WORLD EXTREME CAGEFIGHTING® CONFIRMS COMPLETE CARD FOR WEC: FABER VS. BROWN
Courtesy of World Extreme Cagefighting:
For Immediate Release:
October 27, 2008
LIVE ON VERSUS – WEDNESDAY, NOV. 5, 2008
LIVE FROM THE SEMINOLE HARD ROCK HOTEL & CASINO IN HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA
Tickets on Sale Now
Las Vegas, NV (USA) – The fights are on! World Extreme Cagefighting® presents WEC: FABER vs. BROWN, live on the VERSUS network at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, Wednesday, Nov. 5 from The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
The card that was originally postponed in September due to Hurricane Ike is back, finalized and better than ever. On November 5, “The California Kid” Urijah Faber (21-1) defends his WEC Featherweight championship against Coconut Creek, Florida’s Mike Brown (19-4).
Tickets for WEC: FABER vs. BROWN are on sale now and are priced at $175, $125, $100, and $50 (not including applicable services or taxes). Tickets are available at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino box office and all Ticketmaster locations. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (954) 523-3309. Tickets also are available online through www.wec.tv or www.ticketmaster.com.
WEC: FABER vs. BROWN will be televised live nationally on VERSUS beginning at 8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT. All live WEC events will be presented in Hi-Definition (HD) and Spanish SAP where available. For more information and how to find VERSUS in your local viewing area, visit http://www.versus.com/findversus
Days before their title match, Mother Nature decided to make these two gladiators wait two more months. Now, the question is – Who will benefit from the extra eight weeks of training?
“I was 100 percent ready to go,” Brown said. “It was kind of rough on me. I took a week off to relax, just like I would’ve if I fought.”
But Brown remains confident. To counteract Faber’s wrestling ability, the Portland, Maine native who now trains with American Top Team in Florida, has been wrestling with Cuban Olympic Bronze Medalist Alexis Vila. Brown admits that it might be “easier to stand and trade” with the champ, but he is not focused on one aspect of the fight game.
“I just want the win,” he added. “I don’t care how it comes. I just want to be the No. 1 guy…this is the biggest fight of my life.”
As far as the 145-pound champion is concerned, the time off couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I think I definitely benefited from the break,” Faber said. “It gave me a chance to heal up a bit. I was 90 percent and now I’m ready to go.”
Just thought there was one title on the line on the 5th? Undefeated Brazilian fighter and WEC Middleweight champion Paulo Filho (16-0) meets Oregon’s Chael Sonnen (22-9-1) in a rematch of their exciting 2007 battle in which the champ earned a controversial submission victory.
And in what is sure to be an instant classic, former UFC® lightweight champion Jens Pulver (22-9-1) meets the always-exciting Texas product Leonard Garcia (15-3) in a 145-pound matchup. True MMA fans remember Faber and Pulver’s June 1 classic which saw “The California Kid” retain his gold, but they also can’t forget Garcia’s three-round epic with Roger Huerta at UFC 69 in April 2007; a fight so memorable that it was immortalized on the May 2007 front cover of Sports Illustrated.
In middleweight action, three-time national wrestling champion and Oklahoma State graduate Jake Rosholt (4-0) steps into the cage against Hawaii’s Nissen Osterneck (5-0).
In what might be the stand-up fight of the night, former WEC Lightweight champion “Razor” Rob McCullough (16-4) goes toe-to-toe with Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone (8-0, 1 NC) in a lightweight fight. McCullough is a menace on his feet, but the former champ shouldn’t underestimate Cerrone’s ground game – “The Cowboy” has won both of his WEC fights by submission.
Miami light heavyweight David Avellan (2-0) will have his hands full against two-time All-American and former Arizona State wrestler Aaron Simpson (3-0), who makes his WEC debut.
Added to this already stacked fight card is a featherweight matchup between decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu star Jose Aldo (10-1) and Ocala, Florida’s Jonathan Brookins (8-2), winner of four of his last five fights. Also, former The Ultimate Fighter® contestant Alex Schoenauer (14-9) makes his WEC debut against Arizona’s Steve Steinbeiss (4-1) in a light heavyweight matchup. With two explosive fighters staring across the cage at one another, there’s a good chance the lightweight bout between Danny Castillo (5-1) and Ed “9mm” Ratcliff (6-1) doesn’t go to a decision. Off the heels of a loss in what some experts are calling the fight of the year against WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, Yoshiro Maeda (23-5-2) walks back into the cage against grappling world champion and Brazil native Rani Yahya (12-4).
About World Extreme Cagefighting®
The WEC brand is recognized as one of the premier mixed martial arts organizations in the United States. Founded in 2001, the WEC features many of the most prominent athletes in the sport of mixed martial arts today. Owned and operated by WEC Holdings LLC., and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., the WEC produces live and taped events annually that are distributed through the Versus network. In addition to its U.S distribution, WEC programming is shown on the TSN network in Canada and Cadena Tres in Mexico. For more information and current WEC fight news, visit wec.tv.
World Extreme Cagefighting® and WEC® are registered trademarks, trademarks, trade dress or service marks owned exclusively by WEC Holdings, LLC in the United States and other jurisdictions and are licensed to WEC Productions, LLC.
About VERSUS
VERSUS celebrates real competition across all platforms (VERSUS.com, VERSUS on Demand and VERSUS HD). Now in more than 73 million homes, the network is the national cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as best-in-class events such as The Tour de France, Davis Cup Tennis, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), the Indy Racing League and Professional Boxing. The network also offers collegiate sports featuring nationally-ranked teams from top conferences such as the Pac-10, Big 12, Mountain West and Ivy League. VERSUS features the best field sports programming on television and is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events that audiences can't find elsewhere. VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.
News & Views