Aldo wins title and an additional 10k bonus
As if the euphoria from climbing to the top of the featherweight mountain wasn't enough, Jose Aldo Jr. also got Knockout of the Night and a $10,000 bonus. Technically Aldo's finish of Mike Brown was a TKO via strikes as the Brazilian flattened out the American Top Teamer and forced the stoppage from referee Steve Mazzagatti.
Cub Swanson, who broke his left hand and fractured his right index finger, got Fight of the Night along with his opponent John Franchi. Shane Roller got Submission of the Night for his rear-naked choke finish of Danny Castillo. All four award winners got $10,000. One other injury note included Diego Nunes, a loser against L.C. Davis., who was transported to a local hospital with what was described as an orbital injury.
There were plenty of good fights that could've nabbed awards. The Roller-Castillo fight was definitely in the running for Fight of the Night. But the fight that really got short-changed in that department was Karen Darabedyan versus Rob McCullough. That was one of the hardest hitting stand-up fights of 2009.
On the betting front, favorites were 5-2.
Aldo and Manny Gamburyan cashed in pick'em situtations. The only two underdogs to win were Roller (+115) and L.C. Davis (+140). Cagewriter called the two wrestlers the best values on the board in the prefight. On the flip side, we also called for Brown to beat Aldo and that certainly did not happen.
WEC 44 winners (in bold) with odds:
Mike Brown (-110) v. Jose Aldo (-110)
Leonard Garcia (-115) v. Manny Gamburyan (-115)
Rob McCullough v. Karen Darabedyan - Not booked
Danny Castillo (-145) vs. Shane Roller (+115)
Will Kerr (+150) v. Kamal Shalorus (-180)
L.C. Davis (+140) v. Diego Nunes (-170)
John Franchi (+230) v. Cub Swanson (-280)
Antonio Banuelos (-210) v. Kenji Osawa (+170)
Ricardo Lamas (-230) v. James Krause (+180)
Frank Gomez (-160) v. Seth Dikun (+130)
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