“WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber” took place Saturday night inside the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. The highly anticipated event was the organization’s first pay-per-view broadcast.
The show was headlined by a pair of championship scraps. Reigning WEC poster boy and former featherweight champ Urijah Faber will look to reclaim his title against current 145-pound king Jose Aldo in the night’s featured contest.
Faber owns a ridiculous 23-3 professional record, however the charismatic superstar has dropped two of his last four contests. Both losses came in championship bouts against Mike Brown.
Aldo, who holds an impressive 16-1 pro mark, has been tagged by many as a younger and longer version of Faber. The Brazilian captured the belt last November at WEC 44 when he earned a vicious 2ndRound TKO over Brown.
WEC lightweight title holder Ben Henderson will defend his belt against Donald Cerrone in the evening’s co-main event. The 155-pounders met at WEC 43 in October and took home Fight of the Year honors for epic battle.
Once again, we Tweeted the night’s play-by-play action, so please make sure to check out 5thRound.com’s exclusive coverage in the blue Twitter box below:
Preliminary Bouts:
Tyler Toner Defeated Brandon Visher via TKO (Elbows) at 2:36 in the 1stRound
Takeya Mizugaki Defeated Rani Yahya via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Chad Mendes Defeated Anthony Morrison via Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 2:13 in the 1stRound
Brad Pickett Defeated Demetrious Johnson via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)Spike TV Preliminary Bouts
Anthony Pettis Defeats Alex Karalexis via Submission (Triangle Choke) at 1:35 in the 2ndRound
Pettis lands a flying left headkick and a few punches, Karalexis looks a little stunned and can’t take Pettis down
Legkick caught by Karalexis as he takes Pettis down and lands some nice strikes. Pettis landing some good leg kicks
More legkicks by Pettis, Karalexis has no answer for it. Good round for Pettis, we gave him the 1stRound 10-9
Good pressure being put on by Karalexis, lands a couple punches and takes Pettis down early good GnP work but Pettis is up
Great triangle by Pettis as he catches Karalexis sleeping and forces him to tapout. Good start to the @SPIKE_TV prelims!
Leonard Garcia Defeated Chan Sung Jung via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Jab landed by Jung, counter right lands for Garcia. The fighters are exchanging bombs as the crowd goes crazy
Good elbow in the clinch by Jung, lands knees in the clinch, Garcia is hanging tough. Garcia gets dropped by a left hook
Jung goes for GnP and almost gets caught in an armbar. The “Korean Zombie” is reigning down strikes from the guard. Garcia looks done
Nice flying knee by Garcia, Hung keeps pushing forward. Great 1stRound we give it to Jung 10-9
Headkick by Jung and the bombs go flying again. Garcia lands a big right hook that drops Jung, reminds me of Rocky, crowd loves it
Fatigue is starting to set it but both fighters are still throwing. Garcia misses a spinning backkick and Jung counters
Jung takes Garcia’s back gut Gracia fights back up. Jung has a small cut under his left eye, Garcia has a welt over his left eye
Jung has Garcia against the cage landing punches as Garcia stands there and just smiles at him. Garcia now has Jung against the cage
Another great round, not sure how they’ll be in the 3rd. Close 2ndRound but we’ll give it to Garcia based off of aggressiveness 10-9
A lot of steam gone from Jung, Garcia picking his shots. Single strikes by Jung, Garcia is throwing more combos.
Just as Garcia gets control, Hung lands a 4 punch combo and backs Garcia up. Both guys are landing bombs AGAIN! What a fight!
