How there is no talk of him at 135? Set up Wagnney-faber ...
Fabiano isn't a top contender. The #1 contender is Scott Jorgensen who has won 5 straight against top competition and is 7-2 in the WEC. Fabiano hasn't beaten top competition at 135.
losing to a guy that is 1-2 in the WEC will knock you out of title contention for a little while.
1 more win over a quality dude like benavidez, bowles, pickett, etc should put him in line.
Fabiano was a beast coming in from the IFL, but it seems like hes been designated to the prelims for basically all of his WEC fights
he had that big upset loss to Semerzier, but he is still a top guy
Wagnney is 14-2, with super strong wrestling, heavy hands stand up and world class ground. He can beat anybody in the top 5 135. He comes from Nova Uniao the best lightweight team in the world.
Wagnney is capable of beating anybody at 135 and 145. His wrestling and ground is top notch and his stand-up is adequate enough. Unfortunately, he's become more of a position than submission guy like he was in the IFL and that's led to him being on prelim cards and of course that massive upset to Semerzier doesn't help either. He's a vet and getting up there in age and they should really be giving him bigger fights sooner rather than later. Fights against Torres, Benavidez or Bowles would make sense to me.
would love to see him on the main cards
While a promoter is stuck booking someone like Fitch on the main card because he keeps winning - Fabiano's loss to Semerzier was a huge gift for the WEC. Now they aren't stuck pushing a guy who bores the crowd to sleep.
Fabiano was a big-time finisher before he got to the WEC. Dunno what's happened to him, he hasn't looked great lately. Maybe he's just facing tougher competition.
Wagnney is 4-1 in WEC. If you watch his fights closely, you can see he has been in complete control and won every round of the fights he won. And against Mackens he got his early takedown fairly easily. Wagnney dominates and controls top competition. Wagnney is a solid top guy with great control no different then GSP. Problem is most of you un-educated fight fans think of this as boring. Guys like Gsp, Wagnney, Bernard Hopkins are DEFENSIVE genius's. How come in all other sports we glorify defensive standouts? ie Dennis Rodman nba, Guy Charboneau nhl, Ray Lewis nfl..but in the most dangerous sport..mma, we classify defensive guys as boring ?
cause he isn't fan friendly in terms of fighting style as of late. I mean outside of the Mackens loss when have we seen a Wagnney fight on tv?
I'd love to see him fight a top guy already at 135 though.
He's only won twice at bantamweight in the WEC. Scott Jorgensen has won 7 fights in the WEC at bantamweights. When Fabiano can pull that kind of record against the top competition that Jorgensen has beaten then he can make a claim for a title shot. Let's see how he does against the likes of Damacio Page, Brian Bowles, and Joseph Benavidez before we can talk about him getting a title shot.
I'm thinking Fabiano vs. Bowles is the fight to make right now.
It's really unfortunate how Fabiano's WEC run has turned out, despite carrying a solid 4-1 record. He came into the promotion with a lot of hype after a strong run in the IFL where he was finishing some credible, durable opposition such as LC Davis, Shad Lierly, and John Gunderson.
He then made a lackluster debut against Akitoshi Tamura, even though he did end up submitting him. That in turn lead to him being on prelims, mainly because he and teammate Jose Aldo agreed to not fight each other leading to the more exciting Aldo to get more prominent billing. His next fight being Fredson Paixao didn't help either as he is also very difficult to finish or simply look good against.
The loss to Mackens Semerzier couldn't have come at a worse time as Fabiano could have feasibly forced his way into a title shot as long as he kept winning, regardless if the fights were exciting or not. That and Aldo winning the 145lbs title, also lead to Fabiano's ill-advised drop to 135.
Yes, he is 2-0 against fairly good opposition, but he looks very drained and it seems to have impacted his abilities. However, he could make a realistic impact in the division as long as he given the opportunity to do so. Fights with the likes of Brian Bowles, Joseph Benavidez, Damacio Page, or Eddie Wineland would be steps in the right direction.