Wagnney Fabiano Signs With WEC

by Michaelthebox on Aug 22, 2008 6:03 PM EDT Comment 22 comments

Fronted by Chris Nelson

The next IFL chip has fallen, and in this case it is IFL Featherweight Champion Wagnney Fabiano to the WEC, according to Brazilian website Tatame:

Considered one of the best lightweight fighters of the world, the IFL champion Wagnney Fabiano signed with WEC, to fight in bantamweight division.

. . .

"Faber is the best of the world now. To beat him, I think you have to be in a good shape. He’s an expert fighter and he has a good gas, it’s complicated to beat a guy like him. You have to set a good game plan and be calm and watch the elbows, because if you hits you can chane a whole fight", said the Nova União athlete

While the WEC will need a fight or two to introduce Wagnney to their audience, a Faber/Fabiano fight would be yet another quality matchup for Faber, which is one of the keys to increasing the WEC's exposure. Competitive matchups involving Faber and Torres are catnip to hardcore fans and provide incredible excitement to the casuals.

Over the past year, the WEC has done a fantastic job aggregating the top featherweight and bantamweight talent. When the WEC middleweight and light heavyweight divisions move over to the UFC and free up more room on the WEC cards, the WEC may be able to develop the same level of dominance in the featherweight and bantamweight divisions that the UFC has achieved in the welterweight and light heavyweight divisions. Shooto is WEC's primary competition at featherweight and bantamweight, with a similar level of talent in the two divisions. None of the major organizations competing with Zuffa have featherweight or bantamweight divisions of note.

If Faber and Torres can take the WEC to the next level, the WEC may be able to afford payouts to challenge the advantages Shooto fighters receive by staying in Japan. One wonders though, even if they could, would the WEC want to fill up their divisions with so many Japanese fighters?

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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It's true, Faber does have a good gas

by Blackout612 on Aug 22, 2008 10:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

NICE !

Wow I am gald to hear this I was hoping thats where he would end up. In my eyes he is one of the top if not the top fighter to come out of the Death of the IFL. REal great addition to the WEC. I also think in the near future we will be see alot more fighters from Shooto and Deep coming over to the WEC ?

by Shocbomb on Aug 22, 2008 11:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

One can only hope.

by Blackout612 on Aug 23, 2008 12:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

A plane ticket from Japan to America is about $2,000. A japanese fighter would not get paid very much since it is hard to promote foreign talent in America.

by Hookem325 on Aug 23, 2008 12:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good news.

by Popetastic on Aug 23, 2008 12:51 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

WOOOT!

Score! Very exciting news.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 23, 2008 1:07 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Say hello to your new WEC Featherweight Champion

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Aug 23, 2008 1:39 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn’t go that far. Not yet, anyway.

by Popetastic on Aug 23, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Guarantee you he beats Faber when (or if) they fight

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Aug 23, 2008 10:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That’s pretty wild.

by Blackout612 on Aug 23, 2008 11:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why? The competition in IFL wasn’t exactly stellar. Honestly, who has he beat that makes you think that? Their one common opponent was handily beaten by Faber, while Wagney was dealt a decision loss.

Faber is seemingly unstoppable right now. If Fabiano is the guy to unseat him, it won’t be any time soon. Honestly, Urijah is the younger guy and constantly improving. I love this signing, but to “guarantee” victory for Fabiano doesn’t make sense to me.

by Popetastic on Aug 24, 2008 9:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I could understand calling an upset or something

But a guaranteed victory is pretty strong. Too strong, even. Faber is dominant. Besides, Brown is a better opponent than Fabiano. If Faber beats him up, I’d say Fabiano stands little to no chance.

by Blackout612 on Aug 24, 2008 3:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lol. Brown is better than Fabiano? Be real.

And please don’t use MMAth. I have a feeling you’re going to say Brown > Curran > Fabiano. Quite simply, that’s wrong.

And the competition wasn’t stellar in the IFL, but it’s not like Fabiano eeked out decisions. He was finishing everyone and only one guy made it past the first round.

And that decision loss to Curran was bogus. Anyone who has seen that fight knows it was. Fabiano won that fight but Curran was given the victory for no reason at all. He did nothing to win.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Aug 25, 2008 4:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Meanwhile, Faber made short work of Curran, and has beaten MUCH better competition than Fabiano.

by Popetastic on Aug 25, 2008 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lol. Wow!

Apparently, no one can get better over two year’s time. If Fabiano and Curran fought now, Fabiano would abuse him.

Hell, he beat Curran the first time around but got screwed. I’ve seen the fight and posted how he got screwed when I made his Wikipedia page. You can read it there.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Aug 25, 2008 7:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m not doubting that. But Faber has done a lot more than Fabiano. There is nothing that Fabiano has done yet to warrant a “guarantee.” What happens if Faber wins? What is your guarantee worth? Nothing. Go ahead and say you feel like Fabiano will win, but guarantees sound foolish.

by Popetastic on Aug 26, 2008 1:15 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm sure people tell Joe Namath that every day

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Aug 26, 2008 6:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Exception, meet Rule.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Aug 27, 2008 12:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That’s a pretty lame defense. Nobody can truly guarantee victory. Look up the definition of the word. You can guarantee a Craftsman tool because if it breaks, Sears will replace it. You cannot guarantee victory. Winning does prove the validity of a guarantee.

by Popetastic on Aug 27, 2008 12:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If said person guarantees a victory

… and victory comes true, does said person not prove that you can guarantee a victory at least at a sufficient enough rate to disprove the notion that you could not?

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Aug 27, 2008 6:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nope.

The fact that you have nothing to do with the fight is almost immaterial. But it doesn’t help your case.

Even a fighter can’t guarantee victory. Because they can always lose via the hundreds of unforeseen factors that sometimes come up in any competition. If Wagney Fabiano has the best training camp of his career and comes into the fight with the perfect gameplan and even somehow manages to dominate Faber for three straight rounds—then catches a glancing punch that opens a nasty gushing cut that causes him a TKO loss… I guess that guarantee was worthless. That’s the point. Something as intangible as “winning a fight” cannot be guaranteed.

by Popetastic on Aug 30, 2008 8:27 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lol. Brown is better than Fabiano? Be real.

And please don’t use MMAth. I have a feeling you’re going to say Brown > Curran > Fabiano. Quite simply, that’s wrong.

And the competition wasn’t stellar in the IFL, but it’s not like Fabiano eeked out decisions. He was finishing everyone and only one guy made it past the first round.

And that decision loss to Curran was bogus. Anyone who has seen that fight knows it was. Fabiano won that fight but Curran was given the victory for no reason at all. He did nothing to win.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Aug 25, 2008 4:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs