Wow, WEC 50 kind of came and snuck up on us, didn’t it?  I’ve been a monstrous fan of the little guys ever since I watched my first event and you should to.  WEC 50 takes place tonight at 9 pm on the Versus channel.  As T.O. would say, get your popcorn ready.

We’ll start with the main event, a bantamweight title fight between Dominick “The Dominator” Cruz and Joseph Benevidez.  This bout is actually a rematch, Cruz defeated Benevidez en route to getting his title shot against Brian Bowles.  Cruz was able to stuff Benevidez’s takedown attempts and pepper him with his fantastic striking in the first fight and that will likely be the gameplan again this time around.  Benevidez has come out a changed man since his loss to Cruz, finishing Ronnie Yahya and former champ Miguel Torres with ease en route to earning the rematch.  

Cruz has some of the best conditioning in MMA and if he’s able to stuff Benevidez’s takedowns, this could be a long night for the challenger.  I’ve got a nagging feeling though, that Benevidez will be successful when he shoots in, though, and those nagging feelings usually happen to be correct.  Cruz’s lone career loss was a submission to Benevidez’s mentor Urijah Faber, who was able to use his wrestling to dominate the Dominator.  If Benevidez is able to get this fight to the ground, it’s his fight to lose, if not, expect Cruz to frustrate and embarrass him for 5 straight rounds.

Prediction – Joseph Benevidez wins via submission 3rd round

The co-main event is a fascinating lightweight match between top contenders Shane Roller and Anthony Pettis.  Roller is a top notch wrestler, while Pettis is more of a tall, lanky striker with submission skills.  Both men are coming off impressive submission victories at the WEC 48 pay per view, Roller defeated Anthony Njukuani on the main card and Pettis dominated Alex Karalexis on the free Spike undercard.

With a win, both men will likely earn a title shot against current champ Ben Henderson.  Shane Roller’s only WEC loss was to Henderson and I’m sure he’s aching for a chance to redeem himself.  Pettis hasn’t quite faced as stiff of competition in the promotion yet, but he also only has one career WEC loss.  This is like a hybrid of the grappler vs striker matchup because the striker (Pettis) also has fantastic jiu jitsu skills.  Roller has decent submissions of his own and I feel he will be able to stifle Pettis with his wrestling and avoid those nasty submissions.

Prediction: Shane Roller via unanimous decision

Next up is a very exciting featherweight match between WEC veteran Cub Swanson and rising prospect Chad Mendez.  This is an interesting matchup of not only fighters, but fight camps as well.  Swanson hails from the heralded Team Jackson in Albuquerque while Mendez is one of the rising stars of Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male in Sacramento.

Swanson is a well rounded fighter who’s known for being in exciting fights, having won Fight of the night in 2 of his last 3 victories.  He’s also been steamrolled in the first minute of his last two losses, a 35 second submission loss to Jens Pulver and an incredible 8 second double flying knee KO to current champ Jose Aldo.  Mendez is a classic Team Alpha Male style, he’s a fantastic wrestler who will look to get the fight to the ground and either pound you out or go for a submission.  I think Mendez makes a statement in this fight and keeps the streak of quick Swanson defeats alive.

Prediction: Chad Mendez via submission in the first round.

In another match of very exciting bantamweights, Brad “One Punch” Pickett takes on Scott “Young Guns” Jorgenson.  Both fighters have been on an absolute roll lately and the winner of this match will likely get a title shot against the winner of the main event.  Pickett has been tenacious with a beautiful Peruvian necktie submission victory over Kyle Dietz and a unanimous decision victory over Demetrious Johnson at WEC 48.  Jorgenson may have been on a better roll with impressive back to back to back victories over former contender Takeya Mizugaki, Chad George and Antonio Banuelos.  The victory over Banuelos avenged his last WEC loss in 2009 and set up this number one contender match.

Both men are excellent grapplers, but I’ll give the advantage to Pickett in this department due to his creativity.  Not many men go for a Peruvian necktie on the ground.  Jorgenson is no joke either though, with top notch wrestling credentials as well as an absolutely viscous guillotine which he used to decimate Chad George at WEC 47.  Jorgenson has above average striking and that should give him the advantage if the fight stays on its feet.  He should also be able to use his wrestling defensively to keep the fight standing, and if Brad Pickett does attempt to shoot in for a takedown, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jorgenson locks in that nasty guillotine of his.

