After a lax weekend of mixed martial arts action with only the lone ShoXC card making waves in the American market, World Extreme Cagefighting will hold its 33rd event on Wednesday night back in Las Vegas, Nevada. Featured on the event’s main card will be a Light Heavyweight title bout between current champion Doug “The Rhino” Marshall and Iraqi war hero Brian Stann. The undefeated Stann will be looking to use his size to topple the smaller Marshall. In other action, Brock Larson will make his return to the WEC cage against the veteran John Alessio. Ed Ratcliff will be looking to continue his success by using his dynamic striking abilities against a very tough opponent in Marcus Hicks. It looks to be a fantastic night of exciting bouts that should provide some validation for some of the up-and-coming talent in the WEC.

Main Event: Doug Marshall vs. Brian Stann

Brian Stann may finally be the answer that fans have been looking for when it comes to defeating Doug Marshall. With a large frame and a distinct reach and height advantage, Stann could be the immovable object that Marshall simply won’t be able to push away. In most of Stann’s previous bouts, he cruised relatively easy through the first round with crushing TKO wins over Jeremiah Billington, Craig Zellner, and Steve Cantwell. Although he hasn’t faced the stiffest of competition, his overall physical attributes make him a danger to Marshall.

Marshall may have some problems with Stann’s size, but he definitely has the aggressiveness to catch the lengthy war veteran. My biggest knock on Marshall in the past has been his sloppy striking that still seems to win him most of his battles. He’s also seemed to pick up a decent jiu-jitsu base, although it was only proven recently against Ariel Gandulla. I don’t believe Marshall can work that type of game on the ground against Stann, and I have a solid belief that Stann will be the fighter that can neutralize Marshall in the standup game.

Leland’s Predictions: Brian Stann via TKO, Round 1

This is going to be a stand-up war until someone takes one on the chin. My guess is that’s going to be Marshall. Stann has a warrior mentality and throws some nice straight punches down the middle. Marshall is more of a brawler that likes to throw looping overhand punches. He’s a little short to be fighting at light-heavyweight, so I expect Stann to be able to avoid those looping punches and beat Marshall to the punch with his straight punches. Look for Stann to finish Marshall early with strikes.

Joe's Prediction: Brian Stann via TKO, Round 1
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John Alessio vs. Brock Larson

On paper, this is a fight that fans should be looking forward to for a couple of reasons. First, Larson has only lost twice in his career and his second loss was only as recent as in August of last year to Carlos Condit. Secondly, Alessio is not only a great fighter, but he’s also a veteran with a plethora of experience against tougher competition than Larson has taken on. It should be a decent wrestling matchup for both fighters, and I’m intrigued to see how Larson will do against able competition that isn’t on the UFC level, but still has a solid skillset to counter him.

The more I look at this matchup, the more I’m beginning to like John Alessio in this fight. He has more experience, been in the cage against tougher competition, and has added power in his hands that Larson has never really had. He has a solid wrestling base, and can use the talent at Xtreme Couture gym to supplement his training. Larson has a solid record, but many of his wins are against subpar competition. He also has controlling ground and pound, but I think Alessio can neutralize Larson.

Leland’s Prediction: John Alessio via unanimous decision
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The main card wasn’t all that unbelievable, but it did have some standout fights on it.

Crunkilton came out with a good combo and head kick to start it out, but McCullough countered with a barrage. McCullough landed a huge right that knocked Crunkilton down and then the onslaught continued. Crunkilton would scramble to his feet only to get rocked again and again. Mir was flabergasted at the fact Crunkilton was trying to stand with McCullough and literally was saying “What the hell is he doing?”. McCullough easily overpowered Crunkilton with his standup.

Chase Beebe vs. Rani Yahya delivered. Rani Yahya came out, and tangled with Beebe from the get go. A small exchange and Yahya shot the legs and got Beebe to the ground. As Beebe was trying to transition on top of Yahya, Rani grabbed Beebe’s leg as he tried to scramble to his feet and sunk in a great kneebar. Beebe was visibly in tremendous pain, but was able to slip out of it. Yahya continued to try submissions throughout the first round, mainly armbars, but failed to do so, but won the round. For the next four rounds, Beebe put on a wrestling clinic is stuffing Yahya’s ju-jitsu. Beebe was able to get Yahya’s back and sink hooks in for 3 out of the 4 remaining rounds and basically nibble away at Yahya with small jabs and choke attempts. Yahya became gassed in the 3rd, and barely hung on by the 5th round.

Stann vs. Billington was somewhat of a joke. Everyone expected Stann to come out and dominate, and that’s exactly what happened. He tagged Billington early and was able to just punch him down to the ground and win easily with some ground and pound. Stann’s size over Billington was incredible, and the reach advantage was just too much from the get go. It was clear Billington’s standup was much too slow, and allowed Stann to basically pick a spot and hit it.

Miguel Torres vs. Jeff Bedard went much as it was expected. Sherdog actually has Miguel Torres ranked thanks to Jordan Breen’s great knowledge of the low weight classes, and it was rumored Shooto was trying to obtain him. He came to the WEC, and dominated a ground and pound wrestler in Jeff Bedard. Bedard took Torres down early and Torres worked off his back, sinking in a triangle choke from the bottom easily.

Bryan Baker vs. Jesse Forbes wasn’t a bad fight. A lot of people did not know who Baker was, but he proved it tonight. Forbes came out with a straight punch that rocked Baker. Forbes went in for the kill, but Baker was able to fend off the attack and eventually outlast the assault. Baker was able to throw some big punches and land a few. The biggest advantage for Baker was his wrestling. He was able to dominate Forbes on the ground, and eventually sunk the hook in and flatten Forbes on his stomach, mounted on his back. He rained down a load of punches and the fight was over. Good win for Baker, keep an eye out.

Blas Avena vs. Joe Benoit, Benoit had Clay Guida in his corner and it immediately had me thinking this may last a while if it comes down to cardio, but Blas came out much like he did against Tiki, with pure adrenaline. Blas immediately grabbed Benoit’s head and sunk in a guillotine choke that ended the fight 29 seconds in.

Overall, not a bad fight card, but not unbelievably spectacular. Mir’s commentating wasn’t half bad, but in some of the fights, the action was happening so quickly, he couldn’t keep up, notably the Baker vs. Forbes fight. Mir’s sidekick was pretty horrible, saying some of the chokes were sunk in deep when they weren’t even in, but overall, his play by play wasn’t bad. That’s what Mir is there for, color commentary.

They announced the new WEC/Versus deal during a break as said above and had a good interview with Urijah Faber, Faber did mention he had heard Curran say he was going to knock him out, and Faber replied by stating that he didn’t think Curran had knocked anyone out… ever.

It's been a horrendous month for the Miletich family. Staph infection has pretty much ripped through the gym, and Jens Pulver ended up getting it. But.. he didn't secede to it, he just ended up rolling his knee during training and is now out for the WEC 30 main card. The WEC revealed some of the NEW main card fights along with some of the undercard fights for the evening. I'm hoping we can see a few undercard fights as well since some of them are intriguing. The remainder of the card looks like this: