Franca, Faber Take Belts From WEC Champions
Franca, Faber Take Belts
Josh Gross Mar 18, 2006
LEMOORE, Calif., March 17 — There was no doubt heading into his
fight on Friday night that WEC lightweight champion Gabe Ruediger (Pictures) faced the stiffest test of his
career in veteran Hermes
Franca (Pictures).
Hoping to establish himself as a top-10 fighter, Ruediger had a lot to think about as he walked to the cage in front of roughly 2,500 paying customers at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino.
Standing across from the largely untested 155-pounder was the
affable Franca, who coming off three consecutive losses in 2005 had
questions of his own.
The answers came quickly.
Next to the darting Brazilian, Ruediger looked slow and uninspired. Uppercuts. Overhand rights. Hooks. They all seemed to find their mark during the short litmus test of a fight.
“I was hoping to knock him out,” Ruediger said after the fight. “I made some really bad errors with my stand-up and I’m kicking myself in the head because of it now. My plan was to stand-up with him and trade. I still feel his stand-up is suspect.”
It hardly looked that way when the new champion forced Ruediger into the cage and unloaded five unanswered punches, punctuating the flurry by putting the Californian to the canvas. Well aware of an earlier bout in which Olaf Alfonso (Pictures) took a serious beating and was carried out of the cage on a stretcher, referee Josh Rosenthal jumped between the fighters just 36 seconds after the opening bell.
Stymied out of the gate by Franca’s looping rights and wilting pressure, Ruediger (9-2) protested the stoppage to Rosenthal, but later said he was at fault for putting the referee in position to make that call in the first place.
Replays showed the former champion was lucid as he fell to his hands and knees, but several hours after the fight none of that mattered.
“If I wouldn’t have put myself in a situation where the referee had to make a judgment call it wouldn’t have been an issue either way,” Ruediger graciously said. “In the end, it was my fault. I definitely wasn’t out. I definitely had composure. And I definitely felt like I was going to fight on.”
“He was out,” retorted Franca, now 11-5-0. “I saw his face. The referee, he did a good job.”
A mandatory rematch looms in August, but each man will be busy in the meantime. Despite the loss it appears Ruediger will fight an unnamed Japanese opponent on April 2 in PRIDE Bushido. Franca, meanwhile, said he’ll go after the AFC lightweight belt later that month against Nick Agallar (Pictures).
“It’s a learning experience,” said the deposed lightweight. “From my first fight I had nine more fights after that and I won them all. This is just another piece of adversity that I’ll fight through and make me stronger.”
Joining Ruediger on the wrong side of the ledger was WEC bantamweight champion Cole Escovedo (Pictures) (11-2), who like others at that weight had an almost impossible time slowing the buzz-sawing Urijah Faber (Pictures) (12-1).
In a bloody war largely dominated by the challenger, Escovedo made it through 10 minutes before his corner saw enough and called off the contest.
From the start the champion, whose reputation for finishing opponents with triangle chokes had begun to take a life of its own, was in troubled waters. Faber’s first punch of the fight, a haymaker of an overhand right that caught Escovedo on the jaw, dropped the Fresno, Calif.-based fighter to the canvas.
“I said ‘he’s not going to feel me out, he’s going to feel my overhand right.’ And that’s exactly what happened,” said Faber, who with the win added the WEC 145-pound belt to his King of the Cage title in the same division.
“I didn’t even see it. … As soon as I hit the ground I was just trying to compose myself,” Escovedo said.
As Escovedo searched for his faculties, Faber inexplicably relinquished dominant position in hopes of securing some sort of leg submission on the BJJ fighter. It was his only mistake and fortunately for him did not cost him the fight or title.
If nothing else, Faber’s leg-lock experiment allowed Escovedo room to regain some of the momentum he’d lost at the start. But soon enough the “California Kid” found himself in the guard, working well on the inside with heavy hands and punishing elbows.
Rising to stand on wobbly legs between rounds, Escovedo leaked blood from a cut positioned at the top of his forehead. With a noticeable mouse highlighting a cut under his right eye, Faber also wore the marks of a brutal opening period.
At the start of round two Faber connected (this time with a glancing blow) to the champion’s chin for a second time. Looking at home in Escovedo’s tricky guard, Faber began to carve up the “Apache Kid.” And what was once a trickle of blood turned into some sort of tomato-soup-in-a-blender explosion that filled the recesses of Escovedo’s face.
“You know that feeling you get when you take a shower and let the water go over your eyes? Everything gets blurry,” he said. “You can’t see, cause it’s just the water over your eyelids. Same thing. I knew it was blood, I was just concerned about getting it out of my eyes.”
“I’m glad they didn’t stop it and clean him off,” Faber said, “but they really could have.”
After another five minutes of brutal punishment, Escovedo could not manage to stand under his own power. And as his corner worked to prepare him for the final period, the champion slumped against the cage before taking a seat on the blood-soaked canvas.
“He did a good game plan,” Escovedo said of the powerful wrestler. “Our whole game plan was elbows. Make him pay for being on the ground. And just my game plan, I couldn’t enforce it.”
If his injuries heal in time Escovedo could meet Jens Pulver (Pictures) on April 29 in Atlantic City. But sitting in his locker room after the bout, the former champion wasn’t sure how tonight’s performance would impact his opportunity to fight on the International Fight League’s debut card.
