That’s right kids. The sport that lives mainly via Pay Per View is coming to your TV Set this week if you have the Versus Network. Wednesday night at 8pm ET, WEC will broadcast live from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino and Hotel.
World Extreme Cagefighting, the UFC’s little brother since being bought up by Zuffa, concentrates more on the lighter weight classes that the UFC does not represent…hence it’s continued existence. They vowed not to make it a training ground for UFC fighters but that remains to be seen. The promotion does have several former UFC fighters under contract as well.
Two title bouts…
Featherweight Title Fight
Urijah Faber (21-1 MMA 6-0 WEC) vs. Mike Brown (19-4 MMA 1-0 WEC)
Faber is dominant in his weight class and does not look to be slowing down at all. His last fight was the biggest in the history of the WEC against former UFC Lightweight Champion, Jens Pulver, which ended in a Unanimous Decision victory for Faber. Before that fight, Faber’s opponents have not made it past the second round since Faber’s last loss, which was to Tyson Griffen in 2005.
After the Pulver fight the WEC runs into problems kinda like the UFC with finding opponants for Anderson Silva. Mike Brown has seen time in the UFC and Bodog Fight. He has run together seven straight wins (his last loss comes in 2005 as well) although this is only his second fight in the WEC. His last was a Unanimous Decision over Jeff Curan in June. Fighting out of American Top Team, Brown comes out of one of the best camps in the MMA business.
Middleweight Title Fight
Paulo Filho (16-0 MMA 2-0 WEC) vs. Chael Sonnen (20-9-1 MMA 3-0 WEC)
This is a rematch of a fight that ended in a submission…or not…in December of last year. In that fight Sonnen put up more of a fight than people expected and stunned Filho. In the second round an armbar ended the fight but Sonnen argued up and down that he id not tap out.
Paulo walked into the WEC from Pride with a title shot and left the cage with the belt after a TKO over Joe Doerksen. He has been called one of the more boring fighters because of his style on the ground (don’t tell Doerksen that). You cannot argue with a 16-0 record that goes back to the year 2000 though.
Sonnen is a Team Quest fighter who has notched another win since the last meeting. Before his loss to Filho last year, Sonnen’s win streak runs back to a loss to Jeremy Horn at UFC 60 in 2006. Wrestling is his strong suit but the last place he wants to be against Filho is on the ground.
Also making the TV card should be former UFC Lightweight Champion, Jens “Lil’ Evil” Pulver against Leonard Garcia and “Razor” Rob McCullough faces Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
