Condit Retains Title in Thriller, Stann Dethroned
WEC - Hiromitsu Miura lay motionless on the canvas, too exhausted to rise to his feet. A few feet away, Carlos Condit stood hunched over, struggling to catch his breath. In a four-round extravaganza that could be a candidate for Fight of the Year, a battered Condit had just narrowly escaped defeat and retained his WEC championship belt.

Condit was far more fortunate than WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann, who waged a thrilling nine-minute battle with Steve Cantwell, only to taste defeat for the first time in his career and watch as a new champion was crowned. It was sweet redemption for the 21-year-old Cantwell, who had succumbed to Stann in 49 seconds during their first fight. Despite that beating, Cantwell was defiant leading up to Sunday’s bout at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. He had declared that he was the superior striker and grappler, and he backed up those boasts.

“He was more technical with his strikes,” said Stann, a big puncher who fell to 6-1 after stopping all of his previous opponents. “He beat me at my own game. I didn’t come out there and perform like I should have. To all my family and friends, I’m sorry. I’m a baby in this sport, I have so much to learn. I’m going to make sure that tonight is the best thing that ever happened to me. Steve walked a mile in those shoes and now it’s my turn.”

The Iraqi war hero had his moments, cracking Cantwell occasionally with hard 1-2 combinations. But unlike their first bout, Cantwell appeared much more confident, determined and well-rounded this time around. Rather than jump into a toe-to-toe slugfest with Stann early, Cantwell danced around and tried to methodically pick him apart with low kicks, high kicks, 1-2-3 combinations to the head. As the fight wore on, Cantwell dared to venture into toe-to-toe territory, and still got the better of Stann. Stamina and pacing may have been an issue for Stann, whose earlier fights had all been decided in the first round. Midway through the second round on Sunday, after weathering loads of big shots, Stann seemed to tire and Cantwell turned up the heat. Cantwell dug a hard left into Stann’s body and immediately followed up with a leg kick to the head. Then he landed a hard combination. Stann answered with a hard 1-2 combination of his own. Cantwell landed a knee and two more body shots. Stann answered again with a hard right.

Then Cantwell took over, pounding Stann with big right hands. Cantwell unleashed a knee, kick, knee combination that landed. Stann, apparently fading, covered up but kept trying to throw back. Then Cantwell whacked him with a booming right hand. Stann slumped to the canvas, face first. Fatigue and the accumulation of abuse had taken their toll. Cantwell pounced and punched away until the referee waved off the fight at 4:05 of the second round.

Stann rose to his feet, gamely congratulated Cantwell with a brief embrace and fitted him with the belt.
Cantwell said his immediate goal is “to continue to chew up 205 pounders all day. I respect Brian Stann, he’s a great man, better than most. But anyone who wants to win this belt is going to have to go through me.”

Condit, meanwhile, showed just how much fire he is willing to walk through to protect his title. Miura violently slammed the champ with judo throws, pounded him with punches, and pushed his cardio to the brink with impressive submission defense and reversals. Every time Condit thought he had Miura on the ropes – with an armbar, or a rear-naked choke, or the mount, or the beatdown position – the so-called “Last Samurai” always found a way to escape, reverse the position and rain down punches on Condit.

Miura rocked Condit with a hard flurry in the fourth round but Condit stunned him with a knee to the chin, dropping the Japanese challenger to his knees. Condit instantly moved to a side position and, rather than go for the rear naked choke, he fired away punches on Miura’s face. Miura never intelligently defended and the referee halted the action at 4:43 of the fourth round.

“I was tired. I didn’t have a lot left. It was all heart, all heart,” Condit said. “He was a really tough guy. I had him a bunch of screwed up positions and he always fought his way out. He took a lot of good shots. I was fortunate to come away with the win tonight. I think I’ll come away from this a much better fighter.”

In other action:

Jamie Varner vs. Marcus Hicks
Compared to Condit and Stann, Varner’s first defense of his WEC lightweight title seemed easy, though challenger Marcus Hicks had him on his heels early and pressed the action in a relentless quest for takedowns. The stocky, unbeaten challenger looked the stronger of the two, imposing his will with two quick takedowns – though Varner, a former collegiate wrestler, immediately popped to his feet each time. Varner survived a scare when Hicks, ever fond of the guillotine choke, briefly clamped his signature move on the champ. But just when it looked like Varner was going to have his hands full in this one, the tide turned dramatically. In rapid-fire succession, Varner landed a knee to Hicks’ stomach, then a kick to Hicks’ rib area and then a hard knee to Hicks’ face. Hicks, though he appeared to be momentarily stunned by the onslaught, kept marching forward.

Varner was only warming up. His next wave of attacks was Anderson Silva-esque. Everything the champ threw had power on it, and everything seemed to land clean on Hicks’ face and chin. He cracked Hicks with a hard straight right, then a straight left, then another hard right, then a knee to the face. And that was just the beginning. Hicks looked hurt but kept coming, desperately fighting for a single leg. Varner fought him off, then unloaded a bevy of straight rights, straight lefts, left hooks and knees to the face.

Hicks was woozy, barely able to stand, leaving many to wonder how a man so battered could still be standing. Varner showed no relent. He fired off three straight right hands, each with devastating intent, and each landing with perfect accuracy on Hicks’ chin.

Hicks finally showed his mortality and fell to the canvas. Varner let loose and the referee halted the action, giving Varner the victory at 2:08 of round 1.

“Marcus Hicks, he’s a very deserving challenger,” Varner said. “I haven’t been challenged for takedowns like that before. This guy is the real deal and I’m sure he’ll be back. He is tough. He’s got one hard head and an iron jaw. He just did not want to go down.”

