The past week has been full of hype surrounding WEC 48: "Aldo vs. Faber" with the major announcement that the card would air live on pay-per-view (PPV). The promotion intends to keep riding that wave of excitement, announcing today that as tickets for the April 24 event go on sale this week.

Those signed up for the WEC newsletter will get the first go at the tickets this Friday, Feb. 5 at 1 p.m. ET. The presale password is "Kid." Those who do not receive the newsletter will have their opportunity 24 hours later on Saturday, Feb. 6, at the same time.

WEC 48, which is set for the Arco Arena, in Sacramento, Calif., are sure to be a hot sell. The card features a featherweight championship between the WEC's greatest marketing asset, Urijah Faber, and 145-pound champion Jose Aldo.

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Yee-haw!

WEC Lightweight Champion Ben Henderson will defend his 155-pound title for the first time against the man he defeated, Donald Cerrone, to earn his shot at unifying the title in the first place.

Henderson and Cerrone will collide in a rematch at WEC 48, which is scheduled for the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on April 24, in the co-featured fight of the night. And It will certainly help the the promotion sell its first-ever pay-per-view (PPV) event at its desired price of $44.99.

That's because their first encounter at WEC 43 was one of the best fights in all of 2009.

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Former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) featherweight champion Mike Thomas Brown has been working his way back to a shot at redemption after losing the belt to Jose Aldo at WEC 44 in Nov. 2009.

Brown quickly rebounded, sinking in a fight-ending rear naked choke against Anthony Morrison at WEC 46 earlier this year. He now looks to keep the win streak rolling as he is set to be featured on the WEC's first-ever pay-per-view (PPV)card opposite Manny Gamburyan.

Brown and Gamburyan will hook 'em up at WEC 48, which is scheduled for the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on April 24.

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Props: Pro MMA Radio

Quoteworthy:

"Even though Mark Coleman is a bum, he wins fights. Who’s Mark Coleman’s coach? Who is Mark Coleman’s training partner? What is the name of the gym that he trains at? And don’t tell me the Hammer House. I want to know an actual building, an actual piece of real estate with a sign on it. Where does he train? Everybody has a coach. Tiger Woods has a coach. Michael Jordan had a coach. Mayweather has a coach. Mark Coleman does not have a coach. Everybody has a team. Everybody has a team backing them. Tiger Woods has a team. Kobe has a team. All the greats have a team of any sport. He doesn’t have a team! He’s his own coach, he’s his own team. He doesn’t even have a gym he belongs to. That’s just silly. How you could be in this for this long and be a one man show. On one hand (it) is remarkable. On one hand, maybe I’m looking at it wrong. Maybe I need to compliment him a little bit, but it’s just silly. That’s not what a dedicated guy does."

Trash-talking middleweight Chael Sonnen rants about the UFC 109 main event between Randy Couture and Mark Coleman. Sonnen called the fight a mismatch, but is excited to see if Coleman, who he called "a bum", can pull off the upset over Couture. Sonnen has become quite the talker during his time with the UFC -- also bashing Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami, and now hopping up a division in terms of talking smack. Is Sonnen out of line calling a UFC Hall of Famer "a bum" and saying that his manner of preparation is "not what a dedicated guy does?" Or is this just another way for Sonnen to keep getting his name out there in order to land a title shot -- that without his ability to promote a fight may otherwise never happen?

"I guess I  may have to show Herschel Walker who the real bad Boy of the Sports industry is. If the powers that be are reading in, I want in."

-- Herschel Walker's third round technical knockout victory over Greg Nagy at Strikeforce: "Miami" last Sat. (Jan. 30) had the mixed martial arts community buzzing. The 47-year-old proved once again that when it comes to athletics, there may be nothing the Heisman Trophy winner can't conquer. But he's not the only athlete bidding for the attention of MMA fans, as former professional "athlete" Jose Canseco once again looks to jump into the spotlight. Canseco essentially called out Walker via his Twitter Account, and put Strikeforce on the spot in terms of setting this fight up. Let's just hope Strikeforce and Walker pay him no mind. DREAM already made that mistake.

