Recently in WEC Category

Thanks to sherdog.com for the photo.

To see the video, click here.

sherdog.com has the call:
Ricardo Lamas vs. James Krause
Round 1
The lightweights touch gloves and are on their way. They circle cautiously. Nice low kick by Lamas. Krause returns fire with a right head kick, but he misses. They trade low kicks and then Krause rifles a stinging right kick to the ribs, but Lamas catches the leg and shoves him down. Krause delivers a glancing up kick to Lamas' fight on the way down. Krause scrambles up to his feet and Lamas forces him into the fence. Krause fails at pulling guard and Lamas just shoves him down. He lands two hard right hands and Krause scrambles up. They trade leather and Krause imposes his size onto Lamas and takes him down. Lamas, unfazed, scrambles right up and reverses Krause into the cage. Krause reverses. They clinch along the cage. They scramble again and Lamas scores a takedown and quickly seizes his back. He misses a rear-naked choke, and when Krause tries to escape, Lamas rolls him over and scores the mount. Krause bucks him and scrambles, but Lamas is on him like stucco. Lamas quickly seizes the back again. He can't sink the rear naked and backs off. He kicks at the legs of the downed Krause and dives in with a right hand at the horn. 10-9 Lamas.

Some last-minute hype for Brown vs. Aldo. Can't wait for this one.

Ricardo Lamas vs. James Krause

Here's a blurb from MMAMelee on Virginia native James Krause, who fights tonight at WEC 44:
MMA Melee sat down with an incredible talent James Krause to congratulate him on his success and see what's next for this rising WEC star.

James born New Port News, VA is fighting out of Team Grindhouse MMA in Lees Summitt, MO. Krause is a highly experienced mixed martial artist with an intimidating 30 fights under his belt, 28 victories 90% of them coming by way of submission. Before professional bouts were sanctioned in Missouri, he collected a near perfect amatuer record of 18-1, sometimes fighting twice a night! As a professional he carries an un-believable 10-1 record, his only loss was against top contender Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. Next he will step into the cage against All-American wrestler Ricardo "The Bully" Lamas on a stacked WEC 44 card November 18th, so we asked him a little about his world class stardom.

Click here to read the interview.

Mike Brown defends his WEC featherweight title against Jose Aldo tomorrow (Wed.) on Versus. Event starts at 9 p.m. EST.

From DREAM, to WEC, to UFC, this one's got it all.

A show of camaraderie between Donald "Cowboy" Cerroen and Ben "Smooth" Henderson. Tomorrow, they fight for the interim WEC lightweight title. Two Pennsylvania fighters, Jim Hettes and Derek Leyrer, helped Cerrone prepare for the fight.

I've been posting blogs by two PA fighters, Derek Leyrer and Jim Hettes, originally posted on MMAMelee, a great MMA social networking site. Leyrer and Hettes spent about a month training Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. Here's a little teaser video of what's in store on Saturday.

I've been posting blogs written by two Pa. fighters, Derek Leyrer and Jim Hettes - originally posted on MMA social networking site mmamelee - as they help Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone prepare for his upcoming fight with Ben Henderson for the WEC interim lightweight championship.

I just found out the Cowboy is posting vlogs on his training, so here is the most recent one. For all the videos, check out the Cowboy's Youtube channel.

Two PA boys, Jim Hettes from Gracie NEPA in Scranton and Derek Leyrer of the Fight Firm and Balance Studios in Philadelphia are helping Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone prepare for his upcoming WEC fight against Ben Henderson for the interim lightweight championship on Oct. 10. here is their blog on MMA Melee:

Everyone from the Tapout house just got back from our Amarillo road trip over the weekend. Friday we started the trip after meeting up with Skyskrape and Punkass on the tapout bus. The trip was about four hours which wasn't bad cuz cerrone and garcia's bus is pimped out with flat screens, xboxs and what not.

Saturday we woke up and went to the signing right away. It was cool being a part of their entourage watching people's reactions, cool to think of what could be one day. After the signing Saturday afternoon we all headed over to this gym in Amarillo and got it in before we headed to the fights. Funny part of the weekend was the bet between Bobby and Kris over the Michigan, Notre Dame game.. loser drank the six J aka Diesel Full (jimbean, jameson jose, jack, johnny walker, jeager) he was fucked up.

The fights were good there were a bunch of first round knock outs Don Frye got beat the first round... then we headed over to the midnight rodeo and got wrecked everybody was letting loose they had some crazy drink called kryptonite, it got u cross eyed. Sunday we were up again at another signing and back on the road as soon as we were done. All and all it was a great experience a lot of fun and its cool to see how Cowboy and Garcia live but it's good to be back at the house getting ready to train.

