WEC 53 Live Blog: Zhang Tie Quan vs. Danny Downes Updates

Filed under: WECGLENDALE, Ariz. — This is the WEC 53 live blog for Zhang Tie Quan vs. Danny Downes, a lightweight bout on tonight’s WEC on Versus event from the Jobing.com Arena.

Zhang (12-0) made his WEC debut in September and defeated Pablo Garza w…

Filed under:

GLENDALE, Ariz. — This is the WEC 53 live blog for Zhang Tie Quan vs. Danny Downes, a lightweight bout on tonight’s WEC on Versus event from the Jobing.com Arena.

Zhang (12-0) made his WEC debut in September and defeated Pablo Garza with a guillotine choke submission. Downes (6-1) makes his WEC return following a loss in his promotional debut to Chris Horodecki in June.

The live blog is below.

WEC 53 Predictions

Filed under: WEC
World Extreme Cagefighting puts on its 53rd and final fight card Thursday night, and we’ll say goodbye with what should be a very entertaining fight card, with one bout determining the first UFC bantamweight champion, and another deter…

Filed under:


World Extreme Cagefighting puts on its 53rd and final fight card Thursday night, and we’ll say goodbye with what should be a very entertaining fight card, with one bout determining the first UFC bantamweight champion, and another determining the next UFC No. 1 contender.

What: WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis

Where: Jobing.com Arena, Glendale, Arizona

When: Thursday, the non-televised undercard begins at 7 PM ET and the Versus TV card begins at 9.

Predictions on the five televised fights below.

Zhang Tie Quan Ready to Show How a Chinese Athlete Can Fight

Filed under: UFC, WEC

One of the biggest fights of the year in mixed martial arts takes place on Thursday night when Jose Aldo fights Manny Gamburyan for the featherweight champion of the world. But the fight that could be the most significant bout of…

Filed under: ,

One of the biggest fights of the year in mixed martial arts takes place on Thursday night when Jose Aldo fights Manny Gamburyan for the featherweight champion of the world. But the fight that could be the most significant bout of the year will happen a few hours earlier on the same World Extreme Cagefighting card, and it will be largely overlooked and maybe not even shown on the television broadcast.

That fight features China’s Zhang Tie Quan stepping into the cage to take on an American named Pablo Garza, and it represents a major opportunity for American MMA to break into the Chinese market.

Every American company is intrigued by the possibilities of expanding into China, and Zuffa (parent company of the WEC and UFC) is no different. And while it’s not realistic to think Zhang could do for MMA what Yao Ming did for basketball, Zhang knows that if he succeeds on the American stage, he could have a huge impact on the growth of the sport in the world’s most populous nation.