Pictured: Dominick Cruz & Joseph Benavidez face off at the WEC 50 weigh ins yesterday. Photo by Tracy Lee of CombatLifestyle.com

Today’s bantamweight division is like a time warp ten years into the past. It’s a fantastic situation of utter chaos, much like the major weight classes were at the turn of the century, which, in my humble opinion, makes for riveting viewing. It’s top dog has already changed twice over the past twelve months, and you wouldn’t bet against it happening again tonight as champ Dominick Cruz (15-1) and Urijah Faber protoge Joseph Benavidez (12-1) go at it for the WEC strap in a rematch of a fight that took place just last year. It was the fight that secured Cruz his title shot, his perfect footwork and dizzying head movement taking him to an unanimous decision over a frustrated Benavidez, who could not work his grappling game at all as he liked. That particular duel is intriguing, but so is the top of the bantamweight division in general. Let’s try and unravel the twisted mass of the top five or so bantamweight fighters currently fighting in the WEC…

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World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Jose Aldo didn’t just emerge victorious in his first title defense Saturday night.  The unanimous decision against Urijah Faber at WEC “Aldo vs. Faber” at Arco Arena in Sacramento, California was a mixed martial arts master class to outline his greatness.

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Pictured: Dominick Cruz, who recorded the biggest win of his MMA career over Brian Bowles at WEC 47.

Last weekend’s WEC 47 promised the usual WEC formula, with their typical bouts of hyperactive fast action in the light weight classes.

And, it delivered — a quality event. Unable to watch it live due to living in the UK, over the last week I’ve been able to track down one fine WEC 47 bout after another.

Along the way, we appear to have reached turning points for the WEC: first, in the shakeup of the bantamweight division; second, my issues with the promotion’s coverage; and finally, something I’d call the “talent/charisma” crossroads…

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After weeks of idle speculation about fights that are or aren’t happening, we’ve all lost track of a grand weekend that we’re closing in on: Two huge fights in Philly plus perhaps the best bantams in the world going at it. Enough talk about Fedor, damnit; Let’s talk about fights. And these are good ones.

Obviously, there focus should be on the main event first and foremost of UFC 101: BJ Penn makes his first defense of his title in almost one year by fighting former challenger Kenny Florian. Florian’s made a name for himself rolling through much of the lightweight midcard and has now arrived (sans needing to avenge the Sherk defeat) at the door step to greatness. The problem is the gatekeeper: BJ Penn is still among the best pound for pound fighters alive. Period. While Florian has been able to overcome previous athletic fighters with his excellent technique, many are betting on Penn underestimating Florian following his loss at 170 to George St. Pierre and subsequent firestorm. Just don’t bet on a guy to lose due to another’s mental errors unless you’ve got nothing physical riding on it. While Florian could catch BJ early, he’s not really an elite striker and BJ is so far and above everyone at 155 on the mat, its barely worth discussing.

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Coming out of this weekend’s solid and entertaining WEC show, the big talk once again revolved around the company’s flagship Featherweight division.  Since gaining a higher profile through Versus and the Zuffa purchase, the Featherweights, and particularly former FW kingpin Urijah Faber, have been the focus of the company.  As a result, Faber has been the biggest ratings draw for the company – the first Faber v. Pulver fight last year drew a record 1.4 rating, while the rematch this January drew a 0.65 – a significant drop, but still the second highest rated Versus event in WEC history.  So it should be no surprise that at the end of the show the talk was not about up and comer Jose Aldo or even truly about new FW champ Mike Brown himself.  The talk was, once again, about Urijah Faber and his pending rematch with Brown.

While there has been some question if Faber deserves such a quick rematch, this is a move that perfectly captures WEC’s matchmaking style.  And it’s a style that their parent company could learn something from.

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It seems like just a couple days ago that I railed on the fact that Couture/Liddell IV will exist and be a #1 contender’s fight. Well, okay, it was. However, the madness with rematches hardly ended there. Sam Caplan broke the story yesterday that another rematch is forthcoming. The logic is there, I suppose. The first fight these guys had shattered all the WEC records for television audience and live gate. Of course, what’s happened since has hardly helped matters. Both men suffered KO losses and did so in front of a TV audience back to the typical .5s they had gotten before. The title belt they contended for? Gone. Theoretically, this will be a #1 contender fight of sorts, but for god sakes, its obvious Pulver doesn’t belong in one.

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One of the top ten fighters in the world talks in depth about his career and what the future holds.

Tonight is WEC. Three title fights, Carlos f’n Condit and a bunch of debuts. Should be an awesome show, so join us for our live coverage of WEC!  Read the rest of this entry »

Dave Walsh, Marc Staehling, Chris Henderson, and Dave Walsh’s dog bring you a preview of tomorrow’s WEC show.

 

 Total MMA Radio WEC Preview [25:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

New Episodes debut June 4th

Unlike its sister-promotion the UFC, the WEC has no on-demand, on-line video service where preliminary fights that don’t make air, are made available to the public. What they do have, is a contract with Versus not only for live events, but for WEC WrekCage, where previously un-televised bouts are seen for the first time. This Wednesday marks the debut of a new three-episode run.

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