He just traded in the gold chains for tattoos:

Fresh off a technical knockout win over Houston Alexander little more than two weeks ago, Joey Beltran will get a shot in the big show, taking on decorated grappling champion and member of the famed Gracie clan, Rolles Gracie, at UFC 109: "Relentless" at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Feb. 6, 2010.

"Mexicutioner" is stepping up on super short notice after Gracie's original opponent, Mustapha Al-Turk, was forced off the card because of visa issues. Beltran's sponsor, Triumph United, was the first to break the news.

He'll certainly have his work cut out for him against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and son of Rolles Gracie Sr.

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Props: NY Daily News

Quoteworthy:

"It was stupid and inappropriate. I wouldn't accept that type of behavior from one of the coaches or players, and it's unacceptable from me. I apologize to the Jets' organization, the National Football League and NFL fans everywhere."

New York Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan was present at this past weekend's Strikeforce: "Miami" event and conducted an interview that was televised on Showtime. Ryan's comments were noticeably drowned out by the boos from all of the Miami Dolphins fans, who are one of the Jets' biggest rivals. After the interview, Ryan was caught sending a memo to one of the hecklers in the crowd through an obscene gesture. But I suppose that is what happens now that everyone in the world has a camera on their cell phone. That is simply Rex Ryan being Rex Ryan; a fiery and prideful guy who's never willing to give any ground. He's behind enemy lines on a division rival's soil in Miami "waving" at a rival fan. That's about it.

Reed Harris, the General Manager of World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), has been adamant for the past year that his promotion would soon make the move to pay-per-view (PPV) at some point in the near future.

It seems the future Harris was referring to is almost near -- he announced that the WEC would coordinate its first-ever PPV event this coming May, WEC 48, which will be headlined by perhaps the most notable match up in promotion's history, Urijah Faber taking on 145-pound champion, Jose Aldo.

Harris made the announcement this past week on The Dave and Mahoney Show. The WEC executive wants the PPV to be priced at $44.95, which is the going rate for every UFC event on PPV. 

The Zuffa-owned promotion has been running its events through the Versus networks, free for fans to enjoy on Sunday, and occasionally, Saturday nights. It is no mystery that the WEC is going to have to put together quite the card for this event to be a success.

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"No, it's not true at all. He's full of shit. Let me tell you what Chuck told me. He's gonna break his head open! Yeah, he's pissed."

-- WEC General Manager Reed Harris kept it short and not-so-sweet when Dave Farra asked him on X107.5 Las Vegas if there was any truth to the allegations made by Tito Ortiz that Chuck Liddell is a recovering alcoholic. Ortiz claimed that Liddell was in deep trouble with the disease of alcoholism, until Dana White saved the most dominant light heavyweight champion in recent history through an intervention. Harris was quick to challenge Ortiz's claims, saying that "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" is "full of shit." Whether it is true or not, it seems Tito Ortiz is fully in favor of refueling the fire these two once had between them. Let the games begin ... again.

World Extreme Cagefighting's (WEC) March 6 card is coming close to completion, as Bryan Caraway and Fredson Paixio will meet on the preliminary card of WEC 47 in Columbus, Ohio, according to MMAWeekly.com.

Caraway is coming off a submission loss in his WEC debut against Mark Hominick at WEC 46: "Varner vs. Henderson". The loss snapped a three fight win-streak which included two first round stoppages and a unanimous decision victory. 

Paixao's short stint in the WEC has left him without much to be happy about. After dropping a unanimous decision to jiu-jitsu ace Wagnney Fabiano at WEC 40, Paixao lost via split-decision to Cole Province, but the result was turned into a No Contest after Province tested positive for a banned substance.

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A lightweight match up between Bart Palaszewski and Karen Darabedyan has been added to WEC 47: "Bowles vs. Cruz" from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on March 6.

The promotion made the official announcement today.

