Tag: WEC+51

Donald Cerrone Wants to Complete Trilogy in Jamie Varner’s Backyard

Filed under: WEC, NewsDonald Cerrone seemed to have so much fun in his grudge match against Jamie Varner on Thursday night that he made no bones about wanting to do it again.

In fact, since the fight at WEC 51 took place in Broomfield, Colo., just 90 …

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Donald Cerrone and Jamie Varner compete at WEC 51.Donald Cerrone seemed to have so much fun in his grudge match against Jamie Varner on Thursday night that he made no bones about wanting to do it again.

In fact, since the fight at WEC 51 took place in Broomfield, Colo., just 90 miles north of Cerrone’s hometown of Colorado Springs, he put aside the post-fight shoving and the between-round bird-flipping against his heated and hated rival and did the gentlemanly thing – he offered to rematch with Varner on his turf next time.

WEC 53 takes place Dec. 16 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix – Varner’s home. And after dominating in a unanimous decision sweep of the scorecards, Cerrone took to the microphone to offer up a chance to finish the trilogy, now tied 1-1, in Varner’s backyard.

Miguel Torres: I Still Have a Lot of Things To Do

Filed under: WECBROOMFIELD, Colo. – Eighteen months removed from his last win, and coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in his 40-fight professional career, Miguel Torres made no secret that something had to change.

For the first time in…

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BROOMFIELD, Colo. – Eighteen months removed from his last win, and coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in his 40-fight professional career, Miguel Torres made no secret that something had to change.

For the first time in a long time, Torres put his fighting life in the hands of a coach, abandoning his pattern of self-training that worked for years – right up until the point it didn’t work with losses to Brian Bowles and Joseph Benavidez.

So it should come as a surprise to no one at WEC 51 on Thursday night that when Torres began his walk to the cage, absent was the mariachi entrance music that had become as much a trademark for him as the relentless pace he would keep in fights.

No Longer His Own Boss, Miguel Torres Turns to Firas Zahabi for WEC 51

Filed under: WECBROOMFIELD, Colo. – Brad Pitt, as Tyler Durden in “Fight Club,” says, “It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything.”

To say Miguel Torres “lost everything” might be something of a stretch. But after back-to-…

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Miguel TorresBROOMFIELD, Colo. – Brad Pitt, as Tyler Durden in “Fight Club,” says, “It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything.”

To say Miguel Torres “lost everything” might be something of a stretch. But after back-to-back losses for the first time in a career spanning 40 professional fights (and a dozen others that exist off the books), Torres definitely reached that type of moment of critical mass.

After years of training himself at his Torres Martial Arts Academy in Hammond, Ind., near his hard-luck, blue-collar hometown of East Chicago, Torres was living the good life as his own boss. Sure, he made sporadic trips to drill with coaches like Robert Drysdale and Mark DellaGrotte. He rolled with Frank Mir and Kenny Florian, Rashad Evans and Kurt Pellegrino.

But when you’ve never been knocked out and someone pops you in the chin and puts you to sleep and takes your gold, and when you’ve never been made to quit and someone cracks your head open and chokes you until you tap … it must feel like you’ve lost everything. So you go out and get a coach.

WEC 51 Weigh-In Results

Filed under: WEC, NewsBROOMFIELD, Colo. – All fighters successfully made weight for their WEC 51 bouts at the official weigh-in event at the 1stBank Center on Wednesday.

Main-event featherweights Jose Aldo and Manny Gamburyan each tipped the scale at…

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BROOMFIELD, Colo. – All fighters successfully made weight for their WEC 51 bouts at the official weigh-in event at the 1stBank Center on Wednesday.

Main-event featherweights Jose Aldo and Manny Gamburyan each tipped the scale at 145 pounds for their featherweight title fight. It will be Aldo’s second defense of the belt since taking it from Mike Brown at WEC 44 last November. At WEC 48 in April, he defeated former champ Urijah Faber by unanimous decision.

Gamburyan, a finalist on Season 5 of “The Ultimate Fighter” who dropped down to featherweight from his lightweight days in the UFC, said his experience is his edge in the title fight.

“I trained really hard and I’ve been in some big fights,” Gamburyan told Craig Hummer. “My win over Mike Brown gave me (confidence) … and I’m ready to take that belt.”

Donald Cerrone: No Chance Feud With Jamie Varner Ends at WEC 51

Filed under: WEC, NewsWHEAT RIDGE, Colo. – There are grudge matches, and then there’s Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner.

A rematch nearly two years in the making, the lightweights finally meet again at WEC 51 on Thursday. Think there’s a chance the bad…

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WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. – There are grudge matches, and then there’s Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner.

A rematch nearly two years in the making, the lightweights finally meet again at WEC 51 on Thursday. Think there’s a chance the bad blood might be over after the fight, like has been customary in many other heated rivalry showdowns before it?

Think again.

“Hell no,” Cerrone told MMA Fighting on Tuesday after finishing a workout at the Grudge Training Center outside Denver. “I hope I knock his (butt) out. I’ll say, ‘Hey, (b—-) boy, you wanna have a rematch in your home state in December? Let’s do it. Run it back. Let’s go.”

Pablo Garza Replaces Jason Reinhardt, Will Face Tiequan Zhang at WEC 51

Filed under: WEC, NewsJason Reinhardt is out of his fight against prized WEC signee Tiequan Zhang and will be replaced by Pablo Garza on Thursday’s WEC 51 card.

The WEC made the announcement via Twitter on Monday morning, and MMA Fighting has confirm…

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Jason Reinhardt is out of his fight against prized WEC signee Tiequan Zhang and will be replaced by Pablo Garza on Thursday’s WEC 51 card.

The WEC made the announcement via Twitter on Monday morning, and MMA Fighting has confirmed with sources close to Reinhardt that a failed eye exam will keep him from making his WEC debut.

Garza (7-0), Reinhardt’s replacement, was one of 28 contestants vying for a spot in the house on the current Season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” But he lost his preliminary fight to Michael Johnson, who went on to become coach Georges St-Pierre’s top pick in the team selection, which aired last week.