cub Swanson in 8 secondsMike Brown was considered virtually untouchable when he was the champ, and Aldo absolutely embarassed him. Urijah Faber was considered as arguably the greatest Bantamweight fighter ever and, while he lasted all 5 rounds with Aldo, he didn't even muster any offense against him. Who cares if he might not be able to dominate the UFC's 155 pound division considering that isn't his weight class? When did cleaning out your weight class with decisive wins (most of them stoppages) not become enough?

 

 

 

As for the second comment, the scary thing is that Aldo's striking might not even be the best part of his game. He is one of the scariest strikers in the division with his devestating Muay Thai, but he is absolutely insane on the ground. He is a high level BJJ black belt, has vicious ground and pound, can pass guard like nobody else (other than GSP) and once he gets you in a dominant position, he finishes you with a T/KO or a submission. His striking is aboslutely elite, but it might not even be the best part of his game and that is why he is so scary. When fighting Aldo, uou are basically forced to choose whether you want to get your [expletive] handed to you on your feet or get your [expletive] handed to you on the ground. He is literally damn good that he can choose how he wants to finish you.

 

Oh yeah, did I mention that he is only 24 years old?

 

I'll stop declaring my love for Aldo though, as I think I've made my point well enough, haha.

 

PS: I highly suggest that if you have some spare time, watch a couple of Aldo fights. They are absolutely amazing and you will see that the praise I am giving him in this post is highly deserved.

 

EDIT: Also, how sick was this KO?

 

http://ezpicshare.com/images/roopzom.gif

 

First time that the Korean Zombie has ever been KO'd and it sure as well was a spectacular one.

Edited October 1, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[Real Deal]

Yeah, I think they were talking about a particular weight class he would fight in (whether he moves up or not), not exactly the entire clan of UFC's best fighters.

 

You make it sound like this guy is a smaller version of GSP, though. Is the competition actually up to par with the UFC? I mean, there are some nasty D-League teams out there, but none would win over 15 games in the NBA, you know?

 

I'll check out some fights. Like I said, I've never, ever watched the WEC. Never even heard of Aldo. You're a huge fan of the sport, so you obviously know what you're talking about...I'm just trying to wrap my brain around how good he is and how he would fare against UFC competition, compared to someone like Silva and GSP, who are elite fighters I've watched over and over again.

[Built Ford Tough]

Yeah, I think they were talking about a particular weight class he would fight in (whether he moves up or not), not exactly the entire clan of UFC's best fighters.

 

You make it sound like this guy is a smaller version of GSP, though. Is the competition actually up to par with the UFC? I mean, there are some nasty D-League teams out there, but none would win over 15 games in the NBA, you know?

 

I'll check out some fights. Like I said, I've never, ever watched the WEC. Never even heard of Aldo. You're a huge fan of the sport, so you obviously know what you're talking about...I'm just trying to wrap my brain around how good he is and how he would fare against UFC competition, compared to someone like Silva and GSP, who are elite fighters I've watched over and over again.

 

The D-League/NBA comparision doesn't work here, though. I understand where you are coming from with the analogy, but the WEC features three weight classes. Lightweight (155), Bantamweight (145) and Featherweight (135). The UFC doesn't feature Bantamweight or Featherweight so the talent level isn't as diluted because, for the most part, the best 145 pound fighters in the world are in the WEC, although there are some great fighters in organizations like DREAM and Bellator like Kid Yamamoto, Bibiano Fernandes and Joachim Hansen, but for the most part, the WEC has the best fighters at that weight class. If he fought in a weight class that the UFC featured, the comparision would be more than valid and it would be a legitimate reason for skepticisim about him, but since he is fighting in the 145 pound division, he isn't fight a diluted talent pool as the UFC doesn't have that division.

 

I'd actually say he is more Anderson Silva 2.0 than GSP 2.0. He has a very similar style to Silva. Aldo utilizes leg kicks more than Silva does while Silva has better boxing. Other than that though, they are eerily similar. Both of them even have similar post fight celebrations with climbing the cage and jumping off of it, doing hilarious little dances and things like that.

 

I really can't give you much of an answer about how he would fair in the UFC because he would be fighting at a weight class that he has never fought in before. If Josh Grispi wins his next fight and becomes the next challenger for Aldo, we will see Aldo fight somebody who has a significant size and reach advantage over him as Grispi is 5'11 and has a 74 inch reach compared to Aldo's 5'7, 70 inch reach. Even then, it won't really give us a clear indication of how he would do at 155 pounds.

 

The best answer I can give you is that Aldo is bascially the GSP and Silva of the 145 pound division. He isn't as well known as them and he hasn't dominated the division as long as they have, but he is arguably just as talented as those two and has been just as dominant over his past 4 fights as those two (more than Silva considering the Sonnen fight). Assuming he continues his reign of dominance at 145 pounds, I think we will see him make the jump to the UFC's 155 pound division within the next year or so. He really doesn't have much left to prove in the Bantamweight division if he beats Grispi and Mark Hominick as he will have basically cleaned out the division. He has mentioned in the past that he would make the jump to the UFC if he feels he has nothing left to prove in the WEC and is willing to fight in the Lightweight division even though it isn't the ideal weigt for him.

[Real Deal]

Your knockout wasn't showing up for me earlier (not sure why), but now it works. Haha, that's sick. Dude is pretty thin...could be a beast with ten extra pounds of muscle on him.

 

I wonder how much quickness he'll lose gaining a bit of weight. I know fighters (especially boxers) can put on 10-15 pounds of weight (fat or muscle) and get noticeably slower throwing punches and kicks, and while that KO was in slo-mo, I'm pretty sure he picked that foot up off the mat quickly, because the dude he knocked out barely had time to react.

[Built Ford Tough]

Here is an interview with Aldo after the fight and he says that he would have no problems moving up to the UFC's 155 pound division (among other things):

 

Shortly following each of your wins everyone always talks about the possibility of your moving up in weight and even having a title fight in the UFC lightweight division. Do you think you’ll do well in the division above yours? Would you accept a 155-lbs fight?

 

I would, for sure. I have what it takes to fight in the UFC, but that doesn’t depend on me. I’d have to talk to the people who work with me, like Dedé (Pederneiras), my coach, and Joinha (Jorge Guimarães), my manager. What they decide on is always what’s best. But I believe I have all it takes to fight in the upper division. There’d be no problem at all.

 

http://sherdognet.craveonline.com/index.php#http://www.graciemag.com/en/2010/10/jose-aldo-has-no-problem-moving-up-in-weight-for-ufc/

 

Like I said earlier, I can see him fighting about two more times (probably against Grispi and Hominick) and then making the jump to the UFC.

 

Obviously anything can happen in MMA, but I just don't see Aldo losing to anybody at 145 pounds, at least not in the WEC. I still don't think anybody could take him, but some of the guys fighting in DREAM or things like that could give him a challenge, although I still think he would win pretty convincingly.

Edited October 2, 2010 by Built Ford Tough