Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

* Joseph Benavidez v. Danny Martinez (Bantamweight Bout)

I'm sure I've seen at least one of these guys fight in WEC before, but if you asked me which I couldn't say who. Martinez declares himself the underdog and says he has great hands and that WEC brought him because he's the full package. Both men are 5'5" or under in the tale of the tape. IT'S THE BATTLE OF THE MIDGETS! In the blue corner, 5'5", 12-2, 136 pounds, fighting out of Tempe, AZ it's Danny Martinez! His opponent Benavidez is 8-0, 5'4", 135 pounds and fights out of Sacramento, CA. Our referee in charge of this bout is Kim Winslow. HOLY SHIT A FEMALE REF!~!

Fight's on! Benavidez is in the black and white trunks, Martinez is in the black with no trim. Martinez bulls his opponent up against the fence in the first 30 and tries to drop levels for a takedown. B has excellent defense and we end up back in the middle of the cage. B is firing off crisp kicks. Martinez tries to drop levels again but B has a sprawl to beat all and isn't being taken down. Crowd is kind of quiet for the first two minutes but at least it's a respectful kind of quiet - they aren't taking a shit on the match. At two minutes in the leather starts flying but Martinez makes it safe by pushing B into the cage. B is definitely throwing big combos whenever he gets into range. Halfway point and B comes forward with a roundhouse body kick. Martinez is trying to load up a big punch in response but B is coming forward so fast who knows if he'll get the chance to hit it. Martinez finally gets a takedown with two minutes left but B immediately pops back up. Spinning backfist misses as they get up and away from the fence. B definitely looks more cocksure out of the two fighters in R1. Martinez may be hoping he gasses and ground control will come easier in R2 or R3. B does a judo style toss and reverses a takedown to get into side control. 10 seconds and B is riding it out working over the shoulder of his opponent. 10-9 Benavidez.

Round two underway! Benavidez is chasing to start the round. Martinez is keeping his hands up, which is effective for defense but he's not landing any combos in return. I think this is what they call "Octagon Control" in UFC when they say it factors into the scoring of a round. For the first two minutes of this round Benavidez is totally in control with both the punches and kicks. Martinez is simply protecting and backing up, not offering much offense to make his opponent back off. Flying knee nearly connects from B. Halfway point and a few loud drunks in the crowd are enjoying this fight - but they're the only ones making any noise. Martinez tries to come forward and eats a few stiff shots for the effort. 1:50 and he tries to go for a clinch but nothing's there. Even Mir is down on Martinez right now. "At least get him blinkin' and thinkin'!" Benavidez hits knees and M has to retreat. Martinez tries to charge and this time it's B who drops levels for a possible takedown attempt. 45 to go. Martinez sprawls to block and both men pop back up to their feet. They slug it out for the last 10 seconds of R2 and we're on to the next one. 10-9 Benavidez again!

R3 is underway! Mir's partner in commentary crime calls the fight for Benavidez to this point and I'd have to agree. B has had control, has landed more strikes, has stuffed more takedown attempts and has looked like the smarter fighter of the two. Quite frankly Martinez is being outclassed in almost every aspect of the game. Martinez is desperate now to land a one shot knockout and Mir agrees - he can't possibly think he'll win a decision even if he wins this round. Mir criticizes the fact Martinez throws a hook and a right but won't combo it up. Martinez tries to shoot at the halfway point but once again B sprawls and escapes with ease. Uppercut, flying knee, big punch 1-2-3 for B. Mir says he's throwing strikes from all areas and he's doing it so fast we can't keep up. With 1:40 left it looks like he'll easily coast to a 30-27 uni from all the judges. Send Martinez back to King of the Cage or wherever he came from. On the other hand respect to him for lasting all three rounds, but quite honestly he's been totally outclassed. Martinez is trying to load up strikes with 30 seconds left but it's too little too late. Mir respects him for coming forward even though he knew he was going to lose. The horn sounds and we're off to the judges!

AFTER THREE ROUNDS WE GO TO A DECISION ANNOUNCED BY JOE MARTINEZ: ALL THREE JUDGES SCORE THIS 30-27 FOR THE UNANIMOUS WINNER AND STILL UNDEFEATED JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ. Exactly what I expected. I'm skipping the post-fight interview just to get caught up a little faster with the live action.

