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

Other matchups

Manny Tapia vs. Antonio Banuelos: This fight should get have some good action, but Tapia has power, striking, and a good ground game. Banuelos, known for his appearance on TapouT and his being a buddy to Chuck Liddell, has some weaknesses in his game that have been exploited in the past. Look for Tapia to exploit one of them and end it. Manny Tapia via TKO, 2nd round

Leonard Garcia vs. Hiroyuki Takaya: A matchup that most assuredly will make the televised card, Garcia will take on K-1 Hero’s veteran Takaya in his debut bout with the WEC. Garcia loves to bring it, but doesn’t have solid skills in any one area. He does have good power, decent standup, and a decent wrestling game, but has seen himself on his back more times than he’d like when fighting mid-echelon talent. Takaya is 9-4-1 in his career, but don’t let those losses fool you. They’ve only been to the top elite with names such as Gesias Calvancante, Andre Amade, Genki Sudo, and Gilbert Melendez. His recent win over Antonio Carvalho was a surprise victory, and it may be a sign of his skills improving. This is a tough fight to call, but I’ll go with Garcia for the fact that Takaya hasn’t fought in a cage, usually succumbs to early onslaughts, and will undoubtedly try for the knockout that may hurt him in his takedown defense. Garcia via decision

Del Hawkins vs. Coty Wheeler: I’m going to take Hawkins based on experience, grappling, and the fact that Wheeler looks like a 13 year old boy with his small physique. The biggest mystery here is if Hawkins can avoid the submission. It’s amazing that his weakness is his own strength. Hawkins via TKO, 2nd round

Chance Farrar vs. Micah Miller: This could be a little gem in the undercard. Farrar has great knockout power, but Miller has good jiu-jitsu, big reach, and some decent striking. Look for Miller to ride this one for a bit and take it to the ground. Farrar’s wrestling should be good since he is a NAIA champion, but Miller’s jiu-jitsu is tough to counter. Miller via submission, 3rd round

Charlie Valencia vs. Yoshiro Maeda: Charlie gets a very tough opponent in Maeda for his bout following his awesome performance against Ian McCall that featured a German suplex with release. Valencia has a well-rounded game, but he likes to finish using his wrestling ability to submit his opponent. Maeda holds a 22-4-2 record and has fought nearly everyone in Pancrase and DEEP with a big loss to Masakazu Imanari, a knockout loss to Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett in PRIDE, and a draw with Imanari in their first meeting. With two losses to a top 10 fighter, Maeda still possesses the skills to defeat most upper-echelon talent in the WEC. He also has dynamite in his hands and knees. Look for Maeda to hurt Valencia. Maeda via TKO/KO, 1st round

Josh Grispi vs. Mark Hominick: The upset special of the night could be this brawl between a newcomer and the veteran in Hominick. Grispi is only 19 years old, but he has some solid skills. He implements kicks effectively, and falls back on some fantastic jiu-jitsu on the ground. He has some amazingly accurate striking that combines both knees and punches.  In some of the tape on Grispi, my only concern is that he kept his chin up in some exchanges, something Hominick may look for. Hominick is a veteran with some great submission skills and power. I only see Hominick ending this with his power, and I don’t see him doing that. Grispi via TKO, 2nd round

Damacio Page vs. Scott Jorgenson: Page is a late replacement, but he provides a lot of power in his hands. Jorgenson hasn’t had success finishing opponents lately, and I think Page will put him down quickly with a big punch. Page via TKO/KO, 1st round