World Extreme Cagefighting 8:
"Halloween Fury 2"
Escovedo successfully defends 145 lb belt, Carter wins World Welterweight title
Text and photos by Keith Mills

Lemoore, CA -- It was a quick night at the Palace Casino with the total amount of time fighters spent fighting totaling about forty minutes for twelve MMA fights and one muay thai fight, and almost half of that time was Shonie Carter vs. JT Taylor. Eighty-three percent of the fights didn't see a second round while submissions outnumbered KOs and TKOs this time around. Even with the short show length most fans that commented were more than satisfied with the production quality while the excitement of the endings seemed more important than whether they were very close or long fights.
Shonie Carter slamming JT Taylor
Carter slamming Taylor

Mike Kyle beating on Jerry Vrbanovic
Kyle pummeling Vrbanovic
WEC took a huge chance with the final bout being a title fight at 145 lbs. between defending champion Cole Escovedo and former HOOKnSHOOT champion Anthony Hamlett. In round 1 Hamlett didn't seem to do much damage with his strikes while Escovedo was relentless in his pursuit of submission on the ground. Round 2 saw more standup action with Cole coming alive and Hamlett seeming to gas. Cole delivered a high right leg to Hamlett's head, which seemed to be the beginning of the end. With Hamlett seeming a little stunned Cole delivered a high left leg to the head which he follow up with a combination of punches that sent Hamlett down. Cole started striking Hamlett as the challenger covered up and started to tap as the ref stepped in. Official ending is TKO, not submission to strikes.

Shonie Carter also picked up the WEC World Welterweight title by defeating JT Taylor in a judges' decision. With Shonie landing unorthodox standup, but doing little damage while Taylor was crisper with his high kicks and straight jabs but didn't land as much. On the ground both fighters stalemated with Shonie unable to land serious strikes from the top while Taylor couldn't finish any of his submission attempts. In the end the judges' decision of 88-84 for Shonie seemed to be mainly due to Shonie's unstoppable takedowns.
John Cole beating on Anthony Hamlett
Cole beating on Hamlett
  • Richard Montoya def. Travis Stuart 0:38 R1 by submission (choke)
  • Jason Von Flue def. Chris Irvine 2:04 R1 by submission (choke)
  • Olaf Alfonso def. Randy Bowers 3:05 R1 by armbar
  • Ryan Schultz def. Hannibal Adofo 0:25 R1 by KO
  • Sean Liddell def. Chad Saunders 5:00 R1 by TKO (corner threw in towel)
  • Fernandez Gonzalez def. Mike Castillo 1:27 R1 by TKO
  • Poppies Martinez def. AJ Wieman 2:01 R1 by rear-naked choke
  • Chris Leben def. Brian Sleeman 3:15 R1 by armbar
  • Tom Owens def. Tony Alanis 1:49 R1 by armbar
  • Mike Kyle def. Jerry Vrbanovic 0:12 R1 by KO
  • Shonie Carter def. JT Taylor by judges' decision after three rounds (88-84)
  • Cole Escovedo def. Anthony Hamlett 1:30 R2 by TKO
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