Prediction: Scott Jorgenson via submission in the 2nd round

Lastly, the night opens with a match of cagey veteran vs rising prospect as Bart Palaszewski welcomes Zach Micklewright to the WEC.  Palaszewski has had an up and down career in the WEC but his last two victories have been very impressive against Anthony Pettis and Karen Darabedyan.  Micklewright will look to stop Palaszewski’s momentum.  He’s a Team Milletich guy, so you know he’ll have top notch and aggressive wrestling in his repertoire.  What I’m interested in knowing is if Micklewright has good submission defense or not.

Palaszewski took a beating against Darabedyan but was able to withstand the initial onslaught and eventually work for an armbar in the first round.  This fight could be very similar but I have a hunch that Micklewright will have better sub defense.  If that is the case, Micklewright should be able to at least ride out a decision, if not more and stamp his place in the WEC lightweight division.

Prediction: Zach Micklewright via unanimous decision

There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and the WEC putting on incredible shows.  WEC 49 was no different.  I wasn’t as familiar with all the fighters as I normally am, especially since the promotion had loaded up the WEC 48 pay per view event with some of their top talent.  Despite that, I was not surprised one bit when I was met with spectacular comebacks, beautiful submissions and some devastating knockouts.  WEC 49 gets my vote for card of the year (thus far) as the first half of 2010 comes to and end.

It all started with a fantastic brawl between Eddie Wineland and Will Campuzano.  Both fighters brought it in a back and forth first round but it was the 2nd that had all the big highlights.  Wineland rocked Campuzano with some big punches to the head and I thought the fight was over when Campuzano dropped against the cage.  Shockingly, Campuzano somehow survived the onslaught and stood back up, throwing several wild strikes in the former bantamweight champ’s direction.  Then, Wineland landed one of the nastiest body shots that I have seen in recent memory, a right hook to the sternum that floored Campuzano.  After one more shot to the head for good measure, the ref stepped in and stopped the fight.

It was a great performance for Wineland, who despite being the WEC’s first bantamweight champion, is still only 25 years old.  He proved he can still make waves in the division after now his 3rd straight victory in the WEC, which should get him into the contender mix.

Chris Horodecki defeated Danny Downes via third round submission in one of the least surprising outcomes of the night.  Downes was a late replacement for Ed Ratcliff who pulled out about 5 days before the event.  Downes stayed composed, but was pretty much a punching bag for Horodecki, who was by far the superior fighter.  Despite being a game opponent and continuing to throw hard strikes as the third round started, “The Polish Hammer” took Downes down and put him out of his misery via rear naked choke to gain his first WEC win.

In a fight with featherwight title implications, Josh Grispi pulled off one of the biggest victories of his career over rising contender LC Davis.  After a relatively even standup exchange, Davis shot in and took Grispi down with authority.  Davis may have been a little too focused on slamming his opponent down though because he left his neck exposed and Grispi latched on a deep guillotine choke.  After a few seconds, Davis went limp and the referee stopped the fight for a technical submission victory.

This was a huge win for Grispi, who hadn’t fought in over a year after having surgery to repair a lingering ankle injury.  He should be right in the mix for that number one contender spot at featherweight along with Manny Gamburyan.

In what ended up winning the fight of the night award, Canadian featherweights Mark Hominick and Yves Jabouin put on a helluva show for the fans.  Jabouin started strong with a fantastic first round that saw him being extremely active and aggressive with quick punches, spinning backfists and a continuous flurry of kicks from all kinds of angles.  Hominick weathered the storm and despite being hit cleanly several times, appeared to be landing the harder shots when he had room to throw them.  Kenny Florian’s commentary may have had you thinking Jabouin (his training partner) was dominating that round, but it was pretty close while I still had Jabouin taking it 10-9.

In the 2nd, Hominick started turning it on, walking through a nasty spinning back elbow and landing a huge liver punch that hurt Jabouin and sent him to the floor along the cage.  Just as I thought they might stop the fight, Jabouin showed off his tremendous heart by not only standing up but throwing a HUGE combination that rocked Hominick and sent him to the canvas.  When that shot landed I leaped out of my seat and yelled loud enough to be scolded by a friend.  Jabouin followed Hominick to the canvas, jumping into his guard, but by now Hominick had recovered.  After fending off a few punches, he swept Jabouin with a very aggressive transition from full guard into the dominant mount position.  After posturing up and pounding away, the ref put a stop to the fight to give Hominick his 3rd WEC victory in a row.