Palaszewski is hoping his second run in the promotion will prove better than the first after he was dropped by the WEC after going 1-2 in his first three fights. "Bartimus," a veteran of the sport, returned to the WEC this past Dec. at WEC 45: "Cerrone vs. Ratcliff," scoring a split-decision over Anthony Pettis.

He will look to build upon his two-fight win streak come March 6.

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"Let me tell you right now teens and adolescents that are listening that find tasers in their parents' house and think it's gonna be cool to zap each other. Let me tell you. First of all, it is cool when it's not you getting tased. And second of all, don't do it. That hurts so bad. If anyone I ever meet from now on the rest of my life has a taser, that is it. End of argument. 'Here ma'am. Here's your purse back.' End of argument. Yeah, that was painful."

"Ultimate Fighter" winner Amir Sadollah sat down with Pro MMA Radio to discuss the injuries that plagued him at the very start of his career, his dominant performance against Phil Baroni, and many other topics concerning his mixed martial arts career. However, if you know anything about Amir Sadollah, you know his sarcastic remarks and rather interesting stories always make for a good interview. Sadollah discussed with host Larry Pepe the time he got nailed by a taser gun. Don't worry, he was not in trouble with the law, but was simply helping out with a police seminar. Sadollah was nice enough to give a couple of tips when it comes to tasers, along with stating how if you own one, he will never even think about messing with you. 

World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) is beginning to round out its March 6 card after the promotion announced a 135-pound match up between brawling bantamweights Scott Jorgensen and Chad George earlier today. 

Jorgenson (8-3) is coming off a dominant performance of Takeya Mizugaki, who simply failed to mount any sort of offense until the waning minutes of the fight. The victory gave the Idaho native his fourth in his past five contests, as Jorgensen looks to build up to a title shot at 135 pounds.

George, appropriately nicknamed "The Savage" is rolling off a unanimous decision victory over John Hosman in his WEC debut. "The Savage" is on a six-fight rampage and looks to continue his streak of beat downs with a win over a bantamweight contender.

While the bout does indeed hold implications in terms of the division's contenders, Jorgensen and George will not find themselves on the Versus telecast come March 6, as the two will do battle on the evening's preliminary card.

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After a first round submission victory over Jens Pulver back at WEC 41, Josh Grispi decided that he simply had to do something about an ankle injury that had followed him the majority of his career. Grispi sat down with Dan Duggan of BostonHerald.com to discuss his ascension in the sport, along with the surgery that has halted his progress for the moment.

"I couldn't even walk before I fought Jens (Pulver). I was like 'I can't be fighting these guys with a bum ankle.' There's no point. You have to get to 100 percent. I've never fought any of my fights 100 percent. I don't think anyone really does, but I've been pretty bad with my ankle."

 Grispi went on to discuss the fact that, even though he may be out of action due to rehabilitation from his surgery, he is thrilled to still garner positive attention from the mixed martial arts community.

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The main card for WEC 47 is coming together with the addition of two bouts for the March 6 card.

The WEC made the official announcement on Thursday, Jan. 21, that Deividas Taurosevicius will meet L.C. Davis, and Ricardo Lamas will welcome Bendy Casimir to the promotion.

Taurosevicius is coming off a dominant victory over submission ace Mackens Semerzier at WEC 46 this past Jan. He began his career in the WEC just one fight prior with decision victory over Javier Vasquez.

Davis is rolling off consecutive decision victories over Diego Nunes and Javier Vasquez, at WEC 44 and WEC 42, respectively. Davis will look to continue his undefeated run in the WEC against the former-professional rugby player. 

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"I don't think I beat him as bad as I could. So for me to get my hands on that stalker again... you know, Frank Mir has made it a mission of his life (to get revenge). Frank Mir the stalker. It's been a while since I've had a stalker, but we'll take of that if I ever face him again."

