So, WEC is upon us now, and it is a great card with two huge title fights live from the Arco Arena on VERSUS. After EXC last night this is like dying and going to heaven. Join us on AIM @ FaberByHairProduct.

Dave Walsh and Alan Conceicao will be blogging live for your pleasure (or displeasure) tonight.

Rob McCullough vs Ken Alexander. Ken is the BLACK NINJA and Rob is kind of obnoxious. I feel great shame that my hair is close to Rob McCullough’s right now. McCullough comes out to a song that makes me cry, so I’m hoping he simply gets floored here.

R1 (Dave). Face off for the first 30 seconds with next to no contact and now the fans are booing like this is on CBS. Alexander shoots in, Rob sprawls then takes him down while Alexander has the hooks in him and is able to get to his feet. Both men exchanging on their feet now, both being pretty careful. Rob is working the leg kick much to the fans dismay. Coming up to the last minute of the first round and they finally start to just go at each other, ending up against the cage. Rob catches him with a nasty knee on their way to the ground much to the fans’ pleasure. I’d say R1 Razor Rob.

R1 (Alan). First round was pretty interesting but largely static. Alexander seems to think nothing but takedown or left high kick for offense. Thing is, he’s seeing the right hand of Razor drop, he just has no idea how to take advantage of it. Alexander was real lucky not to get KOed by a knee either.

R2 (Dave). Round 2 is playing out a hell of a lot like Round 1, with Razor Rob taunting Alexander for not engaging him as closely as he’d like. Well, it is probably better than you eating some leather or shins, right, Rob? Rob is a guy who likes to sit back and wait for somebody to bum rush him with his hands down, and apparently Alexander is hip to this game and is just mirroring Rob. Alexander almost eats a knee again in almost the same situation. Alexander scores a takedown at the end almost just for scoring purposes. Bleh.

R2 (Alan). Another round of largely the same. A couple things worth noting: Rosenthal decides the low blow wasn’t worth a 5 minute rest for Alexander for, well, no real reason, and misses what was an illegal knee attempt by McCullough. McCullough also looks like he panics when there’s a clinch. Lots of unnecessary motion.

R3 (Dave). Now we are in Round 3 and they are finally trying to hurt each other, oh wait, maybe they aren’t. The fans are really all over these guys now and it looks like they are fighting for a decision here. Yet another low blow, maybe he’ll get his 5 now? Mir is noting that McCullough really isn’t trying to win here. Yes, yes that seems to be what this is. Alexander with another takedown that goes nowhere and Mir just said, “Who cares?” This fight goes to a decision and absolutely nobody is happy.

R3 (Alan). Mir calls this a “sparring match” and when the in house announcer is speaking like that, its not a good sign. McCullough won every round on my card because he landed all the effective strikes, but nothing really hurt other than the low blows. It was pretty well shit on by the crowd too, and its somewhat deserved. That will be the last time you see Alexander on a show of this magnitude unless he fights on an untelevised EliteXC curtain jerker. Apparently some blind fool thought Alexander deserved a round. For what, I am not sure. Boooo-urns, says the crowd.

Chuck Grigsby vs Mark Munoz. Neither guy really excite me all that much, but apparently Matt Hollin saw Grigsby in a bar in Iowa at some point, so maybe there will be hope. Guys, Chuck Liddell and Anderson Silva are in the crowd, Stephan Bonnar is selling Zuffa hats and beer to the crowd, apparently. I doubt he’d get comped for this show.

R1 (Dave). Grigsby is tall with quite the reach advantage over the more compact Munoz. It should also be noted that Mazzagatti is reffing this, so one of these guys just might die tonight. At least nobody will be complaining about an early decision. Munoz gets him down, but Grigsby pulls guard with ease. Munoz with a leaping fist onto the downed Grigsby and doing his best to rain down on him while Grigsby has been able to push him away. Munoz just kept him down and kept jumping on him with fists until one conneccts and he just kept going until he was out. I guess beating up farmers in Iowa awaits Grigsby again?

