WEC 51: Former champ Mike Brown appears on the Undercard

Posted by Kevin Leach

Sep 29

Mike Brown is a MMA Veteran, fighting out of American Top Team Florida. In 2001 Brown made his pro MMA debut, but it was not until November 5th 2008, that he became a household name. He defeated “The California Kid” Urijah Faber, in Hollywood Florida that night by first round knockout. The outcome shocked the world and earned Brown knockout of the night, along with the title belt.

In 2009 he successfully defended that belt two more times, against Leonard Garcia, and then fought Faber, in Faber’s hometown of Sacramento, Ca. This fight was much more exciting and ended up going the distance, the outcome was the same though and Brown remained the WEC featherweight champion.

In November of 2009 Brown defended his title once again, against a young undefeated Brazilian named Jose Aldo. Brown entered this fight on a 10 fight win streak, and 3 of the fights being for his featherweight belt. The first round was pretty even, but two minutes into the second round Aldo was able to get Brown into a back mount and start hammering away with punches, the referee had no choice but to stop the fight.

Less than three months after losing his title, Brown wanted that belt back and took on Anthony Morrison, in Sacramento Ca. He defeated Morrison in the 1st round via rear naked choke to get back in the win column.

In April 2010, the WEC held its first ever pay per view event which was headlined by Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber for the featherweight title. Mike Brown was added to the main card against former UFC fighter and Ultimate Fighter alum, Manvel Gamburyan. The winner of this fight would out themselves in a great position to face the winner of Aldo/Faber.

Brown looked good and was controlling the fight for the first two minutes of round one, but with a blink of an eye, Gamburyan landed a short punch that knocked Brown out cold. After riding a 10 fight win streak that came to a halt with a TKO loss to Aldo, Brown was now 1-1 after losing his title and will have a long road back to the top.

Tomorrow at WEC 51: Aldo vs. Gamburyan, Brown will look to take that first step back toward another shot at the belt. Mike Brown will be facing Cole Province, but unless you’re in Colorado at 1st bank center you will likely not get to see the fight. That’s because the former featherweight champion who is currently ranked #3rd in the featherweight division by sherdog is fighting on the undercard.

It’s an oddity to see a former champ so close from losing his belt being relegated to the undercard but that is what has happened to Brown. Brown is 35 years old and 1-2 in his last three fight, but those two losses were to the guys fighting for the title, Jose Aldo and Manvel Gamburyan. Fighters have done worse and still appeared on the main card so you have to wonder why then?

Expect Brown to walk in there with a large chip on his shoulder to prove it was a mistake putting him on the nights undercard.