------ JHET's Mini Blog

A couple things that derek doesnt tell u guys. First off the funniest part of the weekend was when a couple of people went up to him and thought he was Sean Sherk and asked for an autograph. The fights were great, really good action and after that we went to a badass Honky Tonk bar called the Midnight Rodeo ( o ya its as badass as it sounds). You gotta see Kris McCray cut a rug, all I'm sayin is if fighting doesn't work out for him ( which it will) he has a mean career in professional dancing. His stanky leg is damn near perfected. Overall another great time, Cowboy, Leonard, Punkass and Skrape all walkin throughout the mall with us and made us feel like celebrities. Good to b back, got my ear drained today (Cowboy is a technician with that ) and back to another great week of training.

."
Looks like Gracie NEPA's Jim "Kid Havoc" Hettes is out there too, according to Leyrer's MMAMelee entries.

"weve been hitting it hard for the past couple days, practicing twice a day for a couple of hours each.. its not so much the time but the level of guys we are all training with and sparring against that just wears u out. im looking forward to a break on the weekend just hanging out. still as tired as i am i love the training here everyone at the gym is extremely respectful there is a lot of good character. tonight cerrone and garcia are coming back to town and i think we are going to a signing session with them later.. another first of many experiences ive had out here. i cant say enough how grateful i am to MMAmelee.com for giving me this opportunity

Leyrer's blog entry for 9/8 from mmamelee.com:
"so today we got two practices in one at greg jacksons gym in the morning and one at albuquerque kickboxing in the afternoon. at greg jacksons we went over footwork most defensive movent and finished off with some rolling. greg jackson himself taught the class and in general he seemed like a really friendly guy. there wre people from all over florida, cali, philly.. etc.. u name it so there is a lot of different talent and technique going through the gym. anyway after that we stopped in at some mexican foodmart which had badass ricemilk.. its funny to see how these guys eat i thought they would all be really rigid with their diet but the really eat whatever they want.. cowboy is impressively over 6 feet tall and weighs 162 at the moment and on top of that still rolls like a beast. most of the rest afternoon was spent relaxing and dicking around on the computer maybe some video games until we headed over to ABQ kickboxing for some for rolling and sparring. it was another great training session we all rolled until we couldnt anymore due to cramps i myself have dropped back down from 187 to 180 since i arrived. the rest of the night got crazy with cauliflower ear abuse, Halo 3 throw downs and mystery drinks (pickle juice, vodka, hot sauces, pepper and i dont know what else) we ended up staying awake till 3ish.. good times."

I was checking out MMA Melee, an MMA social networking site, (originating out of PA, but open to anyone, I'm sure) when I came across some blogs by a guy named Derek Leyrer.

Leyrer, it seems, is helping Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone prepare for his upcoming WEC fight against Ben Henderson for the interim lightweight championship on Oct. 10.

Here's Leyrer's blog from 9/7:
"So it's 11:57pm Saturday in Albuquerque and our second day with Donald Cerrone and his crew. we had a pretty easy day today we slept in later after a late night out with the cowboy. around 5pm we headed over to Albuquerque Kickboxing and rolled some bjj with all the guys. long story short everyone is a great match and there are a lot of hammers here.. im looking forward to some great training.. my last match i rolled with the cowboy and enjoyed the tough roll getting armbarred wasnt too bad either. after an hour and half training session we came back to the house cleaned up and rolled to the movies in the cowboy/tapout bus.. watched gamer (whatever) now we are winding it down and getting ready for tomorrow."

Brian Bowles is the new WEC bantamweight champion after his destruction fo former champ Miguel Torres. Another WEC under-the-radar moment. This fight happened Sunday night, while I was still reeling from UFC 101.

Ouch. It happened somewhere in the fight, which ended with a 5-round unanimous decision for Brown, who retained the WEC featherweight title he took from Faber.

Thanks to mmajunkie.com:
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Mike Brown def. Urijah Faber via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)
Jose Also def. Cub Swanson via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 0:08
Donald Cerrone def. James Krause via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 4:38
Josh Grispi def. Jens Pulver via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 0:33

OFFICIAL PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS

Manny Gamburyan def. John Franchi via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Rafael Rebello def. Kyle Dietz via submission (rear-naked choke) Round 1, 2:55
Anthony Pettis def. Mike Campbell via submission (triangle choke) - Round 1, 1:49
Antonio Banuelos def. Scott Jorgensen via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Frank Gomez def. Noah Thomas via submission (arm-triangle choke) - Round 2, 3:12
Seth Dikun def. Rolando Perez via submission (triangle choke) - Round 1, 2:30

Urijah Faber does 50 million interviews and squeezes in time for a bagel and a workout while getting ready for Sunday's WEC featherweight title fight.

DW talks to Wanderlei, Rampage, Rashad, Gray Maynard and Tyson Griffin about the upcoming Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown featherweight title fight at this weekend's WEC 41.

