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WEC 44 took place earlier this evening at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was broadcast live on Versus.

In the night’s main event, Mike Brown put his WEC Featherweight Championship up for grabs against Jose Aldo.

Manny Gamburyan looked to establish himself as a featherweight contender against hard-hitting Leonard Garcia.

“Razor” Rob McCullough and Karen Darabedyan met in a lightweight match-up.

Danny Castillo took on Shane Roller in a lightweight contest.

Results and thoughts after the jump.

Results

• Jose Aldo defeats Mike Brown via TKO (Strikes) in Round Two
• Manny Gamburyan defeats Leonard Garcia via Unanimous Decision
• Karen Darabedyan defeats Rob McCullough via Split Decision
• Shane Roller defeats Danny Castillo via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) in Round Three
• Kamal Shalorus defeats Will Kerr via TKO (Strikes) in Round One
• L.C. Davis defeats Diego Nunes via Unanimous Decision
• Cub Swanson defeats John Franchi via Submission (Guillotine Choke) in Round Three
• Ricardo Lamas defeats James Krause via Unanimous Decision
• Frank Gomez defeats Seth Dikun via Unanimous Decision
• Antonio Banuelos defeats Kenji Osawa via Unanimous Decision

Thoughts

Danny Castillo vs. Shane Roller: Pretty good scrap between Castillo and Roller. Castillo seemed to have the fight under control except for the two times he gave up his back to Roller. The first time he was able to escape. The second he wasn’t so lucky. Roller sunk in the RNC and got the tap.

Karen Darabedyan vs. Rob McCullough: Darabedyan started off strong. He was very calm and relaxed in the first, and was picking McCullough apart on the feet. Halfway through the second the momentum started the swing though. McCullough opened up a cut on Darabedyan and finally started landing shots himself. It turned out to be pretty close, but two of the judges thought Darabedyan did enough to earn the decision.

Manny Gamburyan vs. Leonard Garcia: Leonard Garcia needed to keep this one on his feet to win it, but Manny Gamburyan had other ideas. Gaburyan was relentless with his takedowns in the second and third suffocating Garcia. Garcia got so frustrated at one point in the third he tried drawing Gamburyan in with the classic hands down, chin out “give me your best shot” taunt. It didn’t work. Garcia swung wildly and Manny took him down and rode it out from there to earn the decision. It wasn’t the type of fight that’s going to put him in the title picture, but he got the win.

Mike Brown vs. Jose Aldo: It became clear pretty early on that Mike Brown wasn’t going to win a striking battle with Jose Aldo. Mike Brown’s problem was he couldn’t take Aldo down when he got in trouble. Aldo’s takedown defense was excellent leaving Brown with limited weapons to win the fight. Funny enough, Aldo didn’t win the fight on the feet though. He managed to get Brown down, got mount and Brown gave up his back. Aldo flattened him out and unleashed a barrage of strikes forcing Mazzagatti to stop it. With the type of performances Aldo has turned in, it’s not hard to imagine him holding onto the featherweight title for a long time.

Bonuses $10,000

Submission of the Night: Shane Roller
Knockout of the Night: Jose Aldo
Fight of the Night: Cub Swanson & John Franchi

Bonus info via MMA Junkie