MMA HQ – Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis

World Extreme Cagefighting returns this Wednesday night with three title belts on the line. The WEC makes their first trip outside of Las Vegas as Albuquerque, New Mexico plays host to native son Carlos Condit’s third title defense

Carlos Condit vs Carlo Prater – Carlos Condit’s rise from little known journeyman to top ten middleweight fighter has been fun to watch. Carlos’ third title defense will also provide a chance for revenge as Carlo Prater handed Condit the first loss of his career back in 2004. Since that time Condit stock has risen greatly while Prater has only fought three times since 2005.

I think that Condit will have an easy time against Prater and secure another relatively easy submission victory in the first or second round. There aren’t many solid challengers for Condit in the WEC at the moment considering Carlos has beaten John Alessio and Brock Larson in his last two fights. Winner: Carlos Condit

Jamie Varner vs Rob McCullough – Rob McCullough puts his WEC Lightweight Championship belt on the line as well against Jamie Varner in what should be a fast past brawl. While Varner is known more as a submission specialist, he likes to throw his hands occassionally, but my guess is that he won’t want to test his luck against “Razor” Rob McCullough.

McCullough doesn’t have much of a submission game but has an excellent striking game and will look to KO Varner early and often. If Varner can get McCullough down to the mat, he stands a good chance of becoming the new champ; but I think “Razor” Rob will be able to stuff most of Varner’s takedown attempts and pick Varner apart on the feet. Winner: Rob McCullough

Miguel Torres vs Chase Beebe – The final title fight of the night sees the 135 lb. bantamweight title up for grabs as Chase Beebe puts his title on the line against Miguel Torres. Beebe won the belt last September by decision in an excellent fight against Rani Yahya. In that fight Beebe showed how good his wrestling and submission defense is and showed that it is going to be very tough to finish him off in a fight. Miguel Torres brings his 19-1 record into the fight, but not much top level experience. After watching Beebe’s fight against Yahya, I don’t think he’ll be giving up the title any time soon. Winner: Chase Beebe

Hiroyuki Takaya vs Leonard Garcia – Leonard Garcia makes his WEC debut at featherweight after fighting three times in the UFC at lightweight. Fighting at the 145 lb. limit will be a much better natural fit for Garcia. Hiroyuki Takaya has spent his whole career in Shooto and K-1 fighting some of the best fighters in the world. Unfortunately he has lost to most of them, and I think Garcia will be able to use his UFC experience to his advantage and win his WEC debut as Takaya spends time trying to adjust to the cage. Winner: Leonard Garcia

Micah Miller vs Chance Farrar – Winner: Micah Miller
Josh Grispi vs Mark Hominick – Winner: Mark Hominick
Manny Tapia vs Antonio Banuelos – Winner: Manny Tapia
Del Hawkins vs Coty Wheeler – Winner: Coty Wheeler
Charlie Valencia vs Yoshiro Maeda – Winner: Yoshiro Maeda
Jesse Moreng vs Scott Jorgensen – Winner: Jesse Moreng