WEC 32 served up some really fine MMA goodness on VS TV. The three title defenses were the main meat of the event but the other action was tough and exciting in its own right. The guys fighting for belts were hungry and it showed as two out of the three titles changed hands that night. The one that didn’t wasn’t too much of a surprise as fighting in front of your home town audience will get that adrenaline flowing.

For those of us that like it, the matches were largely standup specials. A lot of punches and kicks were served and the fighters hung in there like the champs that they were/are/would be. So, let’s get to it and quickly because these tough little guys move fast and will take you down when you least expect it.

Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Leonard Garcia This fight ended pretty quickly. Hiroyuki and Leo matched each other kick for kick. Then Garcia said, “eff this” and started flinging right hand punches at Takaya. It was a matter of seconds before one found Hiro’s head and sent him to Fantasy Island. He tried to get up to complain about room service to Tattoo but the ref decided he’d had enough and stopped it at 1:31 in the first.

Manny Tapia vs. Antonio Banuelos These two guys slugged it out for three full rounds. It was a great display of standup goodness. When either fighter found an opportunity to take it to the ground or submit, it seemed as though they either couldn’t follow through or just didn’t know how to do it. Maybe it’s my newbie eye, but I saw a lot of submissions and rear naked choke opportunities gone to waste in this battle. It still was a helluva fight all the way to the final bell and beyond! The judges couldn’t decide who won as both Tapia and Banuelos made some great strikes and a few clinches. So, they threw their hands up and called it a draw… BOOOO!!!! went the crowd. We almost thought that was it but then the judges decided that 2+2 didn’t equal BOOOO!!! and recounted the cards. Manny got the decision and kept his unbeaten streak alive.

Lesson for the kiddies (and Antonio) here: DON’T leave it up to the judges!

Miguel Torres vs. Chase Beebe We all knew where this fight was going: Beebe wins easily against Torres. Oh but NO. Again, the standup game was featured in the beginning with a few kicks to soften each other up. Then Torres smacked Beebe upside his head. Chase was startled just enough for Torres to start working his submissions. Chase was able to wrestle free from most of them but it was too much for the Champ and he got caught by a guillotine-like choke out that relieved him of his Championship belt late in the first.

Jamie Varner vs. Rob McCullough Here was another “sure-thing” match. Razor Rob was the easy pick to retain his Championship. It looked that way for the entire three rounds of this match. McCullough fought off Varner’s takedowns and did some mean striking in the first round. Varner was just getting started though. The second match saw our Champ hang back for a breather round trying to figure out a way to last to the end. Jamie kept battling by punching repeatedly and landing body and head shots. In the last round, the Champ finally showed some life and knocked Varner’s mouthpiece out with a great right punch. Varner called “time” (Which I didn’t know you could do in the middle of a fight??!?) so he could get his icky mouthpiece back. I guess the taste of ring dirt didn’t agree with Jamie because he roughed up the Champ and sent him eating the canvas twice. It really looked like Rob was going to barely make it out of this one but Varner was the better man.

Carlo Prater vs. Carlos Condit The big featured match of the night was the Condit/Prater title match. Carlos was the hometown boy going after a Brazilian Jui Jitsu expert in Prater. He immediately went after Prater by kicking him low in his legs. Then Carlo fought back and took down Condit. That was his last mistake because then Condit worked his submissions and escapes. Prater managed to get loose from an armbar but then Condit found the guillotine and that was that. Tippity, tappity and score one for the hometown boy and the only Champ to stay at the top that night!

This is what MMA should be when we pay up the ying yang for UFC events. It could be the weight class or maybe the hunger that these guys feel because they are close but not at the top of the MMA food chain. I called them “little guys” at the top of this post but they are just regular Joe size like you and me. As they say in the fight world, “pound for pound” they are some of the toughest individuals to walk the Earth. Hopefully, they will be rewarded for their superior skills!

With the WEC:Outside the Cage coming up tomorrow night, some of us newbies are wondering, “What the heck is WEC?” WEC(World Extreme Cagefighting) has actually been around for a long time. It was started 2001 by Scott Adams and Reed Harris. They lasted as owners for about five years. During this era, the cage was pentagonal(five sided for you non-math geeks). The main events were also staged in California. It featured all weight classes from bantam and flyweight to super heavyweight.

In 2006, UFC‘s current owner Zuffa, bought out the WEC and with that ushered in a new era for the MMA world. They got rid of the pentagon cage and went with the octagon, albeit a smaller one than the UFC model. They also made the emphasis on smaller fighters by getting rid of the heavy and super heavyweight divisions. All of their main events are based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The rules of engagement are the same as UFC and most other MMA organizations following the New Jersey and Nevada Athletic Boards rules. Since the fighters are of a smaller weight class and the fighting area is smaller, the matches tend to be more action packed. Less looking and dancing around going on. Thank goodness!

Tomorrow should be interesting to TUF5 fans as Jens “Little Evil” Pulver will be making his WEC debut vs. Cub Swanson. This will be a big challenge for Pulver since he has been fighting at the heavier weight of 155 and doing poorly. He claims that he is back at his normal fighting weight of 145 and that his success at that weight will continue. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Jens is just part of the large undercard. There are three title defenses:

Urijah “California Kid” Faber vs. Jeff “Big Frog” Curran will be the main draw. Frog is a 31-8-1 fighter with experience all over the world. Faber is 19-1 and the current Featherweight champion. Curran will be quite a handful for him.

Doug “The Rhino” Marshall vs. Ariel Gandulla will pit brute strength against brute strength in a Light Heavyweight match sure to feature a few crunches and body slams.

Finally, Paulo “Eli” Filho will defend his Middleweight championship belt against Chael Sonnen. They are both grappling and submission specialists. The ground game should feature big in this match. Look for a tap out or “sleepy time bye bye” moment in this one.

I’m going to give WEC a try. MMA is more than just UFC and these fighters look like they’re the real deal.

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