This was just a fantastic fight to watch, and I’ll say it again.  It’s hard not to find a fight of the year candidate when the WEC puts on a show.  We all saw it with the Zombie/Garcia fight and hell, even the sloppy Garcia/Roop fight at WEC 47.  This was yet another high caliber performance by two men who left it all in the cage.  Hominick also put himself in the mix of top contenders in the featherweight division.  I think Gamburyan will get the next title shot, and I wouldn’t dismiss Hominick trying to avenge a 2008 loss to Josh Grispi for the next featherweight contender.  Hominick also asked for a match with Leonard Garcia in his postfight interview and just the thought of that fight gives me goosebumps.

The main event bout, a potential number one contender match in the lightweight division between the Iranian Kamal Shalorus and former champ Jamie Varner was marred by illegal strikes, but it was still an entertaining match.  Varner started strong, darting in and out landing some solid combinations in the first round with his surperior boxing that were frustrating Shalorus.  It was expected that Shalorus, a decorated international wrestler with Olympic experience would take Varner down and frustrate him with his powerful ground attack, but he stood in the pocket and tried to keep up with Varner strike for strike in the first two rounds.

Varner was easily getting the better of the punching exchanges, but Shalorus appeared to be wearing him down with some very hard leg and body kicks.  His only problem was that his inside leg kick time and time again was hitting Varner in the groin.  After the 2nd strike where the sun don’t shine in the second round, referee Josh Rosenthal deducted a point from Shalorus.  On my scorecard, Varner had clearly won the first round, and the second round was very close, but Varner landed the biggest strike of the fight when he appeared to rock Shalorus near the end of the round.

In the third, Shalorus again kicked Varner with an illegal blow, this one appearing to be the worst yet, but surprisingly, Rosenthal did not deduct a point.  After using up nearly all 5 of his allowed minutes, a visibly frustrated Varner moved a little too aggressively and Shalorus finally took him down.  Shalorus kept Varner on his back for most of the 3rd to win the round pretty easily, but I thought it was too little too late.

Best case for “The Prince of Persia” was that he won the final two rounds, which would result in a 28-28 draw due to the point deduction, and it was likely that some would see it as a 29-27 decision for Varner.  When the scores were announced, one judge had it 28-28, one 29-27 for Varner and shockingly, one had it 29-27 for Shalorus to make it a split draw.  How that last judge gave the first round to Shalorus I will never know, but a draw wasn’t out of the question considering how close the 2nd round was.

The outcome though, puts the lightweight division in a bit of a bind.  The winner of this fight was expected to receive a title shot against current champ Ben Henderson.  Now that may be put on hold while  we wait for the winner of the Anthony Pettis / Shane Roller fight at WEC 50 in mid-August.  Varner and Shalorus also both appeared to have suffered broken hands in their fight which will likely prevent a rematch from taking place for a considerable time.

Regardless, we were reminded yet again to never sleep on a WEC event, no matter how little Zuffa markets their shows.  These little energizer bunnies keep going and going, never disappointing their viewers.

In all my time as a fan and my short time as a mixed martial arts writer, I’ve never witnessed such a plethora of high quality MMA events as we’re about to see in the next 5 days.  All 4 of the US’s top promotions will be putting on shows.  If you are a huge fan of the sport like me, I’m sure you’re chomping at the bit.

It all starts tonight with Strikeforce in LA which is headlined by a catchweight fight between Babalu Sobral and Robbie Lawler in what is sure to be an exciting bout.  The winner has already been guaranteed a title shot in their respective weight class so there is quite a bit on the line.  The other three main card bouts, while not likely to factor in the title picture any time soon, look to be very entertaining.  Tim Kennedy, an active member of the Army special forces will take on the South African Trevor Prangley in a middleweight matchup, former welterweight contender (and current Dream champion) Marius Zaromskis battles Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and lastly Conor Heun takes on KJ Noons in a 160 lb catchweight.

Tomorrow night we’ll have Bellator 22, which features the welterweight tournament finals fight between Ben Askren and Dan Hornbuckle.  This is one of the fights that I’ve been waiting for since they originally announced the Bellator welterweight participants.  I honestly have no clue who’s going to win, and that makes it all the more exciting.