-- Brock Lesnar and Dana White appeared on ESPN today (Jan. 20) to announce the news that the UFC heavyweight champion would be back in action later this year after a severe illness threatened his career in mixed martial arts. However, it was not until the Lesnar press conference later in the day that the champ seemed himself again. The former WWE superstar wasted little time stating how a rubber match with Frank Mir would be perfectly fine by him. In fact, Lesnar feels he could put an even greater hurting on Mir the third time around. That could all happen sooner rather than later -- Lesnar is expected to take on the winner of the heavyweight interim championship match between Mir and Shane Carwin, which is scheduled for UFC 111 on March 27, sometime in spring 2010.

"He (Matt Veach) did win in the UFC and then he went up against Edgar after Pellegrino dropped out. So it's a new guy. Everyone who I am going up against have maybe one loss, you know? I'm going up against the tough guys. I'm going up against the best every fight. It's always the guys (where) it's like, 'Yeah, we can't get him an opponent because no one really wants to take the fight.' You know what? I'll take that fight always."

Gray Maynard sat down with Pro MMA Radio this past Monday to discuss his win over Nate Diaz, along with his loss of a title shot against BJ Penn - a title shot that has gone to Frankie Edgar. Maynard explained that while Edgar is coming off a dominant performance over Matt Veach, "The Answer" is not facing the tough competition that he is. For the record, Edgar's lone loss did come against "The Bully". Does Maynard have a point? Or are Edgar's dominant performances over Sean Sherk and Matt Veach make him more worthy of a title shot?

"This isn't a guy you can take lightly. This is a guy that really knows what he's doing. He almost beat Matt Hughes. He's been in great wars before. He's a former champion. He knocked out GSP, or (rather) TKO'd GSP. He's a guy that's very tough. He's got some great techniques. He's got some great guillotines. He's got great balance when trying to take him down. It's tough to take him down. He's obviously got a great overhand right. He's very, very good. But I have to agree with you guys. I don't see any way he can really beat me. If I'm always on my toes, always paying attention, and picking my spots and not looking to finish him in the 45 seconds...realizing this is a guy who's gonna be tough to finish. I'm not gonna submit him. I don't have the black belt Renzo Gracie skill that he has in jiu-jitsu, so I'm not gonna be able to submit him. I'm gonna have to wear him down, beat him up, and that's just how it's gonna have work. And I'm okay with that."

-- Frank Trigg made an appearance on Tapout Radio last evening (Jan. 18) to discuss his upcoming bout against seasoned veteran and former UFC welterweight champion, Matt Serra, at UFC 109. Trigg explained that while Serra has several strong points and "really knows what he's doing," "Twinkle Toes" is confident that Serra will be unable to find a way to beat him. Trigg has always been great at hyping fights with his never ending trash talk, but he's failed to back up his words on several occasions. Is the former welterweight top contender correct by saying Serra can't beat him? Or will "Twinkle Toes" fail to back it up once again?

World Extreme Cagefighting's (WEC) March event for this year is beginning to round out with the addition of two dynamic featherweights looking for redemption, as Diego Nunes and Leonard Garcia have verbally agreed to a featherweight bout at WEC 47, according to MMAWeekly.com.

Garcia is coming off a unanimous decision loss to the ever-improving Manny Gamburyan last Nov. at WEC 44: "Brown vs. Aldo." The former top contender to the 145-pound throne has not seen much success since dropping the title fight to Mike Brown at WEC 39 with the lone bright spot a narrow split-decision victory over Jameel Massouh at WEC 42. 

Nunes, also a man looking to rebound from recent failure, will attempt to get back to his winning ways after dropping a unanimous decision to L.C. Davis, which was the first loss in his MMA career. "The Gun" had been on a two fight winning streak in the WEC and rising in the always competitive featherweight division. 

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World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) kicked-off the New Year with its most ratings in several months, attracting 640,000 viewers for "Varner vs. Henderson," which took place from the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on Jan. 10. 

It's a nice ratings bump, which is significantly more than the recent numbers the promotion and the network have been pulling in.

