WEC News - Page 1

WEC announced today that Damacio Page is now off WEC 48 due to an injury. He was to have faced Antonio Banuelos. Scott Jorgensen is the replacement and will face Banuelos in a rematch from WEC 41, where Banuelos won by split decision.

Add your comment  

This month's WEC 47 event at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, drew an official live gate of $401,000. Ohio Athletic Commission Executive Director Bernie Profato today confirmed the total with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). The March 6 event, which drew an initially estimated attendance of 8,345, had extremely affordable ticket prices that started at just $25 and topped off at a surprisingly low $125 for floor seats. Profato said an official attendance figure isn't really known since the arena's "lodge seats" aren't figured into attendance totals. Approximately 8,700 traditional seats were used, and with lodge seats, the attendance could have reached nearly 9,500, he said.

Add your comment  

All six fighters who underwent drug testing at this month's WEC 47 event tested clean for drugs of abuse and performance-enhancing drugs. Ohio Athletic Commission Executive Director Bernie Profato today confirmed the results with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). Those fighters tested at the March 6 event included newly crowned WEC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, fellow headliner Brian Bowles, and main-card winners Joseph Benavidez, Javier Vazquez, L.C. Davis and Bart Palaszewski. The event took place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, in conjunction with the Arnold Sports Festival, a three-day sports and fitness exhibition that takes place at the Greater Columbus Convention Center and other sites around the city. The WEC's sister promotion, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, first ventured to Columbus to host a show with "the Arnolds" in 2007 and hosted an event each year through 2009.

Add your comment  

The ratings are out for Saturday's WEC 47 event, and the numbers are not good. Only 373,000 viewers tuned in, down 42% from WEC 46 (which, it should be noted, had the promotion's top draw-Urijah Faber) and only drawing more than WEC 45. A big reason could be the ongoing DirecTV-Versus dispute which keeps Versus out of 18 million households.

Add your comment  

When Dominick Cruz defeated Brian Bowles to win the WEC bantamweight title on Saturday night, the new champion didn't have long to celebrate before the questions started coming about who he might fight for his first title defense.

Add your comment  

At this past weekend's WEC 47 event in Columbus, Ohio, Joseph Benavidez (12-1 MMA, 4-1 WEC) stunned Torres with a one-sided submission win and likely earned himself a shot at the 135-pound title. But Scott Jorgensen (9-3 MMA, 5-2 WEC) also landed one of the more memorable finishes in recent memory in his bout with Chad George, and he made a legitimate claim for contender status.

Add your comment  

The Ohio Athletic Commission has released the official fighter payouts from WEC 47. The total disclosed payouts were $236,500 with the biggest share-$29,000-going to Joseph Benavidez.

Add your comment  

If you woke up today with a passionate urge to see inside Miguel Torres' head then this picture will make your day. Apparently if you get elbowed hard enough in the face, it could open a nasty gash right to your skull. Check out this picture of Miguel Torres just after his fight with Benavidez last night. Yum.

Add your comment  

The Ohio Athletic Commission has announced the medical suspensions from Saturday's WEC 47. 7 fighters in all are suspended, most got 60 days but 2 fighters-Brian Bowles and Miguel Torres-are suspended indefinitely and must get doctor clearance before fighting again.

Add your comment  

"This is the fight I've waited for since I got in the WEC. It feels great to get a win off him coming off his (Bowles) loss knowing he was going to come in determined and inspired and bring everything [he had]. I always thought I was going to win this fight, I always thought I matched up really good with (him). Honestly, a month before I told all my team mates 'I'm going to guillotine Miguel'

Add your comment  

With only three of the eleven fights on the card going to a decision at Saturday night’s WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz, World Extreme Cagefighting officials had their work cut out for them in handing out post-fight awards.

Add your comment  

Featherweight Javier Vazquez (14-4 MMA, 1-2 WEC) desperately wanted a win in the WEC.After a heartbreaking run of back-to-back split-decision losses to open his WEC career, the 32-year-old "Showtime" needed a victory to keep his spot in the organization.

Add your comment  

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Following Dominick Cruz's upset of Brian Bowles for World Extreme Cagefighting's bantamweight title, WEC General Manager Reed Harris – in all-too-familiar scene – said it's too early to know what's next for the new champ.