The UFC gets in on the action Saturday night with the Finale for season 11 of The Ultimate Fighter.  Court McGee will take on Kris McCray for the six figure contract.  Also on the card, “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine will go to war with Matt “The Hammer” Hamill, Chris Leben takes on Aaron Simpson and Spencer Fisher battles Dennis Siver.

The next day on Sunday in Edmonton, Canada, World Extreme Cagefighting will hold WEC 49.  Former lightweight champion Jamie Varner headlines the card in his fight against the undefeated Iranian Kamal Shalorus.  Varner is looking to get back in the title picture after being submitted by Ben Henderson in his last fight and Shalorus is looking to get in the title hunt for the first time.  The event is not as stacked as their most recent pay per view but never count out the WEC.  They always deliver a great card.

Expect some fireworks at WEC 50 in Las Vegas.  On top of the already anticipated bantamweight title fight between Joseph Benavidez and Dominick Cruz, as well as Urijah Faber’s debut at bantamweight against the always exciting Takeya Mizugaki, we’ve now got another potential main card battle between veteran Bart Palaszewski and undefeated prospect Zach Micklewright.  According to Micklewright’s representatives KO Dynasty, Micklewright signed the bout agreement last night.

Palaszewski has had a long road in the WEC, starting out 1-2 and leaving the promotion only to come back stronger than ever with 2 straight victories that derailed some highly touted prospects.  First he halted undefeated Anthony Pettis’s hype train at WEC 45, and then upset Karen Darabedyan with a miraculous armbar that came out of nowhere at WEC 47 in March.

Now he will have his sights set on Zach Micklewright, a 6 foot tall lightweight who has won seven fights in a row including a unanimous decision victory over Mushin Corbbrey in his WEC debut last December.

Will Palaszewski derail yet another rising star or will the prospect Micklewright prevail?  You’ll just have to wait and see on August 18th.

Location: Sacramento, CA

I had been looking forward to WEC 48 for months now, the WEC has always been my favorite fight organization and when they decided to do their first Pay Per View I was the first in line to congratulate them.  They deserve everything they get.

Anyways, the sports bar I usually watch PPV’s wasn’t showing WEC 48, so I called a Buffalo Wild Wings in a town about a 45 minute drive away and they said they had it.  This is my interpretation of what happened….

So yeah, I missed the pay per view, but at least the one fight I did see ended up being one of the best, if not the best fight I’ve ever seen.  Garcia and Jung literally threw haymakers for three straight rounds.  It was like Griffin/Bonner on steroids and shrunken down to fun size.  It was that awesome.  It was like the first minute Sanchez/ Guida for a full 3 rounds.  That kind of balances out right?

Hey guys, as I’m sure you know, the WEC’s first pay per view will take place tonight.  I mentioned yesterday that you’ll regret it if you miss it, but I’m sure some people for one reason or another will be unable to watch it.  If you want to still follow along, I’ll be updating my twitter account with some round by round commentary.  Here is a link:

http://twitter.com/GotaHemmi

I’ll try to keep it updated with round scores, thoughts, predictions, and highlights so make sure to stay tuned tonight.  My favorite place in Ohio to watch my PPV’s (Frickers) isn’t showing it so I’ll be trying somewhere new.  Hopefully everything goes well.  The night starts with 2 fights on Spike at 9 pm eastern followed by the Pay Per View main card at 10 pm.  Here is the full card:

Main Card

• Featherweight Championship bout:  Jose Aldo vs.  Urijah Faber
• Lightweight Championship bout:  Ben Henderson vs.  Donald Cerrone
• Featherweight bout:  Mike Brown vs.  Manvel Gamburyan
• Lightweight bout:  Anthony Njokuani vs.  Shane Roller
• Bantamweight bout:  Antonio Banuelos vs.  Scott Jorgensen

Spike TV Card

• Featherweight bout:  Leonard Garcia vs.  Chan Sung Jung
• Lightweight bout:  Alex Karalexis vs.  Anthony Pettis

Preliminary Card

• Bantamweight bout:  Brad Pickett vs.  Demetrious Johnson
• Featherweight bout:  Chad Mendes vs.  Anthony Morrison
• Bantamweight bout:  Takeya Mizugaki vs.  Rani Yahya
• Featherweight bout:  Brandon Visher vs.  Tyler Toner

I’ve spent a lot of time praising the WEC for their fantastic shows they put on.  Their fighters really know how to bring it, and they are always matching up the best against the best.  Never has that been more true than tomorrow night when former featherweight champ Urijah Faber takes on current champ Jose Aldo in Sacramento.  While the UFC and Strikeforce are coming off back to back disappointing shows, the WEC is on a 47 event winning streak.  These guys care so much about their sport and they put so much effort into their performance that I don’t think it’s possible for one of their shows to underperform.  Despite my ever increasing expectations, these little guys have yet to let me down.