R1 (Alan). Apparently Gomez can wrestle, and I’ve seen Grigsby’s record. I’m not expecting much here. Takedowns look like the big man’s kryptonite.

Called it, though it wasn’t tough to do. Grigsby threw a really nice uppercut but he was afraid to follow because he might be taken down. He was incredibly shook by the shot attempts, and once it was on the ground, he was in trouble. His BJJ was just nowhere near skilled enough to do anything about Gomez’s GnP, particularly the right hands as he passed guard.

Swing Bout: Donald Cerrone Vs. Danny Castillo

R1 (Alan). There is a website called “Jesus Didn’t Tap.com” that advertised for Cerrone. What, did his dad throw in the towel? HEY-O

Okay, so Cerrone and Castillo throw some weak strikes at each other, Castillo sorta takes down Cerrone but gets caugh with a really fast armbar. Not a bad job by Cerrone, but I’ve never seen either before so I have no idea what this really means.

R1 (Dave). Apparently, we’ve got some time. Where did “Somebody’s O must go?” start? It sounds like they are talking about man on man rape or something. Not the best way to express that somebody will be handed their first loss. BTW, Mazzagatti. We get both guys active and they are on the ground, with Cerrone working pretty hardcore from the bottom. Cerrone has an armbar it looks like and Castillo is done!

WEC Bantamweight Championship: Miguel Torres (C) vs Yoshiro Maeda

R1 (Dave). Maeda comes out to Sabotage, this will be tough to beat. This is moving quick and Miguel is livid already and throwing some hard blows. This might be Maeda’s gameplan of pissing Torres off to force him to get sloppy. Maeda had Torres down, but Torres was able to grab an arm and fight his way up. Maeda is using a ton of kicks here, some connecting and the ones that don’t still look great. Torres is a bit bloody now but both guys are putting their all into this. Both of these guys are giving it their all, and I could go for another 4 rounds of this. Maeda takes this round.

R1 (Alan). Good first round of action. Torres seems more active everywhere but Maeda does just enough to make you think that he took the round. Torres is clearly cut on the nose also. I go 10-9 Torres for activity and sub attempts, but it can go either way.

R2 (Dave). Second round starts off to a lot of the same, which in this case is amazing. These guys are creaming each other and they are respecting each other. This is a fight that would have been good to show to a national TV audience. We have dueling toe holds and they are kicking at each other and this is absolutely amazing. Ken Shamrock is shedding a tear somewhere and thinking that he can still go because these kids are going for leglocks. Torres goes for a triangle and Maeda slips out and the fans are finally showing some appreciation. Torres had a guillotine but gave it up for a mount, he has a bodylock and is elbowing the shoulders to end out the round. Wow. Torres takes this round. Amazing.

R2 (Alan). This fight is all sorts of great thus far. Action everywhere. Torres is just a perpetual motion machine in there. I give him round 2, again for activity. Looked to me like he might have gotten a cut above the eye due to one of the reverse elbows when he took Maeda’s back.

R3 (Dave). These guys have to be tired. Both are still landing shots and both men are looking like they are getting the crap beaten out of them. Maeda is starting to look tired now while Torres is tired but still has a lot left in him. Torres is still huffing away with the submission attempts on the ground while Maeda is missing strikes. Maeda has an eye swelling shut and Torres is starting to pick him apart on his feet. Round over, and this one goes to Torres.

R3 (Alan). Maeda has slowed enough now that Torres can establish the jab, and its nothing good in round 3 for Maeda. His eye is totally closed by the end of it, and he clearly can’t see or stop punches from coming. The fight should probably be stopped, and it is. Torres establishes without doubt that he’s the best 135 lb fighter campaigning at the weight.

WEC Featherweight Championship: Urijah Faber (C) vs Jens Pulver

R1 (Alan). Faber looked good here, but he’s too one dimensional. Its all standup, and its all just right hand leads from Faber. Pulver is gonna start timing those soon. 10-9 Faber though.

