WEC 51 Preview: Jose Aldo and Manny Gamburyan prepare to dispute featherweight belt
When Jose Aldo (17-1) steps into the cage against Manvel 'Manny' Gamburyan (11-4) for the main event of WEC 51, put on by World Extreme Cagefighting on Thursday night, he’ll be defending his featherweight
(145lb) belt for the second time in a fight that almost everybody expects him to win.
Aldo’s recent form
Aldo has looked absolutely incredible for over two years now, having joined the WEC in 2008 and gone 7-0 in the world’s premiere lighter weight class promotion. In 2009, he was almost universally awarded
the Fighter of the Year by MMA publications. In that year, he went 4-0 and captured the WEC belt.
In his last fight, he looked even better winning due to unanimous decision against Urijah Faber on April 24, who is often called the greatest 145lb fighter in MMA history. Faber gamely hung with Aldo for
five rounds, but Aldo put on a brilliant display of striking, using brutal leg kicks to chop out Faber’s legs from under him, leaving the fighter limping. Photos of Faber’s legs days after the fight told a grisly tale, with the legend’s legs being horribly
swollen and discoloured. All Faber was able to do was survive until the final bell to stop Aldo’s knockout streak at six fights.
Gamburyan fought most of his recent career at the 155lb lightweight class, but struggled in the UFC against larger lightweights who could overpower and outreach him.
But since dropping down to 145lb and joining the WEC, Gamburyan has looked very good and moved him out of the shadow of his cousin, UFC fighter Karo Parisyan. Gamburyan has gone 3-0 with the promotion, with
two straight decision victories. On the same night Aldo destroyed Faber, Gamburyan took on the man Aldo took the featherweight belt from, Mike Brown. Despite coming in as a heavy underdog, Gamburyan knocked out Brown in just over two minutes, securing his
shot at the belt.
Style, odds and prediction
Aldo is known for his brutal and spectacular Muay Thai, in the aggressive Brazilian mould. He proved the deadliness of his leg kicks against Faber, but before then had shown the vicious efficiency of his
knees, which he used to knock out two WEC opponents with. If it goes to the ground, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt should have no trouble holding his own.
Aldo is also very fast, beating his opponents to the punch and getting out of the way of any counterstrikes. In short, he’s fast, powerful, elusive, technically sound and at 24, he’s improving with every
fight.
Gamburyan, on the other hand, doesn’t have nearly the same kicking acumen Aldo does. Instead, he is a competent and technical boxer with very heavy hands. The 5ft 5in fighter is thickly built, meaning he’ll
want to get inside quickly and throw power.
Gamburyan is also a highly decorated judoka, so he if he gets close enough, it would be in his interest to take the fight to the ground. Expect him to try and throw enough power to wade in close and take
Aldo down to try to control the Brazilian from the top.
Aldo will try to take away Gamburyan’s legs with brutal kicks and then aggressively try to finish him off, keeping the distance he wants before violently closing it.
Most people expect Aldo to do well, as he’s roughly a 6-1 favourite. Those odds seem about right, suggesting there isn’t a ton of value in the betting lines, but Aldo should be able to knock Gamburyan out
Thursday night.
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