I haven’t been this pumped for a show since UFC 100, and that’s saying a lot considering all the MMA events that have taken place since then.  The WEC is owned by the UFC parent company Zuffa and they are pulling out all the stops for this, the first pay per view event the WEC has ever attempted.  UFC president Dana White has taken control of promoting the event, announcers Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg will be cageside and even Bruce Buffer will be the ring announcer.

While the WEC fighters are smaller weight classes than the UFC, there is nothing small about the excitement they bring.  The first fight of the night will be a bantamweight match between Antonio Banuelos and Scott Jorgensen.  This is a rematch of a controversial WEC 41 match that saw Banuelos come away with split decision victory.  Since that time, Jorgensen has been on a hot streak with a fight of the night win over former contender Takeya Mizugaki and most recently an insane 30 second submission victory over Chad George.  Banuelos has only fought once since their last meeting, a decision win over Kenji Osawa.  Jorgenen has improved drastically over the past year and this time, I think the judges will get it right if (and that’s a big if) the fight goes to decision.

The second main card fight of the night should be an awesome style matchup between lightweights Anthony Njokuani and Shane Roller.  Both men have been on a roll lately, with each having suffered their only loss in the WEC to current champ Ben “Smooth” Henderson.  Roller picked up a submission of the night victory over Danny Castillo at WEC 44, but it’s Njokuani who has been racking up all the awards.  He has managed to pick up 3 straight knockout of the night performances, most recently blasting Chris Horodecki with a headkick and following up with punches at WEC 45.  This is the classic grappler verses striker matchup as Roller will look to get Njokuani on the ground while Njokuani plans on keeping his distance, looking for an opening and finishing the fight there.  Njokuani has all the hype right now and will likely get a title shot with a win, but I think Roller has the tools to shock MMA audiences.

Next up is a very important fight between The Ultimate Fighter season 5 runner up Manny Gamburyan and former featherweight champion Mike Brown.  This is likely a number one contender match with the winner getting a title shot against the Aldo/Faber winner later in the show.  Brown was on a roll at featherweight racking up 10 straight wins (2 over Faber) before losing his title to Aldo last November.  He is out for revenge, and with a win, his next fight is going to be an exciting rematch regardless of who he faces.  Manny Gamburyan is 2-0 in the WEC since dropping down to featherweight.  Most recently he put on a striking clinic en route to winning a decision over former contender Leonard Garcia.  Both fighters are excellent wrestlers, with Gamburyan being a little more focused on his Armenian judo.  Brown will definitely have the striking and power edge, as long as he can stay off his back he will have a solid shot at earning his rematch.

The co-main event is a lightweight title fight between Ben “Smooth” Henderson and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.  Their last fight in 2009 for the title was a top 10 highlight with many fans divided on who actually came out the winner.  The judges scored it for Henderson, but it honestly could have gone either way.  Cerrone and Henderson have both performed admirably since, each racking up 3rd round submission victories.  Like before, Henderson will look to utilize his grappling advantage while Cerrone will try to keep the fight standing.  If it does go to the ground, both men have dangerous submission skills, as Cerrone nearly had Henderson multiple times in their last fight.  I honestly have no clue who is going to win this fight, all I can guarantee is that it’s going to be incredible.

Last and most importantly is the headline fight between Urijah “The California Kid” Faber and Jose Aldo.  Faber was once hailed as the greatest featherweight on the planet, and he has been the face of the WEC for several years now.  If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was the current champ with all the attention he’s been getting from the media coming into this fight.  He’ll be fighting in his hometown of Sacramento and Jose Aldo wouldn’t have it any other way.  He actually suggested to the WEC matchmakers to hold the fight in Sacramento so that he can prove just how good he is by beating the hometown favorite in front of his fans.  Faber lost his title to Mike Brown, and then lost again in a rematch that was a 2009 fight of the year candidate.  In his comeback fight he took out top contender Rafael Assuncao via submission, which shut up anyone who suggested he was done.  Aldo has been a one man wrecking machine in the WEC, recording 6 straight knockout wins en route to becoming the champion.  His 8 second double flying knee knockout of Cub Swanson is still one of my all time favorite highlight reel KO’s I’ve ever seen.

