WEC 50 Predictions

Well ladies and gentlemen we're one night away from WEC 50 in which we will see Dominick Cruz defend his bantamweight title for the first time against Team Alpha Male member Josepth Benavidez. This will be a rematch from WEC 42, but I'll talk more about the title fight in a little bit. Here's how I see the night going down.

Bart Palaszewski vs. Zack Micklewright: After consecutive losses to Ricardo Lamas and Anthony Njokuani, Palaszewski has rebounded with a trio of wins over Tyler Combs, Anthony Pettis, and Karen Darabedyan. I've always been a fan of Bartimus, so it's nice to see him bounce fights from two pretty one-sided losses. Bart has loads of experience and most of wins have come either by KO or submission. He's good on the feet and is skilled on the ground as well. On the other hand I didn't think he looked to great on the feet in the Njokuani fight and was smothered by Lamas on the mat. Micklewright has only fought for the WEC once and won a decision over Mushin Corbbrey in a fight that I haven't seen. Micklewright is undefeated, but only has 7 career fights. It's hard for me to call this since I haven't seen Micklewright fight, but I'll go with Bartimus due to his being far more experienced.

Scott Jorgensen vs. Brad Pickett: This is my early pick for fight of the night. Since joining the WEC Jorgensen has gone 6-2 with his only losses coming in a controversial decision against Antonio Banuelos and another decision against destroyer Damacio Page. Jorgensen avenged the Banuelos loss in his most recent outing, and prior to that win he destroyed Noah Thomas with elbows, dominated Takeya Mizugaki, and put Chad George to sleep with a standing guillotine that actually lifted George off the ground. Jorgensen is decent on the feet, but his bread and butter definitely has to be his wrestling and ground and pound. Pickett joined the WEC and debuted against Kyle Dietz in a fight that saw Pickett win by the rare submission known as the peruvian necktie. Since then Pickett fought for the WEC once more and earned a decision victory over Demetrious Johnson. Pickett is very dangerous on the ground, as evidenced by 9 of his 19 career victories coming by way of submission. As much as I like Pickett I foresee Jorgensen taking the fight to the mat, using his wrestling to keep Pickett on his back, and working his usual vicious ground and pound. I say Jorgensen by decision or late round TKO.

Chad Mendes vs. Cub Swanson: Another tough fight for me to call. I've yet to see Mendes fight, so I really don't know too much about him. He's undefeated, won his last fight by submission, and is also a member of Team Alpha Male. Swanson is 3-2 in his last 5 fights, but out of those 5 fights only the 2 losses were televised. One loss was a 35 second submission to Jens Pulver, and the other was an 8 second KO loss to Jose Aldo. Swanson is obviously a talented fighter given that he has a career record of 14-3 and had an 11 fight win streak prior to the Pulver loss. This is a total guess but I'm going to go with Swanson due to his experience edge and knack for submissions.

Shane Roller vs. Anthony Pettis: The first time I saw Shane Roller fight he had a strong start against Ben Henderson but was eventually knocked out by the future champ. Since then Roller has won 3 straight against Marcus Hicks, Danny Castillo, and Anthony Njokuani. Roller also submitted Takanori Gomi in a grappling match held at a UFC Fan Expo. Pettis is coming off of two straight victories after a loss to Bart Palaszewski. Pettis knocked out Danny Castillo via head kick and submitted Alex Karalexis with a triangle choke. As a member of Roufusport, Pettis is obviously a dangerous kickboxer, so Roller is going to want to get this to the ground. As we saw in the fight with Njokuani, Roller is very capable of dealing with a dangerous striker. Pettis could very well hit a home run shot on Roller, but I see Roller getting Pettis to the mat and finishing the fight by submission in the 1st or 2nd round.

Dominick Cruz vs. Joseph Benavidez: As stated earlier this is a rematch from WEC 42. Since the first fight Benavidez has rebounded from the lone loss of his career with two straight stoppage victories over Rani Yahya and former champion Miguel Torres. The win over Torres was especially impressive as Benavidez dominated every aspect of the fight, opened an enormous gash on Torres's head, and made him tap to a guillotine. Cruz also has one career loss, which came against Urijah Fsber, a teammate of Benavidez. Benavidez is a smaller guy, but his striking is good and his wrestling is really strong. Cruz will have a significant reach advantage, but Benavidez overcame a massive reach difference in the Torres fight. Here, though, Cruz will bring some crazy footwork to go along with that reach. Brian Bowles was completely lost in his first title defense against Cruz, and it cost him his belt. I liken Cruz's footwork to that of Rashad Evans. Technically it's not good, but it's varied and wild enough to throw people off of their game. This is once again another tough fight to call. Cruz is the champ for a reason and already won their first meeting, but on the other hand, Benavidez has looked great in last 2 fights and finished a former champ. My head says Cruz, but I'm going to go with my gut and pick Benavidez to win by decision.