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A legitimate question to ask would be why the WEC would cancel an entire event over one fighter who isn’t even a star attraction in any sense of the word. I’m wondering that right along with you, but if I was a betting man I’d say the reason is because of a stupid tiff between DirectTV and the Versus channel.

Basically, Versus wants more money to be on DirectTV because they’re no longer as crappy as they were when they were the Outdoor Life Network. That’s not hard, but Versus is right: they do suck way less now and have two pretty damn popular sports in MMA and the NHL. And who am I to say that bull riding won’t explode? Nobody but a no good know nothin’ city slicker, that’s who.

Anyways, long story short is that unless the two of them stop this game of chicken there’s a good chance DirectTV viewers won’t have a Versus channel to tune into next Wednesday when the WEC was supposed to be on. Tack on the hot word that ticket sales in Ohio may have been somewhat poop and it looks just a little like the WEC hopped at the chance to pull the plug on this event when Bensen Henderson was injured. Which sucks for us fans.

Post from: EveryJoe

Next week’s WEC delayed till October

WEC 42 Poster - Image: WEC

What the hell is the WEC? It’s the UFC’s sister promotion, owned and operated by the same group of people. As for why Zuffa (the parent company of the UFC and WEC) owns two separate MMA promotions, the story is kinda amusing. Since SpikeTV has exclusive cable rights to live UFC events, so there was no way for the UFC to make a deal with the Versus channel. So Zuffa picked up World Extreme Cagefighting, a popular and well run California promotion, and put them on Versus instead. Yep, the UFC is sneaky like that.

But the key difference between the UFC and WEC are the weight classes. The WEC is focused around it’s bantamweight (135 pound) and featherweight (145 pound) divisions, which keep providing a large number of Fight of the Year candidates. The standard negative opinion on lower weightclass fights doesn’t apply here: there are finishes aplenty and the lighter guys never gas out, guaranteeing action from start to finish.

This Sunday features arguably the best fighter in the WEC, bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, defending his belt against the undefeated Brian Bowles. I’m firmly expecting Torres to win this fight not because he’s facing an easy opponent but because Torres is freaking awesome and I love him. Honestly, you couldn’t ask for a scrappier champ … this guy loves a brawl and also has sick ground skills. Wherever the fight goes, my bet is that Bowles is in for a beating.

If you don’t feel like spending money on the UFC pay per view this weekend but are still jonesing for a mixed martial arts fix, you really can’t go wrong with checking out the WEC event this Sunday on Versus at 9PM. You might not know who all the fighters are (yet), but they haven’t put on a dud card in a very long time and regularly have some of the best events of the year. I highly recommend taking a look. And just to get you off the fence, here’s a highlight of Miguel Torres:

Post from: EveryJoe

Don’t Forget! WEC 42 on Versus this Sunday

(Image: WEC.tv Press Extranet)

Honestly, I train the same way whether it’s Urijah or some kid who is 0-7. I hate losing any fight. So I always go out there with something to prove. Losing is like getting arrested as soon as you turn 18. It’s on your permanent record forever. I work as hard as possible in camp so that I have no excuses come fight night. I only have a few, but I don’t want any more losses on my permanent record.

He also discusses “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button“, UFC 101 and  how busy things have been at America’s Top Team training facility. I can’t wait to see this rematch. I would love to see Mike Brown continue to win, but this time around I hope to see things go more than one round. I’m also eager to see some new flyweight fighters in the WEC. That’s going to be an interesting weight class.

Read the rest of Mike Brown’s latest blog at WEC.Tv.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mike Brown’s Latest Blog 5/8

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I had a chance to catch the Pacquiao-Hatton fight after the movie. What an amazing fight. Got me even more excited for my fight next month. Manny is just a lot of fun to watch. Now that (Floyd) Mayweather is coming back, everyone wants to see Pacquiao-Mayweather. I definitely want to see that fight. I’m telling you right now, I’ll be rooting for Pacquiao.

The lighter weight fighters is what keeps boxing interesting these days. I remember watching some boxing where I just was bored to tears for 12 rounds. I can’t stand watching a boxing match where the rounds are slow and there’s a lot of “hugging”, nobody does, the it’s all about strategy sometimes.

