Wow, this thing really snuck up on me which is surprising considering how decent the fight card is. Tonight the WEC will hold an event at the Hard Rock hotel in Vegas and will be broadcast on the Versus channel at 6PM/PT (See if you get the Versus channel here). Middleweight standout Paulo Filho will put his title and unbeaten record on the line against Chael Sonnen. The Urijah vs. Curran and the Swanson vs. Pulver (his first fight at 145lbs) fights should be fantastic and will continue to build on the solid Featherweight division.

145lb (Featherweight Title)
Urijah Faber (19-1-0) Vs. Jeff Curran (31-8-1)

145lbs
Cub Swanson (11-1-0) Vs. Jens Pulver (21-8-1)

185lbs (Middleweight Title)
Paulo Filho (15-0-0) Vs. Chael Sonnen (21-8-1)

205lbs
Doug Marshall (6-2-0) Vs. Ariel Gandulla (4-0-1)

170lbs
John Alessio (26-11-0) Vs. Todd Moore (9-0-0)

170lbs
Bryan Baker (5-0-0) Vs. Eric Schambari (7-0-0) (more…)

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir will be in the announcer’s booth this evening commentating the WEC event.  OC Register was able to get the ex-champion to give his thoughts on each of the night’s fights.  Frank makes no real commitment to predicting winners, instead provides a basic overview of the match-ups.  Such as,

“I think Crunkilton is a little more well rounded where Rob McCullough is, obviously, the better striker, more powerful. If the fight stays on its feet, it definitely favors him (McCullough). Crunkilton is able to do things there also, but I think it will be a little bit easier for him if the fight went to the ground.”

“Chase Beebe is a really good wrestler, and he’s in really good shape. He also has good striking and good Jiu-Jitsu. But Rani Yahya is probably one of the best grapplers in the WEC as far as submission abilities. I think Chase will probably use his wrestling ability to get the fight to the ground. Yahya has real bad standup actually. He just kind of dives at you, takes you down and win the fight that way.”

If you’re looking for in-depth fight analysis, Frank isn’t your man. However if you are not fammilar with many of tonight’s fighters, Frank’s overview is worth a look. Check out the complete analysis here.

We’re used to getting our doses of mixed martial arts in monthly blocks, so 6 events in 4 weeks is surely news worthy. And the best part, 5 of these MMA events are going to be televised for free (that is, if you get Showtime, Spike TV, and Versus channels).  You may want to bookmark this for your reference (url).  Here is how the month stacks up:

 Sept 5th:  WEC on Versus featuring main event Rob McCullough (14-3) vs. Richard Crunkilton (17-1).  Click here for complete fight card.  Click here to find the Versus channel in your area.

 Sept 9th:  UFC 75 Champion vs Champion on Spike TV feauturing Light Heavyweight Title fight with Quinton Jackson taking on “Dangerous” Dan Henderson.  Other Noticable figthts include Michael Bisping (fighting in from of his London home crowd) vs. Matt Hamill and Mirko Cro Cop vs. Cheick Kongo.  Check out the complete fight card here.

 Sept 15th:  EliteXC Uprising on Showtime featuring Middleweight Championship fight with Robbie Lawler battling Murilo “Ninja” Rua.  Nick Diaz and Gina Carano will also be on the card.  Check out the schedule for the rest of September… (more…)

 
Very cool stuff here from ProElite, they are showing the entire Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni fight on their website.  While the UFC makes you pay to watch a fight on their website, ProElite seems to have a different approach.  Let the fans watch old fights for free! This will likely keep them as fans as well as gain new fans in the process.  What a novel concept. 

You will be required to create an account on the ProElite website, but it’s well worth it just to watch the Shamrock Baroni fight.  The quality is great and you will also have access to watch the entire fight card which includes Victor Valenzuela vs. Edson Berto, Joey Villasenor vs. Murilo Rua, Cung Le vs. Tony Fryklund, Carter Williams vs Paul Buentello, and more.  Thank you ProElite.com!

Go here to access the EliteXC Strikeforce event video
http://shamrockvsbaroni.proelite.com/46054

 
Payouts for WEC 29 Wrekcage have been announced and Paulo Filho was the bigger winner with a pay day of $50k. ($35k base + $15k bonus).  Total event payout was $199,500 and was dispursed in the following manner:

Paulo Filho $50,000 ($35k base + $15k win bonus).
Carlos Condit $26,000 ($13K base + $13K win bonus)
Joe Doerksen $30,000
Jamie Varner $14,000 ($7K base + $7 win bonus)
Brock Larson $12,000
Jeff Curran $10,000 ($8k base + $2K win bonus)
Payouts for the rest of the fighters continues here…. (more…)

Weltherweight Title
Carlos Condit def. Brock Larson by submission - round 1

Middleweight Title
Paulo Filho def. Joe Doerksen by TKO - round 1

Non-Title Fights
Jamie Varner def. Sherron Leggett by TKO - round 1
Hiromitsu Miura def. Fernando Gonzalez by submission - round 2
Antonio Banuelos def. Justin Robbins by unanimous decision
Eric Schambari def. Logan Clark by Unanimous Decision
Blas Avena def. Tiki Ghosn by submission - round 1
Steve Cantwell def. Justin McElfresh by TKO - round 1