World Extreme Cagefighting 31 Results
by Robert Sargent
Champions Paulo Filho, Urijah Faber and Doug Marshall all successfully defended their titles at World Extreme Cagefighting 31, but only Marshall looked like a dominant champion, with Filho and Faber both struggling.
Filho's fight with Chael Sonnen ended controversially, as Sonnen disputed the referee's account that Sonnen had verbally submitted late in round two.
WEC Featherweight Championship
"The California Kid" Urijah Faber vs "The Big Frog" Jeff Curran
Curran came out strong in this battle, scoring an early takedown and raining down punches from mount position. Curran eventually took Faber's back and locked in a body triangle for quite some time, while punching and looking to submit Faber with a rear naked choke. Faber, unaccustomed to being dominated by anyone, gamely reversed position and got back into Curran's guard. However, the first round went to Curran.Faber appeared to be frustrated in round two, and took it out on Curran's face by landing two solid elbow shots while in the clinch, cutting Curran. Following a scramble, Curran wound up on his back, but he prevented Faber from doing much damage. Faber eventually stood up and Curran landed an upkick to Faber's face.
Curran rose back to his feet and attempted a takedown, but Faber countered with a deep guillotine choke and Curran submitted. After a shaky start, Faber wins by Submission (guillotine choke) at 4:35 of round two. Faber improves to 20-1.
WEC Middleweight Championship
Paulo "Ely" Filho vs Chael Sonnen
Filho was dominated in this battle as he has never been dominated before, but managed to come back to win by submission late in the second round.Sonnen won all of the standup battles, secured a number of takedowns and peppered Filho with strikes on the ground. Sonnen also attempted numerous submissions on Filho, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace and #2-ranked middleweight in the world. Filho remained composed, however, and patiently waited for an opening, which came with just five seconds left in the second round. After locking in an omoplata, Filho transitioned into an armbar and the referee claimed that Sonnen verbally submitted, declaring Filho the winner. Sonnen protested, stating that he did not tap or verbally submit, but accepted the decision anyway. Filho, after being dominated for essentially nine minutes and 45 seconds, wins by Verbal Submission (armbar) at 4:55 of round two and improves to 16-0.
WEC Light Heavyweight Championship
Doug "The Rhino" Marshall vs Ariel Gandulla
Marshall dominated this brief battle, coming out with a flying knee which narrowly missed. Gandulla caught Marshall and slammed him to the ground, raining down punches. Marshall quickly locked in a triangle, however, and then transitioned to an armbar, forcing Gandulla to submit at just 55 seconds of round one. Marshall improves to 7-2 while Gandulla (4-1-0, 1 NC) suffers his first defeat.Jens "Lil' Evil" Pulver vs Cub Swanson
Pulver's WEC debut showcased a side of his game which has not been seen in quite some time. Famous for his left hook, Pulver instead finished this fight in quick fashion after defending a takedown attempt from Swanson and locking in a tight guillotine choke. Swanson was forced to submit and Pulver wins by Submission (guillotine choke) at 35 seconds of round one. After the fight, it was announced that Pulver will next compete against WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber.John "The Natrual" Alessio vs Todd "Maniac" Moore
Alessio won all three rounds in this battle, but Moore was a very game opponent, escaping submission attempt after submission attempt and shaking off one powerful strike after another. Alessio landed hard right hooks throughout the fight, as well as knees. He got mount on Moore and later went for rear naked chokes and guillotines. Moore seemed unfazed by the strikes and submissions, and kept coming back for more. However, Alessio was clearly the dominant fighter and came away with a Unanimous Decision victory.Undercard Fights:
Other fights in the evening saw Brian Baker defeat Eric Schambari by Split Decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29) in a highly competitive middleweight bout, Ed Ratcliff defeated UFC veteran Alex Karalexis by TKO (strikes) at 1:26 of round two, Brian Bowles defeated Marcos Galvao by TKO (strikes) at 2:09 of round two and Charlie Valencia submitted Ian McCall by guillotine choke at 3:19 of round one.
While two champions were not at the top of their games, WEC 31 was still a great event.