Mike also says he’s getting some well needed rest after his tough sparring training at the American Top Team training center in Coconut Creek. A little more than month and we’ll get to see the highly anticipated rematch between Faber and Brown. I know I’m excited to watch it.

read the entire blog post at WEC.tv.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mike Brown Needs Rest

(Image: WEC.tv Press Extranet)

I sparred two hard rounds with Yves Edwards, and got some more good rounds in with JZ Cavalcante and former UFC competitor Marcus Aurelio. These guys are all legitimate, top 155-pounders and they all walk around at 185 pounds. Training with guys like that has always worked well for me. Aside from being big guys, they are strong and quick. So when I drop to 145 pounds, I feel like I have the edge. I feel like I don’t miss a beat because I’ve already been pushed by guys who are faster and stronger. I know that if I can fight with them, I can fight with anybody.

You can read the rest at WEC.tv . Catch the Brown Vs. Faber 2 WEC event live on versus on June 7th.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mike Brown’s Latest WEC Blog

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He keeps it quite tame compared to some of his video blogs.

The WEC is also on twitter and has been for about the same amount of time that Dana has, with only 734 followers. The UFC twitter has the most updates and has a little over 2000 followers. Below are the twitter addresses as well as the twitter address to keep up with daily updates from here using the old Jab And Grapple twitter feed. Enjoy and happy tweeting.

Dana White Blog: http://www.twitter.com/DanaWhiteBlog

UFC On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ufc

WEC On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/weconversus

Follow Every Joe UFC/MMA On Twitter: http://twitter.com/jabandgrapple

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Dana White, UFC And WEC Now Tweeting

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The event will be broadcast live on Versus and as usual we’re sure to see some great fights with the names on the roster.

Will Jens Pulver break his 3 fight losing streak? This could be a defining moment for Pulver in the WEC. With three loses on his record in the WEC, it kind of makes you wonder what his future holds with Zuffa. Will Mike Brown defend and retain his featherweight belt from the former champ? We’ll see. Hopefully we’ll see a fight or two from the undercard broadcast as well. Here is the card as it’s posted right now on WEC.Tv.

Main Televised Card

• WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown Vs. Uruijah Faber
• Cub Swanson Vs. Jose Aldo
• Jens Pulver Vs. Josh Grispi
• Donald Cerrone Vs. James Krouse

Non-Televised Undercard

• Manny Gamburyan Vs. John Franchi
• Charlie Valencia Vs. Kyle Dietz
• Mike Campbell Vs. Anthony Pettis
• Scott Jorgensen Vs. Antonio Banuelos
• Eddie Wineland Vs. Frank Gomez
• Rolando Perez Vs. Seth Dikun

Post from: EveryJoe

WEC 41: 10 Fights Confirmed On Card

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Brown’s second title defense happens on June 7th from Arco Arena in Sacramento California.Here is just a snippet of his blog entry. To read the entire entry go to WEC.Tv .

As much as I love to eat, I’m making sure to get the right supplements into my body and stay healthy. I went over to the Champion Nutrition warehouse and loaded up on some essentials. I got multivitamins, whey protein, and a few other things that keep my body recovered and prepared. The other key is rest. I usually take a nap every day around three o’clock. We go so hard at the gym, I really don’t have a choice. After our workouts, I just crash. Right now, my body seems to be responding well. I’m feeling really good. I spar hard at the gym and am getting ample rest. I feel like I could fight this weekend if I had to.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mike Brown’s WEC Blog #2

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“The Big Frog” has dropped three straight contests to Benavidez, as well as featherweight champion Mike Brown and No. 1 contender Urijah Faber. While a three-fight losing streak would generally spell a release for most fighters, the quality of opposition Curran has faced – coupled with his performances in the bouts – has earned him a reprieve.

Curran is no slouch when it comes to training or fighting, he’s just faced some rather tough prospects in the WEC. Mizugaki is no different as he went toe-to-toe with Miguel Torres last month for the WEC Bantamweight Championship for a full five rounds before losing by decision. Mizugaki is the first bantamweight that I have seen go five rounds with Torres, though we really didn;t get to see what his ground game looked like. We know Curran has a pretty good ground game from his record of 29-12, with 18 of those wins being by submission.

Post from: EveryJoe

Jeff Curran Vs. Mizugaki At WEC 42

Under the new contract, it is rumored that it will last for more than two years. It’s even rumored that Versus will have some rights to air preliminary fights, but not live. I would rather watch the preliminary fights live, but I’ll watch them on a re-aired show later on. It’s always cool to see some of the up and coming fighters in the pre-lim fights.

Image: WEC Logo

Post from: EveryJoe

Versus And WEC To Sign Multi-Year Deal