Dave Doyle had an exclusive interview with Josh Grispi after his win over veteran Mark Hominick on Wednesday night at WEC 32. Some of the quotes reveal the thinking behind Grispi's gameplanning for the fight.

The 19-year old did his homework before his match with Mark Hominick and knew all his opponent’s tendencies. He then used what he learned to perfection, scoring a victory via rear naked choke at 2:55 of the first round in his World Extreme Cagefighting debut at the Santa Ana Star Center in suburban Albuquerque.

“I saw his match against Rani Yahya where he basically walked right into a choke,” Grispi said. “I knew he’d give me the opening if I looked for it.”

Why is it that in many interviews leading up to events, we hear fighters stating that they simply go with the flow and don't want to concentrate on tape too much? I understand the concept of oversaturating your mind with tell tale signs of weaknesses in an opponent, only to realize that during the fight, your opponent has worked his ass off to correct those mistakes, but what if he hasn't? Just like in many other sports, "watching tape" on a specific event can only help you, and in this case, it helped a young prodigy in Grispi put the choke on Hominick.

Another great line:

“I’ve seen that in tapes of his fights,” Grispi said. “He likes to leave his leg out there and then escape. I knew he’d get his shot in, so I braced for it and waited for him to move.”

The biggest difference I've noticed in fighters studying their opponents is the intricate details that they seem to have the eye for catching. Small, suttle things in their game that seem insignificant to a fan are exploited by the fighter. Grispi was able to get a double leg takedown after working from the leg of Hominick. This ended up being the last exchange on the ground that ended the fight.

Grispi is on the right track. He has awesome striking skills, explosive means to ending a fight, and the ground game to back up his standup. Add in the smart gameplanning of his opponents, and you can almost say that he's a complete fighter. We may very well be saying he's a complete fighter if he continues on his run toward the top.

I'm going to relish my victory today. My predictions paid off in a big way, and I had some readers contact me regarding my reasoning behind some of the picks. I thought I'd go through the thought process a bit, but to be honest, nearly every website who has their picks up has their ups and downs. Upset picks happen quite a bit in MMA, but it's up to the picker to do the research, and that's what I did.

Condit vs. Prater

Surprisingly enough, Condit ended this fight fairly quickly. It should have went a bit further, but it looks like Condit's progression on the ground is coming along nicely. He's dangerous on his back, and his striking can produce something fierce. After a few takedowns from Prater, Condit sunk in the guillotine choke in the first round, defending his title once again and redeeming his loss against Prater in a previous matchup.

I was adamant in believing that Condit could potentially strike with Prater and put him to the canvas for the TKO, but Condit showed some fantastic active guard to keep Prater from landing any big shots. The consequence from that guard was opening up attempts for the submission, and that's exactly what Condit did. It may be time to move him into the UFC, although I think it'll be very tough for him there, especially with the influx of new talent.

McCullough vs. Varner

I've never been sold on "Razor" Rob. He's primarily a striker with great Muay Thai credentials and a good sprawl, but I've always found that if he was taken down, he wouldn't last. This wasn't the case in his matchup with Varner. McCullough successfully sprawled multiple times to stop Varner's takedowns, and it looked as if he had tired Varner considerably.

Unfortunately for Rob, his biggest asset was on hold from the get go. He never let his hands go and was hesitant to trade with Varner. Varner continued forward, lasted through the rounds, and was able to finally catch McCullough with a nice exchange. McCullough recovered slightly until Varner unleashed another flurry that put him down for good. Impressive victory for Varner, and in a fashion that I didn't see coming.

Beebe vs. Torres

Fighters with great jiu-jitsu skills and high guard position have always been favorites of mine, and Miguel Torres was no exception to this rule. In the high guard, the possibility of the triangle choke, armbar, or even the shoulder lock are always higher. Torres proved that in his fight with Chase Beebe. The high guard was definitely making Beebe very cautious of his movements inside Torres's active guard. Eventually, Torres showed that his vastly superior grappling skills, lengthy limbs, and high guard tactics were too much for Beebe.

Garcia vs. Takaya

I can't say too much about this fight. I picked Garcia because I thought his cage experience would help, and it was only Takaya's second time in the cage. I was looking for a decision win here, but Garcia is explosive. It paid off big time. It's unfortunate for Takaya, who is a great fighter in his own right.

Grispi vs. Hominick

Many people emailed me about Grispi, and Luke Thomas over at BloodyElbow.com had a small profile on the fighter. Fortunately for me, I've been following Grispi ever since I heard some inklings about how good he actually was for being so young. Hominick has been susceptible in the past in both ground and standup, but he's a veteran fighter that was a nice test for Grispi.

