Dana White will tell you that organizations like World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and Elite XC (EXC) are the minor leagues of the mixed martial arts monster that is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and that's true, to a certain extent.
While the UFC has more money and more talent than the "secondary shows", the smaller organizations are coming into their own. The WEC has done that by moving faster than the UFC to establish lower weight classes, like a 135 pound class (even more fast paced than the UFC's 155 pound division).
The WEC will be holding an event on September 5th (yes, it's a Wednesday) at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas. It's a major event for the WEC because, though it's being held in the middle of the week and will not have the major pay-per-view sales that the marketing leviathen known as the UFC has been posting, it's being held in a major venue.
I'll keep my picks for the WEC event short and just give the names, but I will say that some of my favorite lighter weight fighters (like 135 pounder Miguel Torres and submission fighter Donald Cerrone) are on this card, which is dominated by the smaller, lighter, quicker and more skilled divisions that the WEC loves to showcase.
"Razor" Rob McCullough (14-3-0) vs Rich "Cleat" Crunkilton (14-1-0) : McCullough by 1st Round TKO
Chase Beebe (10-1-0) vs Rani Yahya (11-2-0) : Yahya by Unanimous Decision
Ian McCall (4-0-0) vs Coty "Ox" Wheeler (6-0-0) : Wheeler by Unanimous Decision
Bryan Baker (4-0-0) vs Jesse Forbes (4-1-0, fought on The Ultimate Fighter season 3) : Baker by 2nd Round TKO
Miguel Torres (18-1-0) vs Jeff "Little Popeye" Bedard (9-0-0) : Torres by 2nd Round submission
John "The Natural" Alessio (19-10-0) vs Marcelo "The Jungle Boy" Brito (6-1-0) : Alessio by Unanimous Decision
Marcus "The Wrecking Ball" Hicks (5-0-0) vs Scott McAfee (5-0-0) : Hicks by 2nd Round TKO.
Brian Stann (4-0-0) vs Jeremiah Billington (9-1-0) : Stann by 1st Round TKO.
The abundance of undefeated and unknown fighters should make this a very entertaining event. The presence of some lesser known fighters like Rob McCullough (well known to WEC fans and a former UFC fighter), John Alessio (also a former UFC fighter), Miguel Torres (a legend for performing very well against larger opponents) and Marcus Hicks (just getting started, but already establishing himself as one of the most exciting 155 pounders out there) will make this event interesting, as will the presence of alot of unknown fighters who I haven't had the opportunity to scout.
It should be a great event and though it's not a major, primetime, weekend show it will be exciting to watch and interesting to see the impact it has on the career of the up-and-comers that heavily populate the card.
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