By comparison, WEC 45: "Cerrone vs. Ratcliff" -- the promotion's final event of 2009 -- managed to only bring in 330,000 viewers. That's more than double. And the promotion likely has the "California Kid" to thank for a juicy chunk of additional viewers.

Urijah Faber made his return to the blue cage against Raphael Assuncao, submitting the Brazilian in an exciting, fast-paced war that had the fans screaming for more. And that's exactly what they got when Benson Henderson and Jamie Varner went toe-to-toe in the main event of the evening to unify the lightweight title.

"Smooth" would go on to take home the 155-pound gold.

Both fights made a successful combination, bringing in the most viewers for a WEC event since the Versus and DirecTV fallout.

For complete WEC 46 results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here and here.

"First off, you have to be able to match his speed, which I know I can do. Just be wary of all his tools. He's got some really dangerous tools. Stand up, he's got those low leg kicks that open things up for him. He's got the knees that seem to reach people's faces very, very easily, and he's got really fast, powerful hands. So I'll be aware of that, have good defense, and be ready to throw my own heavy punches and be able to dictate where the fight goes with takedowns. And I feel like, even though he's a black belt, I feel like I still have the grappling edge."

Urijah Faber sat down with Pro MMA Radio this past Monday (Jan. 11) to discuss his upcoming title fight with the young and dangerous WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. Faber earned the title shot after his third round submission (rear naked choke) victory against Raphael Assuncao. This bout will be "The California Kid's" second shot at retrieving his long lost featherweight title; a title he feels still belongs to him. Though the fight won't take place for several months, Faber already is analyzing what he has to do to win and he feels he is exactly the kind of fighter to beat the champion. Is he?

The official fighter purses for the competitors of WEC 46: "Varner vs. Henderson" this past Sunday night (Jan. 10) from the ARCO Arena in Sacramento were released earlier today by the California State Athletic Commission (NSAC).

Unsurprisingly, Urijah Faber topped the list by a large margin, bringing in $52,000 for his efforts against fellow featherweight contender Raphael Assuncao. Faber also raked in a $10,000 bonus for "Submission of the Night," following his rear naked choke finish in the evening's co-main event.

Former featherweight champion Mike Thomas Brown claimed the second spot on the money list, leaving Sac-town with a cool $38,000. Waggney Fabiano, meanwhile, raked in a cool $30,000 for his WEC bantamweight debut.

Main event competitors Jamie Varner and Benson Henderson also broke into the double digits, earning $18,000 and $22,000, respectively. 

Here is the complete list of WEC 46 payouts. 

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The California State Athletic Commission (NSAC) today issued its list of medical suspensions for WEC 46: "Varner vs. Henderson," which was held at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2010.

None of the bouts ended in knockout, making the suspensions a little less lengthy. The two "Fight of the Night" participants, however, each were suspended after their war.

Will Campuzano is potentially out for 180 days for a left shoulder strain, while Coty Wheeler was suspended for the same amount of time for possible orbital and nose fractures. Wheeler was also slapped with a 60-day suspension for a nose laceration. 

Main event participant and former WEC lightweight champion, Jamie Varner, was suspended 180 days for a right foot and right knee injury. The good news is that clearance by a physician would end this suspension prematurely.

His opponent, meanwhile, WEC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson, was not suspended, which was likely a nice change of pace after his suspension after his bout with Donald Cerrone at WEC 43.

Here is the complete list of WEC 46 injuries along with their medical instructions:

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Jamie Varner has never really been much of a fan favorite. His cocky attitude and antics throughout his WEC career have caused continuous alienation from WEC viewers and fans, something that did not change Sun. night.

Varner's scheduled five round championship bout with interim champion Benson Henderson began with some fireworks, as "C-4" looked to take out "Smooth" in the early going of the opening round. However, when that failed, the two spent the remainder of the first, the entirety of the second, and over 2:30 of the third round on the feet in what the Sacramento fans found to be a boring boxing match.

Yet the boos turn to cheers when Benson Henderson locked on a standing guillotine, causing Varner to tap out for only the second time in his career. 