This fight has all the makings of become legendary.  Faber has that “never give up” attitude that fans love, fighting Mike Brown for 5 rounds despite two broken hands.  Aldo has the striking skills to devastate anyone and everyone, and has even been mentioned as a possible contender for the UFC lightweight title down the road.  Both men are incredibly entertaining to watch and Dana White has promised the fans that this will go down as one of the best fights of the year.  I whole-heartedly agree.  The WEC has a stranglehold on the top bantamweight and featherweight talent in the world and this is a true #1 vs #2 matchup.  Get your popcorn ready.

If that isn’t enough to convince you, Spike TV and Versus will both be airing a one hour special on Saturday night that will showcase two undercard fights.  The first will be a lightweight match between Alex Karalexis and Anthony Pettis.  The next, and a fight I’m really pumped for is a featherweight bout between Leonard Garcia and “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung who is making his WEC debut.  Make sure to watch that, as it will be available for free.  If you choose not to see the WEC 48 event, you’ll be missing out on history.  Just remember that I warned you.

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – As the world prepares for the most anticipated featherweight title fight in the history of mixed martial arts, ALDO VS. FABER live on Pay-Per-View Saturday, April 24 at 10pm ET/7pm PT, fans will have the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at the fighters as they prepare for this epic bout.

Below is a listing of the airings of Countdown to ALDO VS. FABER.

Countdown to ALDO VS. FABER will also be available in smooth HD at www.ufc.com/live.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21 4pm ET/1pm PT on VERSUS (premiere)

7pm ET/PT on MTV2

9:30pm ET on The Score (Canada)

12am ET/PT on SPIKE

THURSDAY, APRIL 22 1am ET/PT on MTV2

2:08am ET/PT on SPIKE

FRIDAY, APRIL 23 5pm ET/2pm PT on VERSUS

12:30am ET/9:30pm PT on VERSUS

SATURDAY, APRIL 24 1pm ET on The Score

3pm ET/ 12pm PT on VERSUS

8pm ET/5pm PT on SPIKE

Josh Grispi vs. LC Davis

Chris Horodecki vs. Ed Ratcliff

Mark Hominick vs. Yves Jabouin

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – The best lighter weight fighters in the world are heading to Canada this summer. World Extreme Cagefighting^® General Manager Reed Harris announced today that the organization has scheduled a loaded card set to take place at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Sunday, June 20.

Former lightweight world champion Jamie Varner begins his quest back to WEC gold when he takes on the heavy-handed Kamal Shalorus in the night’s main event, while rising featherweight Josh Grispi battles LC Davis in a fight that will push the winner one step closer to a world title shot.

If those two fights weren’t enough to get MMA fans’ juices flowing, Canadian teammates Chris Horodecki and Mark Hominick are also confirmed for this historic event. London, Ontario’s Horodecki, one of the sport’s most electric strikers, will take on Taekwondo expert Ed Ratcliff in an exciting lightweight contest. Plus, standup ace Mark Hominick of Thamesford, Ontario, will battle Montreal’s Yves Jabouin in a long-awaited featherweight bout.

“We are really excited to bring WEC to Canada for the first time on June 20,” WEC General Manager Reed Harris said. “We’ve learned that Canada is home to some of the most passionate mixed martial arts fans in the world. With that said, we can’t wait to get to Edmonton and put the best lighter weight fighters in the world on display.”

Tickets for World Extreme Cagefighting^® go on sale Saturday, April 17 at 12 p.m. MT and will be priced at $175, $125, $75, and $45. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to WEC newsletter subscribers on Thursday, April 15 starting at 12 p.m. MT. To access this presale, users must register for the WEC newsletter through wec.tv. Tickets may be purchased at the Rexall Place Box Office, at all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.ca or by phone at (780) 451-8000.

World Extreme Cagefighting^® will be televised nationally live on VERSUS beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.  All of the network’s live WEC events are presented in HD and Spanish language SAP where available. For more information and how to find VERSUS in your local viewing area, visit http://www.versus.com/findversus.

Remaining bouts for World Extreme Cagefighting^® will be announced at a later date. For more information, visit www.wec.tv. Follow WEC athttp://twitter.com/WEConVERSUS.