I took Grispi based on a couple of factors. First and foremost was his explosive striking. Some of his bouts feature impressive surgical strikes to the head that have put his opponents out in seconds. Secondly, his ground game is fantastic, and once again, he is a fighter that has an active guard that is tough to handle for wrestlers. Great win for Grispi.

Maeda vs. Valencia

Why did I pick Maeda? Explosiveness. He has great knees and kicks, and it showed in his battle with Valencia. Many fans were picking Valencia based on his German suplex in his last fight, but I refrained from taking the bait. Maeda had the skills to devastate Valencia if he continued to shoot in with his wrestling, and I couldn't pick Valencia over Maeda's huge amount of experience.

Final thoughts

It was a great night of fights, and it looks like the WEC has two new champions in the promotion. Condit continues to dominate, but I look forward to seeing who the WEC will get for Torres and Varner. Marshall vs. Stann should be a nice upcoming matchup that many will want to see for one reason, Marshall is the Tim Sylvia of the WEC in regards to his popularity. Fans want to see him lose.

Keep an eye on Grispi, he may very well be the next big thing in MMA.

The WEC will make its presence known in the Southwest on Wednesday night as they move into the Santa Ana Star Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Three championship title fights will headline the card with Carlos Condit defending his title against Carlo Prater, a fighter who has once defeated Condit. Also on the line is the Lightweight title in which Rob McCullough will defend against former UFC prospect Jamie Varner. In the third title bout, Featherweights Chase Beebe and Miguel Torres will tangle for the title. Slated to make his WEC debut, Leonard Garcia will take on K-1 Hero’s veteran Hiroyuki Takaya to round out the top fights of the night. It looks to be a solid card full of excitement.

Carlo Prater vs. Carlos Condit
Welterweight Title Bout

One of the more exciting bouts of the night will be the main event featuring Prater vs. Condit. Prater is one of the only fighters to have defeated Condit, and it was in quick fashion via a triangle choke back in September of 2004. Condit went on to bigger and better things, defeating some very good talent on the road to winning the Welterweight title in the WEC. Prater continued to show some impressive skills, but never broke into a bigger promotion.

There are some interesting pieces to both their skillsets here that should prove to be advantageous to Condit. Prater is primarily a submission fighter who continues to be good on the ground. In his recent bouts however, he has shown a degradation of his finishing skills, taking many fights the distance and winning by decision. Carlos has only gone to decision once in his career, and it’s highly unlikely that it will happen again, so look for Condit to push the pace.

Condit and Prater are both very good on the ground, but Condit does have much better striking skills. He has the ability to finish, and should take out Prater. Prater, however, does have a good shot at defeating Condit since Prater is very tough to finish. I’ll look for this to head to the late rounds before ending.

Leland’s Prediction: Carlos Condit via TKO, 3rd round

Rob McCullough vs. Jamie Varner
Lightweight Title Bout

This is a fight that I think has fallen under the radar as far as upset possibilities go. Varner has a much better ground game than McCullough. In fact, McCullough really hasn’t had to prove his ground game in any of his recent fights. Varner, on the other hand, has a solid ground game that features some excellent wrestling skills that could prove to be tough for “Razor” to deal with.

The biggest difference here is McCullough’s standup. His striking is very good, and his Muay Thai credentials only further solidify his standing a great striker in the weight class. Can Jamie Varner avoid becoming another Richard Crunkilton? It’s tough to say, but we do know that McCullough will come out strong.

Another stat that sticks out is that McCullough has never been finished, and he has proven himself early in his career that he can withstand the ground game against other grapplers. Crunkilton was going to be that test for his ground game, but he was unable to get McCullough down.

There have been some good interviews with Varner suggesting that he has been training very hard, improving his grappling, and coming into this fight with a smart gameplan. For that, I’m going to go with Varner.

Leland’s Prediction: Jamie Varner via submission, 2nd round

Chase Beebe vs. Miguel Torres
Featherweight Title

Another fantastic matchup for the WEC will be the Chase Beebe vs. Miguel Torres clash. Beebe proved that he has fantastic submission defense when he nearly got kneebar’d by Rani Yahya, then survived multiple submission attempts throughout the fight while beating Yahya senseless. Beebe will come in with great wrestling, solid striking, and good ground and pound skills.

Torres is a formidable opponent due to his jiu-jitsu skills being so well-rounded. He’s also currently 20-1, but his knock could be said to be his strength of schedule. He hasn’t fought tough talent in his weight class, but then again, Beebe also hasn’t had a plethora of talent to take on either.

This seems to once again be a wrestler vs. a grappler matchup, the same style matchup that Yahya lost. Beebe has great submission defense, and he has never been finished. Torres has awesome submission ability and good technical striking. I’m going to go for the upset here.

Leland’s Prediction: Miguel Torres via submission, 3rd round