With Mike Brown and Urijah Faber going at it again this Sunday, June 7, for the WEC featherweight title, Dana White lends his vlogging prowess to promoting the card.

I can't wait for this one - will Brown be able to do it again, and prove the first time he beat Faber wasn't a fluke, or has the loss to Brown given Faber that hunger to take his game up a notch to win back the WEC featherweight title? See it on June 7 on Versus.

By Brian Knapp, sherdog.com

For once, Miguel Torres needed all five rounds.

Fighting just 18 miles from his hometown, the revered World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion passed a stern test from Takeya Mizugaki in a unanimous decision victory at WEC 40 on Sunday at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Scores were 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47.

The 28-year-old Torres has rattled off an astounding 17 consecutive wins, but he was taken the distance for the first time in nearly four years by the hard-nosed Japanese newcomer. Takeya's stock soared in defeat.

"He came out and banged. He stood there the whole time," Torres said. "No one has ever taken me that far in my career. I have a lot of respect for him."

Miguel Torres, bantamweight champ, defends against Takeya Mizugaki tomorrow night in Chicago. See it live on Versus at 9 p.m.

Live on Versus at 9 p.m. The only big change is that Condit-Larson is not on the card because the UFC folded the WEC's welterweight division into the UFC.

Main Event, for the featherweight title: Mike Brown vs. Leonard Garcia
Bart Palaszewski vs. Ricardo Lamas
Jose Aldo vs. Chris Mickle
Rob McCulloug vs. Marcus Hicks
Danny Castillo vs. Phil Cardella
Marcos Galvao vs. Damacio Page
Johny Hendricks vs. Alex Serdyukov
Kenji Osawa vs. Rafael Rebello
Alex Karalexis vs. Greg McIntyre
Mike Budnik vs. John Franchi
Justin Haskins vs. Mike Pierce

Jon Anik and Co. preview WEC 39 in this episode.

from mmaweekly.com
World Extreme Cagefighting on Tuesday announced that it would add a flyweight division to the WEC championship divisions, confirming original reports by MMAWeeklky.com. The organization will no longer actively promote the welterweight division, instead continuing its focus on the lighter weight classes including lightweight (155 pounds), featherweight (145 pounds), bantamweight (135 pounds), and flyweight (125 pounds).

Carlos Condit, reigning champion of the WEC welterweight division, and Brock Larson, as well as other top 170-pound WEC fighters, will transition to the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization to continue their athletic careers as UFC welterweight fighters.

Condit's UFC debut was officially announced on Tuesday. He will face UFC veteran Martin Kampmann at UFC Fight Night 18 on April 1 in Nashville, Tenn. Larson's return to the UFC has yet to be announced, but it is believed he will face Jesse Sanders at the Nashville event.

"With the addition of the flyweight division, the WEC has cemented its status as the home of the greatest lighter weight fighters in the world," said Peter Dropick, WEC Vice President of Operations and Production. "We are excited to launch the 125-pound championship division, and look forward to giving our fans the best and most action-packed flyweight fights in the sport."

More information about the WEC flyweight division will be announced at a later date.

Jon Anik and Co. preview Day of Reckoning and WEC 38.

thanks to mmaweekly.com:
Proving once again why he is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, Miguel Angel Torres finished top contender Manny Tapia by TKO in the second round of their bantamweight title match on Wednesday night in Las Vegas.

Early in the championship fight at WEC 37, Torres showed his versatility by using a nine-inch reach advantage over his opponent, landing jab after jab that Tapia struggled to deal with.

While Tapia was able to land a few solid body punches throughout the first round, it was Torres who seemed as if he was toying with his opponent hitting jabs and combinations that kept him off balance all night.

Before the fight ever started, Torres had commented that he felt he'd be more than comfortable on the feet with Tapia. He showed his dominance during the fight as well.

Manny Tapia, right, will try to take Miguel Torres' bantamweight championship. The action starts Wednesday at 8 p.m.

thanks to mmaweekly.com:
LAS VEGAS - The fighters for Wednesday night's WEC 37 weighed in on Tuesday at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. With all the fighters making weight, the 10-bout fight card is now official.

With a more finely tuned focus on the lighter weight classes, Wednesday's telecast on Versus is slated to feature three bantamweight bouts and one featherweight contest. As always, other bouts may be slotted in if time permits.

Headlining the event is bantamweight king and No. 1 ranked Miguel Torres defending his title against No. 7 ranked 135-pounder Manny Tapia. Both are well versed on the ground, but also like to stand and trade blows. This fight should provide fireworks no matter where it ends up.

Brian Bowles (No. 3 ranked) will face Will Ribeiro (No. 8 ranked) and Joseph Benavidez fights Danny Martinez in a pair of supporting bantamweight bouts that are likely to determine more contenders.

Also on the main card is No. 3 ranked featherweight Akitoshi Tamura, who makes his WEC debut in a battle with No. 9 ranked Wagnney Fabiano.

The main card is scheduled to air live on versus beginning at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.

Main Card Bouts:

Main Event- WEC Bantamweight Championship
-Miguel Torres (134 lbs.) vs. Manny Tapia (134 lbs.)

-Brian Bowles (135) vs. Will Ribeiro (136)
-Akitoshi Tamura (145) vs. Wagnney Fabiano (146)
-Joseph Benavidez (135) vs. Danny Martinez (136)

Preliminary Bouts:
-Cub Swanson (145) vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (146)
-Johnny Hendricks (171) vs. Justin Haskins (169)
-Mark Munoz (205) vs. Ricardo Barros (205)
-Shane Roller (156) vs. Mike Budnik (155)
-Bart Palaszewski (155) vs. Alex Karalexis (156)
-Diego Nunes (146) vs. Cole Province (146)

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.

>
Sonnen

Filho

from mmajunkie.com:
Weigh-ins for "WEC 36: Faber vs. Brown" took place today at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., the same venue that hosts tomorrow's Versus-televised event.

The event, originally scheduled for Sept. 10 but postponed due to Hurricane Ike, features two title fights.

Urijah Faber defends his featherweight title against Mike Brown, and WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho meets Chael Sonnen in a rematch from their 2007 bout.

Two of the title-fight participants failed to make weight on the first attempt. Filho was an eyebrow-raising seven pounds over the 185-pound limit, and like featherweight challenger Brown (who was a half-pound over the 145-pound limit), will have two hours to cut the weight.

All right, so by now you've probably heard that Rashad Evans knocked out Chuck Liddell. Cold. With one punch. As much as I don't care for Evans' showboating, you have to respect his abilities.

The first question is where does this leave The Iceman? Fighters can come back from devastating knockout losses. Wanderlei Silva did it - he had back-to-back knockout losses, courtesy of Cro Cop and Hendo. Before the fight with Rashad, Chuck talked about making another run at the title, implying that it would be a great way to end his career, but he also talked about fighting for years to come - a little Randy Couture, anyone?

Maybe it's time to get a new trainer. I know Chuck considers John Hackleman family, but something might need to be fixed. Jerod Phillips, who owns Tap or Sleep fightwear, hit the proverbial nail on the head: They finally started figuring Chuck out. He throws looping punches, and he keeps his hands down low. Couture, in their first meeting, got inside and dirty boxed him, evading the looping, yet dangerous bombs that Chuck can unleash.

HOLLYWOOD, FLA. - World Extreme Cagefighting® (WEC) and The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino today announced that WEC: FABER vs. BROWN fight at the Hard Rock Live scheduled for Wednesday, September 10 has been POSTPONED due to the threat of Hurricane Ike to South Florida.

The fight has been rescheduled for November 5 at Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Tickets purchased for the September 10th date remain valid and will be honored .on the new date. Refunds for fans that are unable to attend the rescheduled date can be obtained at the point of purchase.

Teixeira

from mmaontap.com:
World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Glover Teixeira revealed that he has signed a deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in a recent interview with IntheGuard.tv. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed and the UFC has yet to officially confirm the signing.

Teixeira trains out of The Pit in San Luis Obispo, California along with trainer John Hackleman, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, WEC veteran Antonio Banuelos, and former K-1 kickboxer Scott Lighty.

"I signed a contract with the UFC so now my dreams will be coming true," Teixeira said during the interview. "I've had visa problems so that's why I'm here [in Brazil], but after we get this taken care of, I think that I'll be in the UFC for my next fight with the big boys."

Teixeira is widely known as the first fighter to defeat former PRIDE standout Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. He also has gone the distance with one-time "Ultimate Fighter" cast member Ed Herman and owns wins over Matt Horwich and Jorge Oliveira as well.

Teixeira bashes Sokoudjou

Ok, here's three fights that really impressed me so far this year. The biggest factor I look for is a battle that is evenly fought, where either guy could win it at any time, where it almost boils down to a battle of wills, who's gonna quit first, or who pulls something out of his butt and wins the fight:

-- Jonathan Goulet vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka at UFC 83

-- Carlos Condit vs. Hirmitsu Miura at WEC 35

-- Forrest Griffin vs. Quinton Jackson at UFC 86

and the latest addition:
-- Georges St-Pierre vs. Jon Fitch at UFC 87

Toward the end of the year, I might add a few more fights and more detailed descriptions of each one (maybe some video too).

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.

<
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.

powered by ODEO

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!

Nice!!! We got lightweight champ Jamie Varner vs. Marcus Hicks, lightheavyweight champ Brian Stann vs. Steve Cantwell and welterweight champ Carlos Condit vs. Hiromitsu Miura.