R1 (Dave). Thunderstruck and California Love, this fight already rules. Harris just said Faber has Bo Derek hair. Wow. Faber is RESPECTING the left hand of Pulver. These guys are going at it, and Faber has actually stunned Pulver with right hands, this is awesome. Faber slips and Pulver quickly gets on top of him, only to let him up. It looks like Jens just got poked in the eye, but he doesn’t want to stop. Faber’s stand up is really impressive and that was a great first round, with Faber edging out from Pulver.

R2 (Alan). Faber is beating up Pulver pretty bad. I’m not sure about Faber’s conditioning either, because he had Pulver going and went way off the gas. Pulver was pretty much dominated most of this round though and hurt badly throughout most of the last two minutes.

R2 (Dave). Faber starts the round off low blowing Pulver. Pulver won’t take much time and gets taken down by Faber. I think Faber is sick of throwing the right hand. It is back up to the stand up and Faber with a right and left combo, Pulver down! Faber is nailing him, Pulver has a leg and Faber uses the other knee to nail him. Pulver will not go down and Faber keeps coming at him! Great action. Pulver regains himself only to get taken down. Pulver going for a choke only for Urijah to stand up and get Pulver against the cage. Faber is tagging Pulver again, but Pulver’s jaw is immense. Faber is connecting a lot but cannot put Pulver down.

R3 (Alan). Faber continues the pressure. Pulver had an awesome body kick here that looked like it really hurt Faber, and he better go back to that in round 4. Big mouse on Pulver’s right eye. 30-27, Faber on my card.

R3 (Dave). Faber starts the round off with a german suplex on Pulver. Awesome. It is right back to the stand up and Pulver has an advantage now! Pulver with a great body kick and a few clean shots, but Faber comes back with a few amazing body kicks of his own, then goes for a takedown only for Pulver to end up on top. Pulver working the elbows, and Urijah now on top of Pulver and scoring some quick, awesome elbows. Ref stands them up just as Urijah nails another elbow, not popular with the Sacramento crowd. Faber really needs to keep his hands up, as his stance is just sort of hanging his arms and hanging his head. This round to Faber, but it was competitive.

R4 (Alan). With each round, Pulver’s offense grows more and more impotent. Here in round 4, it essentially disappears. The handspeed advantage Faber has translated into a brutally beaten up right eye for Pulver and eventually his gastank beginning to run dry. Faber got this to the ground and threw some elbows and punches, wearing down Pulver. 40-36, Faber.

R4 (Dave). I don’t think that anybody expected this to go to Round 4, but here we are. Both guys are scoring with the stand up, but Urijah a bit more. Beautiful takedown from Faber and his elbows from the guard are coming out again. Faber was stuck in Pulver’s guard through most of this round, but kept aggressive with the elbows, a few of them clearly hurting Pulver. We are going to R5.

R5(Alan). A repeat of Round 4, except with more standup. Faber was dominant in this fight, and yet Pulver was game enough to make it entertaining. Gotta worry about Pulver’s vision given the way he was favoring his eye, but I’m sure he’ll be fine. Clean sweep on my scorecard, 50-45 Faber.

R5 (Dave). R5 starts out with them scrambling against each other. Faber lands a nice knee deep into the round as we head into the last minute, a minute just about nobody thought they’d see in this fight. You really have to give Pulver credit for sticking this out. Faber knows that he has won at this point as he is on top of Pulver. Unanimous Decision for Faber.

OVERALL (Dave). This was a good show overall, Torres/Maeda is really a must see, and seeing Pulver take it right back to Faber was a sight to see. I was really pleased with this show, and while it wasn’t a surprise to see Torres or Faber win, both fights were extremely competitive and some of the best fights of the year so far. This is a show that should be caught by any fan anywhere.

OVERALL (Alan). I loved the show. I wish more prelims could be seen somehow, as I’d like to know Pequeno Noguiera got ruined and Mike Brown established being someone of value at 145, but what we got was generally pretty decent. Started off slow but picked way up. Only question: Where do Torres and Faber go from here? Is there really anyone for Faber?