Chicks Heart Fights

It is a near crime how under the radar the WEC is. On the same weekend Kimbo Slice and company were making MMA look foolish, the WEC put together one of the best cards I have seen in a long time, with Urijah Faber and Miguel Torres turning in the best performances of their career.

This Sunday, the WEC has another strong event scheduled. Three championship matches are scheduled, including Brian Stann, who will defend his belt against Steve Cantwell. I’m calling Brian and his perfectly sculpted jaw for the win. Jamie Varner and Marcus Hicks will fight for the lightweight title, and I think we will have a new champ at the lightweight division. Finally, Carlos Condit will take on Hiromitsu Miura to keep his welterweight belt, and he will, indeed, keep it. So, tune in to Versus on Sunday night, and check out some great MMA action.

On a completely separate note, I have to say congratulations to Danielle Hobeika for winning the Dan Gable “America Needs Wrestling Award.” In addition to being an awesome friend to watch a fight with, she has done amazing things for wrestling. Need a Web site? Call Danielle. Looking for pictures? Call Danielle. Want to figure out ways to promote the sport? Call Danielle. Seriously, she rocks, and is very deserving of this award.  Check out some of her work here, here and here. Congrats, lady!

One day, I’ll do Liveblog! the Musical. Not tonight, though. There are too many great fights scheduled for tonight for me to fit in a musical number. (Though I’m working on it. Something in the Fosse style.) Please feel free to comment, or email me at chicksheartfights@gmail.com. And, join me, after the jump.

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All the hype surrounding Sunday night’s WEC fight is about Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver - deservedly so. However, you should tune in to see more than “the best fight EVER.” This card features two title defenses, MMA veteran Rob McCullough, and one of my favorite people on the planet, Mark Munoz.

Munoz, a national champion for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, makes his WEC debut on Sunday against Chuck Grigsby. Here are a few reasons why you should cheer for him when he enters the cage this Sunday:

1. He helped UC-Davis to their first national champion ever.

2. His face lights up and he pulls out pictures when you ask him about his family.

3. He is planning on finishing his Sports Psychology master’s thesis between fights . The subject? The rise of MMA.4. Urijah Faber talked him into trying MMA.

5. He is quite talented at turning lemons into lemonade.

6. He showed John Smith that he could be successful at 197 when Smith said he should drop down. (For the non-wrestling peeps here, John Smith is not the easiest guy to stand up to…)

7. Maybe this one is just for the ladies, but, he’s adorable!

Catch Mark this Sunday on the WEC on Versus . 

Big thank you to Versus for sharing lots of fun stuff on the Faber/Pulver fight that takes place this Sunday. Here are Jens and Urijah talking about strategy:

and links to podcasts:

Urijah 1 , Urijah 2, Jens 1, Jens 2

and finally, some adorableness:

This Sunday is graduation day for the folks at the World Extreme Cagefighting championship. Jens Pulver vs. Urijah Faber is a fight that offers everything-a title belt, a beloved veteran, an up and comer, and a primetime showing on Versus. In addition to that, Mark Munoz, one of the best human beings in wrestling, will be making his WEC debut (More on Mark later this week.)

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Looking at MMA Weekly’s light heavyweight top ten, there is not a whole lot of room to pry in another contender:

#1 Light Heavyweight Fighter in the World: Quinton Jackson
2. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
3. Chuck Liddell
4. Lyoto Machida
5. Keith Jardine
6. Forrest Griffin
7. Wanderlei Silva
8. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
9. Ricardo Arona
10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

I am not completely on board with the order of these fighters, but that is not the point of this post, and I don’t disagree that these are the top ten light heavies in the world. Despite Stann’s dominating performance in the cage on Wednesday, I cannot place him anywhere in this top ten.

However, when you look beyond this top ten, I see some intriguing match-ups with Stann in the Octagon. Stann has shown himself as an all-around fighter, but that left hook which knocked out Doug Marshall definitely displayed his skills as a striker. For that reason, I would love to see Stann against Houston Alexander or Michael Bisping. Since all three men have fought/will fight in March/April, the match-up could be put together for an August or September fight. (That was a really poorly written sentence-I apologize.) Stann is going to continue to grow as a fighter, as he has already made huge strides in his short career. It will be interesting to see what Zuffa does with his career.

Just tuning into WEC on Versus, and wow, WEC draws a trashy crowd. Here are the fights scheduled for tonight:

• Champ Doug Marshall (204) vs. Brian Stann (204) — for WEC light heavyweight title
• Marcus Hicks (156) vs. Ed Ratcliff (155)
• Bryan Baker (184) vs. Chael Sonnen (186)
• Steve Cantwell (203) vs. Tim McKenzie (203)
• Blas Avena (170) vs. Hiromitsu Miura (170)
• John Alessio (170) vs. Brock Larson (171)
• Richard Crunkilton (156) vs. Sergio Gomez (156)
• Alex Serdyukov (169) vs. Ryan Stonitsch (171)
• Chris Manuel (136) vs. Kenji Osawa (134)
• Logan Clark (186) vs. Scott Harper (186)

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As was reported last week by Chicks Heart Fights, World Extreme Cagefighting announced a June 1 event at Arco Arena in Sacramento. In addition to Mark Munoz’s WEC debut, this fight will feature a match-up of two of my favorites: Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver. It’s a Sunday night fight that will air on Versus; on the Saturday of that week is UFC 85: Evans vs. Liddell. Also that week: my birthday. Happy Birthday to me!

Mark Munoz, assistant coach at UC Davis, NCAA Champion for Oklahoma State, and all-around great guy, has signed with World Extreme Cagefighting. His first fight will be on June 1 at Arco Arena. Congratulations!     

As I’ve stated before, I would love to be able to cover MMA in its many different forms. World Extreme Cagefighting, M-1, International Fight League, etc., all seem like worthy organizations; however, I just don’t have the time. But tonight, my love, Jens Pulver, is making his debut with WEC, so I figured I’d give the WEC a shot.

Don’t give me that look, Jens. I’m watching your fight! Ok. You can give me that look, if you want to…

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