Add your comment  

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Saturday's post-WEC 47 press conference essentially served as a going-away party for Jens Pulver.The MMA trailblazer and superstar returned from a short-lived retirement and dropped a submission loss to Javier Vazquez during the WEC's Ohio debut at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

Add your comment  

Sherdog.com has confirmed the signing of standout Korean prospect Chan Sung Jung to a six-fight deal with the Zuffa-owned promotion. The deal was confirmed with Jun Choi, who is the lead agent for Korean Top Team, the biggest entity in Korean MMA. . . . According to his representation, Jung's WEC debut may come as soon as April 24 at WEC 48, the promotion's first pay-per-view venture, headlined by Jose Aldo's featherweight title defense against Urijah Faber. The most likely opponent for Jung is said to be Cub Swanson, though bout agreements have not been issued as yet.

Add your comment  

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Shortly after a swift submission loss to Josh Grispi at WEC 41 this past summer, Jens Pulver was stuck in a four-fight losing skid and hinted at a likely retirement. One of MMA's first superstars appeared on his way out, and Pulver was left contemplating what he called "the death of Lil' Evil." It soon proved too much for the 35-year-old to bare, and after working with a doctor to diagnose and treat depression and anxiety issues, Pulver (22-12 MMA, 1-4 WEC) spoke to WEC officials, who then gave him a main-card slot at tonight's WEC 47 event against fellow vet Javier Vazquez (13-4 MMA, 0-2 WEC). Pulver thinks his recent string of setbacks, which includes a 1-6 record since an appearance at UFC 63 in 2006, was more about crippling psychological factors than a decline in physical ability. "I went and talked to my doctor, and they got my mind right because of the depression and anxiety," Pulver, who's part of tonight's Versus-televised event at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "A lot of people battle it. Once my mind got right, I shot to Idaho. I don't if I ever really – 34 years old – I don't know if retirement is in my cards because I'm not getting knocked to sleep with an ambulance picking me up. "I'm making bad mistakes. ... That's how I'm losing. I'm making bad mistakes because my mind wasn't right, and so that's a transition I have to make." Regardless of Pulver's future, his storied past assures a lasting legacy in the sport. And while many aging early trailblazers have returned to MMA for a final shot at stardom and now-lucrative fight purses, Pulver continues fighting for another reason. "I didn't fight – I didn't go into this sport – because I wanted to be cool," he said. "I didn't jump into this sport because I wanted to be hard. When I did this sport, it was only legal in three states, it was kept alive on the Internet, and no one thought it was cool. No one even knew what this sport was. But I wanted to keep training. I wanted to be an athlete. "Facing my mortality – the death of the athlete or the death of Lil' Evil – was just hard to think about. And that's when I started making changes, I had to make a lot of changes to correct things." Whether the mental improvements will lead to improved physical efforts will be determined tonight. Regardless, Pulver said he's in a better place mentally to prepare for either success or failure. That wasn't always the case, of course. As was well-documented in his brutally honest and open autobiography "Little Evil," Pulver suffered from an extremely difficult childhood due to an abusive father. Pulver carried the same name as his father, and senior's name presented plenty of baggage for junior. But he's repairing the name and is now the happiest he's been outside of fighting. "It's abuse, drunkenness, beat your wife, beat your children, neglect, no responsibilities and stuff like that," he said. "It was hard for me. I was running from that name. When I won the world title, I put a big end to that. I showed everybody that the Pulvers, that we have something to be proud of. "Then I met my wife. ... I met the woman of my dreams. God smiled upon me and gave me the greatest homelife I've ever had."

Add your comment  

Japanese MMA veteran Chan Sung Jung, a Korean fighter with a 10-1 career mark, appears headed to WEC. Nicknamed "The Korean Zombie", Jung is in negotiations with WEC and a deal is expected to be done soon. No confirmation yet from WEC and no date set for a debut for Jung, who is expected to compete at Featherweight (he recently has competed at 143 in Japan).

Add your comment  

"They wanted me to pick an opponent, I didn’t want to. I told (WEC matchmaker) Sean Shelby to give me the toughest guy he could find a match against, and that was Benavidez. He's one of those guys that just never gets tired, he never seems to be hurt, and he just doesn't stop coming."

Add your comment  

The curse has arrived in WEC. For the second time in less than 2 days a fighter has been forced off an upcoming card, this time it's Zack Micklewright, who is off WEC 48 due to an undisclosed injury suffered in training. He was to have faced Alex Karalexis. No word on if WEC will try to find a replacement foe for Karalexis.

Add your comment  

Cast member of "The Ultimate Fighter" and 11-time UFC veteran Stephan Bonnar will take over for former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir in the the "WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz" commentating booth this weekend. MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed the change to the Versus broadcast team with WEC officials. Mir is understandably busy as he prepares for a UFC 111 interim title fight with Shane Carwin, which led to the change. WEC officials insisted that Mir's recent controversial statements regarding Brock Lesnar – and subsequent apology – had nothing to do with the change.

Add your comment