Good, bad and ugly of WEC 39, with Todd Harris in velvet
As usual, World Extreme Cagefighting put on a strong slate of fights on Versus on Sunday night. Mike Brown retained his championship belt, and most of the fights were interesting.
The good:
Jens Pulver as the color commentator -- Pulver was a refreshing surprise on the microphone. He seemed to know each fighter personally, and was comfortable sharing their strengths and weaknesses. He also had no problem with self-deprecation, narrating his own loss to Leonard Garcia, telling the viewing audience, "When he hits, it hurts. I promise ya."
A good mix of fights -- Not that Versus or the WEC had much control over this, but the televised card had two decisions, a knockout, a technical knockout and a submission. You can't get more balanced than that.
The bad:
"The competition is on!" -- Ring announcer Joe Martinez. For the most part, Martinez does a good job. He doesn't draw attention to himself over the fighters, like some other people, and he has a good handle on names of fighters from all over the world, but he needs a new line to start the show. "The competition is on" is clunky and weak.
A few Todd Harris lines -- Harris generally serves as a backdrop for the color commentator, and he does well in that role. However, he did let a few lines slip that have to be noted:
-- "He will want to take advantage of that advantage." -- Harris
-- "His family migrated to the United States." -- Harris. So, Palaszewski comes from a family of birds?
The ugly:
Todd Harris' jacket (pictured) -- My goodness, was he planning on announcing Masterpiece Theatre after the fights?