Garcia misses a spinning back head kick, Jung yells something at Garcia as they continue to swing. Close 3rdRound, Garcia 10-9
Main Bouts:
Scott Jorgensen Defeated Antonio Banuelos via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Both fighters are exchanging but nothing lands early on. Banuelos trips Jorgensen with an inside leg kick, Banuelos is countering well
Banuelos ducks under a Jorgensen punch and lands a left hook that drops Jorgensen and almost gets his arm caught in Jorgensen’s sub attempt
Nice spinning back kick to Jorgensen’s body by Banuelos, good 1stRound for Banuelos 10-9
Jorgensen showing some urgency and is starting to land better. Looks like Jorgensen is quicker to the punch in the 2ndRound
Good right hook by Jorgensen, Banuelos hasn’t countered well this round and his nose is bleeding, Jorgensen owning the center of the cage
Short right hook by Jorgensen drops Banuelos, whose nose is just gushing blood. Jorgensen gets his back. Jorgensen 10-9 2ndRound
Both land right hooks but Banuelos seems to be struggling to breathe with his bloody nose, could be broken
Another right hook for Jorgensen and a straight right another big right and Banuelos gets dropped again. Jorgensen has his back again
Jorgensen almost gets a rear naked choke but Banuelos slips out, Jorgensen controls the ground. Jorgensen 10-9 3rdRound
Shane Roller Defeated Anthony Njokuani via Submission (Read Naked Choke) at 3:07 in the 1stRound
Roller shoots in for a takedown right away, not giving Njokuani any chanecs to strike
Full mount for Roller as he takes Njokuani back and has a body triangle, Roller sinks in a rear naked choke Njokuani taps out
Manny Gamburyan Defeated Mike Brown via TKO (Strikes) at 2:22 in the 1stRound
Brown misses a big right hook, Manny misses an uppercut. Three punch combo by Manny is blocked, big right counter by Manny drops Brown
Manny follows up with some ground and pound on a stunned Brown who was out cold
Ben Henderson Defeated Donald Cerrone via Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 1:57 in the 1stRound (WEC lightweight Champion)
Shot by Henderson is stuffed by Cerrone, Henderson is kneeing Cerrone’s thigh and now his head
Henderson takes Cerrone down and now goes for a guillotine and gets the tapout from Cerrone
Jose Aldo Defeats Urijah Faber via Unanimous Decision (49-45, 49-45, 50-45) (WEC Featherweight Champion)
Crowd is amped for this one, both guys are feeling each other out
A lot of respect being shown, Aldo lands a left to the body and avoids a Faber takedown attempt
Quick right hook by Faber but not a lot of power, these guys are fast. Aldo lands another to the body
Front kick lands to Aldo’s body after Faber eats a knee, Faber is feeling more comfortable but eats another knee. Close round 10-9 Aldo
The champ looks more relaxed as the 2ndRound starts, Aldo almost sweeps Faber off his feet with a leg kick
Aldo just misses with a big uppercut, good leg kicks to Faber’s lead leg by Aldo, Faber can’t catch Aldo
Faber struggling to find his range, Aldo’s leg kicks are landing more and Faber misses again
Faber is limping on his lead leg now, not much going on for Faber in the 2ndRound. Aldo takes it 10-9
You can see Faber is mindful of the leg kick, no signs of any takendowns for Faber. Aldo is just stalking
Not much behind Faber’s jabs, Aldo lands a body shot and kicks Faber’s leg again and gets off his back after a slip
Big right head kick by Aldo rocks Faber but Faber fires back showing his heart. Another hard leg kick by Aldo
Aldo finally kicks Faber down and ends the round in his guard. Dominating round for Aldo, 10-9 3rdRound
Big shot to Faber’s lead leg forces him to switch his stance and has to pull guard. Aldo takes Faber’s back
Just when Faber gets out and almost ends up on top, Aldo gets back up and kicks Faber back down
Aldo is in side control with crucifix and is landing punches but Faber is trying to fight out desparately but Aldo has him locked
What heart being shown but Aldo is in a league of his own. Aldo could’ve won the 4thRound 10-8
Southpaw stance for Faber but he keeps switching back to orthodox, Aldo is just measuring Faber 90 seconds in
Faber grabs Aldo’s ankle but can’t get him down. Rogan points out that Aldo might be shutting it down to take the decision
Big left hook to Faber’s body forces him to slump over and shoot it for another failed takedown attempt
Clearly dejected Faber hugs Aldo who rides out a decision victory. Could’ve seen the final round as a draw but irrelevant at this point
