Three reasons to care about WEC 51: Pace, Zombie, and Aldo!

WEC 51 in Broomfield, CO tonight should deliver far more excitement than than the lackluster UFC 119 show this past weekend in Indianpolis.  First off – I simply can’t remember a WEC show which didn’t bring the funk.  Not exactly sure why the lighter weights seem to offer a more consistent product, but they do.  Is it the speed of the fights, fighter endurance is better, more to prove with a lower pay scale …? Regardless, WEC 51 lines up to be another stellar card.

For obvious reasons, every MMA fan should make time to watch Jose Aldo live every chance possible … a no-brainer.  He is arguably the best pound for pound fighter on the planet.  However, the real hidden gems on the card are The Korean Zombie and newcomer Nick Pace.

Chan Sung Jung aka The Korean Zombie, has the most daring, go for broke style in the sport.  His debut to American MMA fans came at WEC 48 vs. Leonard Garcia in what may well be the fight of the year.  Both fighters simply abandoned any form of tactics except for constantly throwing bombs off both hands. While each man landed well and had moments in control, it was a non-stop give and take of ferocious punches which had the viewer feeling the next exchange could bring the end … but neither brawler broke and the battle went the diestance.  Three packed rounds of excitement, with a decision narrowly going to Garcia.

But, The Korean Zombie became a folk hero that night.  It was his relentless style of coming forward, never showing fear, and desire to fight only with his hands.  He took enourmous shots from Garcia, but kept coming, like some sort of a comic book superhero who could not be affected by punches from a mere mortal.  And, he never once looked for a takedown, which was refreshing, in this age of wrestling dominated MMA.

Will the “Zombie” bring the same brutal fight style tonight against George Roop?  Boy oh boy, I hope so!

Lastly, while TV viewers will not see Nick Pace fight on the undercard vs. Demetrious Johnson, he is what I call a leader of MMA 2.0.  A young gun who has trained all disciplines from day 1 in the sport.  You can watch his stunning, video game ish finish from his Bellator debut at this link.  Pace has been raised in the Tiger Schulman school of MMA along with teammate Lyman Good, which addresses all facets of MMA at the same time.  At 23, Pace was recently named Sensei of the Bay Ridge Brooklyn outlet for Tiger Schulman and splits his time between his students and personal training.

After his jaw dropping win in Bellator last year, he has won three in a row in the Ring of Combat – the top regional MMA organization in the Northeast – to bring his record to 5-0.  Pace is worth following due to his diverse skill set, mautre style for his age, and his raw talent which forcasts the potential for a huge upside. This is his first shot in the “big time” of the WEC, but if the Staten Island native makes good on his abundance of talent, we all will be hearing much more from Nick Pace very soon.

Why are you going to watch WEC 51 tonight?  Will Aldo KO Gamburyan?