Henderson, while excited with the victory, maintained the high level of class the fans and viewers on Versus are accustomed to. The same can not be said about Mr. Varner.

"He didn't want to box," stated Varner post-fight. "I came to fight, Ben came to grapple. Two different things."

Varner also stated that he was "winning the fight" and "had the control".

While the Arizona Combat Sports Member may have won the first round, both his opponent and he did very little in the second and third round, garnering boos from the fans the whole way.

Yet, regardless of whether he was "winning" or "controlling" the fight, the guillotine that force Varner to tap while standing made the judges' scorecards irrelevant. But, of course, that didn't stop the ever-classy Varner from running on and on about how he was winning the fight. 

However, regardless of what he says, Varner is now without a belt probably still baffled at why fans don't like him half as much as Benson Henderson or Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. 

The plain fact of the matter is that fans enjoy a classy winner as much as a classy loser. Varner has never been much of either in his 19 fight career and displayed it once again Sun. night. 

Urijah Faber rolled into Sacramento on Sunday night and proceeded to roll through Raphael Assuncao at WEC 46: "Varner vs. Henderson," finishing the super talented Brazilian with a third round rear naked choke.

Not only did "The California Kid" pick up a "must" win and a $10,000 bonus check, but he also earned an opportunity to fight WEC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo, in the very near future.

WEC General Manager Reed Harris made the announcement during the WEC 46 post-fight press conference.

It's an opportunity, as Faber put it, "to get his belt back." And he may get the chance to do it in front of a pay-per-view (PPV) audience, which would mark the first foray for the promotion into the paid arena after a successful run on the Versus network.

Harris wanted the WEC to make the move to the PPV scene for sometime now, but has had the discipline to wait for the right moment. It would appear based on his comments this evening that the moment is now, considering it would be a difficult task to find two better fighters to make the transition a success.

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World Extrem Cagefighting (WEC) rolled into Sacramento, Calif., last evening (Jan. 10) with "Varner vs. Henderson," which aired live on Versus from ARCO Arena.

The card was headlined by a lightweight title unification bout between reigning champion, Jamie Varner, and interim titlist Ben Henderson. "Smooth" went on to sink-in a surprise guillotine choke in the third round to become the undisputed 155-pound champion; however, neither of the main event fighters ran home with bonuses.

Former featherweight champion and hometown product, Urijah Faber, as well as Will Campuzano and Coty Wheeler, meanwhile, left Sac-town with a little extra jingle in their pockets.

$10,000 bananas each, to be precise.

Campuzano and Wheeler ran away with "Fight of the Night" in the opening match of the evening, which Campuzano won via unanimous decision after three thrilling rounds. "The California Kid" walked with the "Submission of the Night" for his lighting-fast rear naked choke victory over Raphael Assuncao.  

No knockouts were recorded, meaning that a "Knockout of the Night" bonus was not dished out.

The list of bonuses given out for WEC 46 is below:

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Relative unknown prospect Mackens Semerzier burst onto the scene with a first round submission victory over jiu-jitsu wizard Wagnney Fabiano at WEC 43. 

Three months removed from the incredible upset, however, the Miguel Torres protege found himself on the losing end for the first time in his professional career, dropping a unanimous decision to Deividas Taurosevicius tonight (Jan. 10) at WEC 46: "Varner vs. Cerrone."

The experienced Lithuanian dominated Semerzier for the first 10 minutes of the evening's main card opener. Down two rounds, Semerzier headed into the third with the mindset of a finisher.

However, it was not meant to be as Taurosevicius was able to avoid several submission attempts and survived the late surge of "Mack da Menace" to impress all three judges sitting ringside.

The loss is a step back for Semerzier, who had been carrying a lot of momentum since tapping out Fabiano at WEC 43. The American was considered one of the featherweight division's top prospects, and while he is still certainly one of the most promising young 145-pounders in the WEC, this loss robs him of a lot of the momentum to start 2010. 

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