Fighters Only

Issue 013

May 2006

Lemoore, California, March 17^th 2006

Written by Brad Doerges, Photographed by Dave Mandel

Lemoore, California, home of World Extreme Cagefighting (arguably the best event in California), played host to another great card. This event had something for everyone featuring local favorites, UFC veterans, former contestants from The Ultimate Fighter, and even a champion from King of the Cage.

Faber adds another title.

In the main event of the evening current King of the Cage 145lb champion Urijah “California Kid” Faber took on the WEC 145lb champion Cole “Apache Kid” Escovedo. Both fighters came in with identical 11-1 records. This fight was to unofficially “unify” the belts from the two organizations. Faber often uses his superior wrestling to control opponents while Escovedo, a Jiu Jitsu player, prefers to fight from his back, and has won seven of his fights by triangle choke.

Faber started off the fight by surprising Escovedo with an overhand right that sent the dazed Jiu Jitsu fighter to the cage floor. “It didn’t feel like it connected and I know I have seen him take some punches before- If I would have got another clean shot on him I think I could have ended it right there.” stated Faber. After an uncharacteristic leglock attempt by Faber failed, the fighters ended up where most the fight would take place; in Escovedo’s guard. Faber dominated the reminder of the round, easily escaping submissions while peppering Cole’s face with violent elbows and punches. By the end of the first it was apparent one of the elbows had opened a cut on the top of Escovedo’s now bloody forehead.

The second round was more of the same, with Escovedo eating more punches and elbows from his guard, causing the cut to become a large gash. The gash soaked his face with blood, blinding the fighter. We waited for the ref to stop the fight, but the pause never came and at the end of second Escovedo told his corner that he could not see. Although Cole’s corner encouraged him to continue and fight, Escovedo couldn’t answer the bell, giving Faber the WEC 145lb belt.

The Razor cuts deep

Undercard action featured the exciting match up of Rob “Razor” McCullough vs. the fighter now known only as Olaf (Ed’s note- he does have a second name; it’s Alfonso!). In the first it was all Olaf, as he neutralised McCullough’s striking by throwing unorthodox punches and frustrating the kickboxer with takedown attempts and submissions.

In the second round Olaf surprisingly came out southpaw, and paid the price. Rob landed a straight jab that seemed to daze Olaf, then followed that up with a left low kick-right cross combination, dropping Olaf to his back. The right cross landed so hard that it sent Olaf’s mouth piece flying to the other side of the cage! With Olaf’s legs up in the air Rob kicked his thighs, then dived in with another right, putting Olaf completely out. The next two devastating punches almost seemed to happen in slow motion ,while referee Jon Schorle was unfortunately out of position retrieving Olaf’s mouthpiece.

Schorle responded to the second punch, but wasn’t in position to stop the fight until after a third devastating right had connected. “He submitted one of my friends so I didn’t want to jump in his guard. I thought maybe he was playing possum, so I kicked him. I knew he was done so I kept hitting him and I was thinking ‘Is this guy going to stop me’?” stated McCullough. After five long minutes of no movement, Olaf was carted off on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital. Later that evening it was announced that Olaf had been examined and fortunately had no broken bones or serious injuries.

Franca looks to start a new streak.

In the co-main event WEC lightweight champion Gabe “Godzilla” Ruediger took on the biggest fight of his career against UFC veteran Hermes Franca. While Ruediger looked to catapult his career to the next level, Franca looked to stop a streak of three consecutive losses and revitalize his fighting career.

Franca did not look like a fighter who has lost five of his last eight as he threw two devastating looping overhand rights that sent an off balance Ruedigar to the fence. From there Franca finished the fight, landing several unanswered punches and dropping the Millennia trained fighter to the mat. Franca looked to pounce on his fallen foe but the ref jumped in, stopping the fight and promoting Franca to the status of WEC lightweight champion. Although he was obviously hurt, Ruedigar still felt the fight was stopped too early due to the events of the previous fight between Olaf and McCullough. With a rematch clause in the contract it looks as if Gabe will face Franca again in August. “I want to come back and get my belt back- it’s not his,” said Gabe.