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Chael Sonnen outpointed and outclassed Paulo Filho in their middleweight match-up on WEC 36: Faber vs. Brown, handing the previously undefeated Filho his first loss.

The win was probably a bittersweet one for Sonnen, as the fight was orginally scheduled for Filho's WEC middleweight title, but was reduced to a three-round non-title affair after Filho blew weight by seven pounds, and failed to lose enough on a second try.

Sonnen controlled the fight from start to finish, peppering Filho with jabs and straights, although he never really produced any snap-the-head-around shots.

Filho seemed uninterested in fighting, content to drop to the ground and flail at Sonnen's legs with weak kicks. Sonnen, for the most part, wisely stayed standing, not falling into the BJJ wizard's guard. Instead, he grabbed Filho's ankles and unleashed low kicks to his prone opponent's hamstrings, a la Kazushi Sakuraba.

Filho tried for a few submissions, but Sonnen defended well. Filho's shots seemed labored and his punches lazy and looping.

The fight ended with Sonnen boxing from the outside. As Zuffa is folding WEC's middleweight and light heavyweight divisions into the UFC, the two might meet again for a rubber match. What's unknown is if it will be for Filho's title, or if the title is now as defunct as the WEC middleweight division.

So Hurricane Ike forced the WEC to postponed their show in south Florida ... all the way to Nov. 5. Crap. Well, here's some videos in the meantime ..
Here are the top four fights:
Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown
Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen
Jens Pulver vs. Leonard Garcia
Rob McCullough vs. Donald Cerrone

Brown trains for Faber

Faber vs. Brown trailer

Ever wonder what goes through a fighter's mind before, during and after a fight? How about a championship fight? Jamie Varner, who recently - successfully - defended his WEC lightweight title, wrote a revealing blog for mmaweekly.com:

I wanted to come back and give you a recap of my final week before my first title defense and what it has been like since that fight.

In my last blog entry I was about a week out and walking around at about 170 pounds. I was just starting my cut to 155 pounds. That week I had to get my shorts and shirts finalized and make sure everything was set and all of my helpers knew where and when I might need them.

I arrived in Vegas with Trevor Lally on the Wednesday before the fight. Vegas was as hot and nasty as it has been in Phoenix this summer and the air felt thicker. As we arrived and got all checked into the hotel that was across the street from the Hard Rock Hotel, a lot of the WEC support staff and fighters were all arriving and getting checked in to the hotel. I found an LA Fitness that was nearby and I headed over to make sure they had what I needed to get the weight off.

Former The Ultimate Fighter competitor Blake Bowman does.

Steve Cantwell slugs Brian Stann.

I watched the WEC on Versus Sunday. The card was packed with talent and exciting fights. Light heavyweight champ Brian Stann lost to Steve Cantwell, who he had previously beaten by TKO. Does this immediately set up a rubber match, or will Stann have to scratch and claw his way back up tot he top, just as Cantwell did?

Jamie Varner kicks Marcus Hicks.

Jamie Varner thrashed Marcus "The Wrecking Ball" Hicks in his first defense of the WEC lightweight belt. Hicks came in as a solid competitor, undefeated, with good hands and a wicked guillotine. But Varner chopped right through him, slipping out of Hicks' signature choke and then using his superior boxing to get a TKO.

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Carlos Condit with the fight-winning knee on Hiromitsu Miura.

The Carlos Condit vs. Hiromitsu Miura fight for the welterweight belt was definitely an edge-of-your seat, nail-biter and contender for Fight of the Year. It was, all at once, a battle of indomitable spirit, technique and stamina. Miura, an accomplished judoka, threw Condit to the mat several times. The Japanese fighter also swept the rangy Condit numerous times, and each time unleashed a furious ground-and-pound. Condit, the chmapion, seemed to just stay ahead of Miura each round. Toward the end of the fourth, with both fighters spent, Condit launched a right knee from nowhere, with just enough behind it to knock Miura to the ground.

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We're back with a vengeance ... not really, just always wanted to say that. Anyway, Tom Joyce and I give you our opinions on the latest goings-on in the wild-and-wooly world of MMA. Enjoy, dammit!

Starts tomorrow night at 10 p.m. on Versus.