Well I've only seen one fight so far and this show is already 45 minutes deep on the DVR. Say what you will but you can't say Versus doesn't know how to kill slash kill time. Apparently there's a new shirt being sold by UFC to benefit the Intrepid Fallen Heroes fund. The Tapout crew is in the crowd wearing them. Chuck Liddell is in the crowd. Stephen Bonner is in the crowd. Jamie Varner and Carlos Condit are there too. Time for our next bout!

* Brian Bowles v. Will Ribeiro (Bantamweight Bout)

Willy R is from Rio De Janeiro and is a boxer for the Brazilian Olympic team. Mir is suitably impressed by his skills and the tale of the tape says he has a BJJ background as well. Mir is talking so much I can't hear the rap song in the background but it sounds like some East coast D-Block type ish. Bowles is more of a rock'n'roll guy when he makes his entrance, and the announcers discuss the fact that he looks mild-mannered but really does damage when he's in a fight. On the tale of the tape it's Bowles older at 28 to 25, but height weight and reach are all nearly indentical. Joe Martinez makes the introductions and a ripped Ribeiro is in the blue corner. His record is 9-1. You know this guy looks like he could be a badass at 155 easily. In the red corner his opponent hails from Athens, GA and has a perfect 6-0 record. Yves Lavigne is our ref in charge. Let's go!

Bowles is in the black trunks and Ribby is in the red. Ribs McNotFlorian is chasing early and coming forward but Bowles is keeping him at distance before unloading a big combo and pushing him back into the cage. A big right and a strong left uppercut set it up. Ribby tries to reverse position and Bowles makes him pay with some dirty boxing. A lot of leather is flying in the first 90. The fight settles down a little as we near the two minute mark. Bowles and Ribs both seem totally content to dual this one out on the feet. A spinning side kick connects but Bowles keeps coming forward and landing nice strikes. Ribs finally shoots in for a takedown and gets it but Bowles turns it into a guillotine and Ribby is in big trouble. Bowles gives it up to take the back but either way that's got to score big points in the eyes of the judges. Bowles is in full guard with 40 seconds left. R1 ends with Bowles throwing elbows from the top and I give it 10-9 to Bowles.

R2 is underway! Lavigne is being his usual miserable self and giving a warning for every little thing fighters do, from upkicks in the four-stance to low kicks to the groin on the feet. He should stop making the fighters fucking paranoid about every single thing they do and just let them do their job. No strong advantage in the first minute to either man. Bowles ends up on the ground and gets warned not to grab the cage. He lands a huge upkick, Ribs tries to respond with a big over the top punch but has nothing. He lets him back up at the two minute mark and misses a spinning headkick in the process. Shoot for a bit takedown and slam at the halfway point by Bowles. Full guard. Lavigne calls for more work with 90 seconds left. He stands them up with 23 seconds left for whatever good that would do. Bowles gets another takedown and I call it 10-9 for him in this round too as the horn sounds.

Ribs is chasing as we start round three, and Mir feels it's a clear indication he's behind in this round. I have to agree. Bowles CRACKS him with a big right but Ribby absorbs it and comes on coming. Ribeiro shoots in but Bowles has a choke that's in deep from the attempt and Ribs is forced to tap out with 3:49 left in the round! IT IS ALL OVER. We'll have the official decision coming in just a second as Mir notes Bowles is a complete all-around fighter and very tought to beat, even for an Olympic athlete.

Joey M. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN 1:11 OF R3 SUBMISSION VIA GUILLOTINE CHOKE FOR THE WINNER AND STILL UNDEFEATED BRIAN BOWLES! Skipping this post-fight interview too - I don't know what there is to say about this fight anyway.

* Wagnney Fabiano v. Akitoshi Tamura (Featherweight Bout)

Neither one of these guys speaks english as a first language, but at least Fabiano is trying. Nonetheless recapping their pre-fight promos just isn't going to happen because there's no good smack talk as a result. Tamura prays, bows and steps into the cage. Fabiano comes out to the "Rocky" theme. Not what you'd expect, but I'm not complaining either. He gets greased up and sent in as we get tale of the tape. Fabiano is 33, Tamura 27. Fabiano 5'7", Tamura 5'9". Everything else largely the same. Tamura is in the blue corner and has a 12-6-2 record hailing from Osaka, Japan. His opponent Fabiano is 10-1 and hails from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Our referee in charge for this contest is Steve Mazzagatti.

"Bring it on, c'mon!" Fabiano is in the blue trunks, Tamara in the brown. Fabiano goes for mount very early and Tamura grabs onto the guard tight. Not much else happens through the first 150 seconds - Fabiano on top controlling and Tamura trying to close guard and stay safe on the bottom. For the rest of the round Fabiano just grins away. On the one hand I'm glad Mazzagatti didn't call for standup but on the other this fight might have actually NEEDED it. R1 10-9 for Fabiano.

