WEC 51 in review

A quick recap of the televised fights at WEC 51 in Broomfield, Colo., ranked in order of how much we enjoyed the bouts.

Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner

All the anger, all the hatred, all the bitterness of a 20-month rivarly was written all over "Cowboy" Cerrone's face before the fight. Still smarting from  a controversial loss to Varner in January 2009, Cerrone brought an aggressive approach to the cage and it worked perfectly. He left Varner a bloody mess en route to the unanimous decision. Let's see Cerrone fight with this type of singular focus again and we'll have a heck of a title match down the road.

Jose Aldo vs. Manny Gamburyan

Why would any 145-pound fighters out there not go on a diet or an eating binge for the next few years? Otherwise, you're stuck having to face Aldo, the No. 3 pound-for-pounder fighter in the world. He hit Gamburyan with an uppercut that sent him to the ground, then, within seconds, Aldo was unloading until referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight in the second round. We apologize to all 145-pounders out there right now. Life is certainly not fair. Go eat an ice cream sundae and move up to 155.

Leonard Garcia vs. Mark Hominick

Garcia's fights are always exciting, partially because he's active with big punches and partially because he eats punches like Joey Chestnut does hot dogs. If Garcia ever develops a defense for the jab and a controlled approach, he could return to the title picture at featherweight. Let's not forget he was the first title defense against then-champion Mike Brown. Until that happens, he'll continue to sweat out split decisions. This time, he lost to Hominick.

George Roop vs. Chan Sung Jung

Time to wonder what hurt the Korean Zombie more: the left jab he ate from Roop, the knockout left kick to his chin or the multiple bangs of his head to the mat as he fell unconscious to the ground. What a sick knockout from Roop, who just vaulted himself up a few pegs in the featherweight division. When you can hear the knockout at normal volume on your television, you know it's a devastating shot.

Miguel Angel Torres vs. Charlie Valencia

Montreal is a great party city, but that didn't seem to affect Torres. The former bantamweight champion moved up to Montreal to work on his wrestling game (with some guy named Georges something or other). It certainly didn't hurt matters as Torres ended his two-fight losing streak with a rear naked choke of Valencia in the second round. Could this be the beginning of Torres' return to greatness at 135 pounds? Let's hope so. It would make the divsion far more interesting.

Tiequan Zhang vs. Pablo Garza

Impressive work by Zhang, the first Chinese fighter to compete in WEC. He locked in a guillotine for a first-round submission.