Faber, meanwhile, is in line to defend his KOTC 145-pound title versus Charlie Valencia (Pictures) before the summer.
Hoping to establish himself as a top-10 fighter, Ruediger had a lot to think about as he walked to the cage in front of roughly 2,500 paying customers at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino.
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The answers came quickly.
Two Franca overhand rights stunned Ruediger to open the co-main
event, which aired live on HD Net. “My hands are so fast right
now,” said the new champion, who just days before the fight talked
to Sherdog.com about his renewed sense of focus.
Next to the darting Brazilian, Ruediger looked slow and uninspired. Uppercuts. Overhand rights. Hooks. They all seemed to find their mark during the short litmus test of a fight.
“I was hoping to knock him out,” Ruediger said after the fight. “I made some really bad errors with my stand-up and I’m kicking myself in the head because of it now. My plan was to stand-up with him and trade. I still feel his stand-up is suspect.”
It hardly looked that way when the new champion forced Ruediger into the cage and unloaded five unanswered punches, punctuating the flurry by putting the Californian to the canvas. Well aware of an earlier bout in which Olaf Alfonso (Pictures) took a serious beating and was carried out of the cage on a stretcher, referee Josh Rosenthal jumped between the fighters just 36 seconds after the opening bell.
Stymied out of the gate by Franca’s looping rights and wilting pressure, Ruediger (9-2) protested the stoppage to Rosenthal, but later said he was at fault for putting the referee in position to make that call in the first place.
Replays showed the former champion was lucid as he fell to his hands and knees, but several hours after the fight none of that mattered.
“If I wouldn’t have put myself in a situation where the referee had to make a judgment call it wouldn’t have been an issue either way,” Ruediger graciously said. “In the end, it was my fault. I definitely wasn’t out. I definitely had composure. And I definitely felt like I was going to fight on.”
“He was out,” retorted Franca, now 11-5-0. “I saw his face. The referee, he did a good job.”
A mandatory rematch looms in August, but each man will be busy in the meantime. Despite the loss it appears Ruediger will fight an unnamed Japanese opponent on April 2 in PRIDE Bushido. Franca, meanwhile, said he’ll go after the AFC lightweight belt later that month against Nick Agallar (Pictures).
“It’s a learning experience,” said the deposed lightweight. “From my first fight I had nine more fights after that and I won them all. This is just another piece of adversity that I’ll fight through and make me stronger.”
Joining Ruediger on the wrong side of the ledger was WEC bantamweight champion Cole Escovedo (Pictures) (11-2), who like others at that weight had an almost impossible time slowing the buzz-sawing Urijah Faber (Pictures) (12-1).
In a bloody war largely dominated by the challenger, Escovedo made it through 10 minutes before his corner saw enough and called off the contest.
From the start the champion, whose reputation for finishing opponents with triangle chokes had begun to take a life of its own, was in troubled waters. Faber’s first punch of the fight, a haymaker of an overhand right that caught Escovedo on the jaw, dropped the Fresno, Calif.-based fighter to the canvas.
“I said ‘he’s not going to feel me out, he’s going to feel my overhand right.’ And that’s exactly what happened,” said Faber, who with the win added the WEC 145-pound belt to his King of the Cage title in the same division.
“I didn’t even see it. … As soon as I hit the ground I was just trying to compose myself,” Escovedo said.
As Escovedo searched for his faculties, Faber inexplicably relinquished dominant position in hopes of securing some sort of leg submission on the BJJ fighter. It was his only mistake and fortunately for him did not cost him the fight or title.
If nothing else, Faber’s leg-lock experiment allowed Escovedo room to regain some of the momentum he’d lost at the start. But soon enough the “California Kid” found himself in the guard, working well on the inside with heavy hands and punishing elbows.
Rising to stand on wobbly legs between rounds, Escovedo leaked blood from a cut positioned at the top of his forehead. With a noticeable mouse highlighting a cut under his right eye, Faber also wore the marks of a brutal opening period.
At the start of round two Faber connected (this time with a glancing blow) to the champion’s chin for a second time. Looking at home in Escovedo’s tricky guard, Faber began to carve up the “Apache Kid.” And what was once a trickle of blood turned into some sort of tomato-soup-in-a-blender explosion that filled the recesses of Escovedo’s face.
“You know that feeling you get when you take a shower and let the water go over your eyes? Everything gets blurry,” he said. “You can’t see, cause it’s just the water over your eyelids. Same thing. I knew it was blood, I was just concerned about getting it out of my eyes.”
“I’m glad they didn’t stop it and clean him off,” Faber said, “but they really could have.”
After another five minutes of brutal punishment, Escovedo could not manage to stand under his own power. And as his corner worked to prepare him for the final period, the champion slumped against the cage before taking a seat on the blood-soaked canvas.
“He did a good game plan,” Escovedo said of the powerful wrestler. “Our whole game plan was elbows. Make him pay for being on the ground. And just my game plan, I couldn’t enforce it.”
If his injuries heal in time Escovedo could meet Jens Pulver (Pictures) on April 29 in Atlantic City. But sitting in his locker room after the bout, the former champion wasn’t sure how tonight’s performance would impact his opportunity to fight on the International Fight League’s debut card.
Faber, meanwhile, is in line to defend his KOTC 145-pound title versus Charlie Valencia (Pictures) before the summer.