Good exchange of punches for R2 before Fabiano gets him down and Tamura takes the rubber guard. Once again Fabiano tries to grind it out from the top, throwing back strikes, hammerfists or elbows whenever and wherever he can. They finally end up back on their feet with 1:15 left in the round. Fabiano gets another takedown and immediately gets side control. It may not be exciting but he's clearly outscoring his oponent regardless so props given where props are due. R2 ends with Fabiano trying to get an armbar just as time expires. 10-9 Fabiano again.

Todd Harris says this hasn't been a "sexy explosive fight" as we come back for R3 and quite frankly I have to agree. Fabiano has been dominant but not very exciting. Surprise surprise Fabiano is on top again in the first minute of R3. He's briefly caught in a guillotine but uses his feet to walk the cage and get out of danger. Quite honestly watching Fabiano ride the top for the whole fight throwing strikes and elbows is kind of dull so I fast-forwarded to catch up with the commercial breaks. At 1:06 left to go Fabiano has finally split open the top of his head with strikes and elbows. head an arm choke by Fabiano with just about 11 seconds left. Why bother! He'd have gotten a unanimous decision at the end anyway. Either way IT IS ALL OVER and we go to a commercial break at 8:42 PM CST.

Here's Joe Martinez with the official decision, even though it's pretty obvious who won at the Hard Rock. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN 4:48 OF R3 TO A HEAD AND ARM CHOKE IN HIS WEC DEBUT - WAGNNEY FABIANO. They don't even bother with a post-fight interview on this one and I don't blame them, especially since there's only 15 minutes left to the top of the hour for what is POTENTIALLY a five round fight. Torres v. Tapia is coming up next!

* Miguel Angel Torres {C} v. Manny Tapia (WEC Bantamweight Title Bout)

Tapia comes out to some mariachi music as is his tradition, although I can't tell if it's by Vicente Fernández or not. Either way I like it. He jumps into the cage with the Mexican flag trunks and he looks fit and ready to go. Not to be outdone, Torres comes out with mariachi music of his own! The champion hails from East Chicago, Illinois. Todd Harris is marking out for the all-mariachi main event and quite frankly I can't blame him one bit. Torres 27, Tapia 28. Torres has a nine inch reach advantage but both men weight in at 134. Joe Martinez reads off all of the sponsors, doctors and judges at ringside. Yay and whoop-de-shit. We're already 4 minutes from going over and Ultimate Fighter starts at 9 on Spike so enough already GET THIS SHIT STARTED. Tapia is in the blue corner and has a perfect record of 10-0-1 and hails from Chino, California. The champion in the red corner is equally impressive - 34 and freaking 1. 34 wins, ONE loss. Think about that. Here comes Miguel Angel Torres!! Our referee in charge is Josh Rosenthal. Here we go!

Tapia gets rocked by a punch in the first 20 seconds but quickly recovers. Tapia swings wildly and misses at 45 seconds. One minute gone by and Torres fires off a kick while Tapia responds with a flurry that does little. Torres is on fire though and he's throwing strikes that seem to connect at will from head to body to leg. Halfway point of the first round and Torres is well in control, although Tapia does try to press forward for a bit - he eats two knees for his efforts though. With 90 seconds in R1 it's been virtually all Torres. Combos by both men. Left jabs by Torres look crisp. Torres tries a forward roll axe kick of all things. Well shit, why not. Tapia has to just keep avoiding and hoping to hit body shots where he can. Big flurry by both fighters to end R1 but I'm still calling it 10-9 for Torres.

Round two is underway! Torres' jabs are snapping Tapia's head back in the first minute of the fight. Tapia does connect with a right hand shortly after though. Tapia is hanging tough. Torres' chin seems pretty solid when he gets hit with a nice shot. Torres has a 1-2-3-4 combo that includes a spinning backfist, and it sets the people of the Hard Rock in Las Vegas on fire with a crowd chant. Torres connects with a straight right just before the halfway point, Tapia slumps, Torres tries to finish him but Tapia recovers. Another straight right at 2:05 and Rosenthal steps in close to make sure Tapia can intelligently defend... and a few seconds of crushing skull shots later it's obvious he can't. THIS ONE IS ALL OVER!! We'll have the official result momentarily, but first a promo for some crap called magic jack as well as a Urijah Faber "No Fear" commercial.