Varner, who moved to 15-2 with his first title defense, said he believes his next fight could be a rematch with former champ “Razor” Rob McCullough or Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.

Brian Bowles vs. Damacio Page
For three minutes and thirty seconds this fight was an all-out war. Bowles tagged Page with hard right hands, and Page answered with powerful uppercuts and punches of his own. Everything these guys threw was with malicious intent. Page attempted a kick and slipped, and Bowles got on top and looked for a guillotine choke. Page escaped and reversed the position, popping Bowles with an authoritative right on top before inviting him to his feet so the battle could be settled there. Each man landed more power shots and then Page shot in for a double leg takedown. Page shot in deep and attempted to hoist Bowles for the slam. But midway through the lift Bowles sunk in a deep guillotine, wrapped his legs around Page and squeezed for dear life. Page could not complete the slam and slumped over, unable to free his neck or to tap. The referee, sensing Page was nearly out and done, stopped it at 3:30 of round one and the stoppage drew no objections from Page.

The win, the biggest of Bowles’ career, continued his meteoric climb up the WEC bantamweight ranks. He is now 6-0 with wins over highly-regarded Marcos Galvao, veteran Charlie Valencia and now Page.

“He’s a tough guy, he hits like a truck,” Bowles said. “I was eating a few shots and I got the takedown early. He tried to take me down and he gave me his neck.”

Josh Grispi vs. Micah Miller
Coming into this battle of 6 footers, Miller vowed he would knock Grispi out. But inside the cage it was the other way around – Grispi showed why, despite his youthfulness, he probably has the heaviest hands in the 145-pound division. The 19-year-old Brockland, Mass., native attacked Miller from the get-go with hard kicks to the legs and head. With Miller forced to respect the kicks, Grispi tested him upstairs and landed a powerful right to the temple, dropping Miller to the canvas. Grispi rushed in with a few big shots and referee Herb Dean called a stop to the action at 50 seconds of round one.

Miller (12-2) quickly rose to his feet and immediately questioned the stoppage, apparently pleading with Dean and telling him “I’m fine.”

But during his post-fight interview Grispi explained why Dean, in fact, made the right call.

“I hit him and he spun around,” Grispi said. “I hit him again he went out cold. His eyes closed…Then Herb Dean grabbed him and he woke up.”

Grispi (12-1) is now 2-0 in the WEC. Asked who he wanted next he replied: “I’ll fight anybody, man.”

 “Anybody.”

Brock Larson vs. Carlo Prater
A lot of people presumed Prater might have the edge standing, but Larson destroyed those assumptions early with a booming straight left hand that dropped Prater flat. With Prater struggling to regain his senses, Larson pounced like a leopard and landed four shots flush to Prater, putting him out cold at 37 seconds of round one. Foes have always known that Larson is dangerous on the ground with his submissions and ground and pound. On Sunday he gave future foes something else to fear.

“I figured I’d feint a little bit, throw that left and, hell, it worked out,” Larson said afterward.

Larson lost to WEC welterweight champ Carlos Condit last year but wants another crack at the title. He couldn’t wait to watch Condit’s clash with Hiromitsu Miura later in the night.

“That’s why I’m here — I want to be the best in the world,” Larson said. “Whoever holds that belt at the end of the night, hopefully I’ll be next in line.”

Blas Avena vs. Dave Terrel
Blas Avena produced the finest performance of his young career, flooring Terrel early and following up with a barrage of heavy right hands that forced a referee stoppage at 1:07 of round one. Avena’s impressive showing erased any doubts about whether there would be any lingering effect s from his last fight, a knockout loss to Hiromitsu Miura. Both Avena and Terrel reside in Las Vegas and are friendly with each other, but none of that mattered early when they tore after each other at the opening horn. They quickly ended up in a clinch, with Avena getting hold of Terrel’s neck and looking for his signature move, the guillotine choke. Terrel, pinned against the cage, had apparently done his homework and successfully defended the choke. But as he stood to his feet, Avena greeted him with a hard knee to the face and unleashed a hail of rapid-fire punches. Terrel fell to the canvas and slumped over, with Avena still firing unanswered shots until referee Kim Winslow intervened.

With the win, Avena improved to 5-2. He then gave thanks to his many local fans and co-workers at the Hard Rock, where Avena moonlights as a security guard.

“This is my office that I’m at, so I just had to come in to work, should I say,” Avena said during the post-fight interview in the cage. “It was definitely important for me to rebound from my last fight. I had to come out victorious. I’d like to fight again pretty soon.”

Todd Moore vs. Shane Roller
Shane Roller, a former collegiate wrestling star, won his WEC debut in quick fashion with a guillotine choke. Moore, considered the superior striker coming into the bout, looked good during the opening minute when the fight was standing. He whacked Roller with a nice straight right hand and later a solid left to the face. But rather than keep it standing, Moore shot in for a takedown and Roller instantly slipped in a tight guillotine choke. Moore did an excellent job of fighting out of the choke, then landed some solid punches from Roller’s guard. But Moore soon paid for his aggressiveness as Roller went hunting for the guillotine yet again – this time sinking it in even deeper and winning the tap at 3 minutes even of round one. With the win Roller moved to 5-1.


Mike Budnik vs. Greg McIntyre
Budnik spent much of this fight on his back and had lost the first two rounds. Then the X Games star unveiled his X factor – the triangle choke. The triangle initially appeared to be rather loose, affording McIntyre ample room to breathe. But Budnik took advantage of his trapped foe by bashing him with punches and elbows, opening a gash on McIntyre’s face. Budnik adjusted the triangle choke and made it a little tighter, pulling down hard on McIntyre’s head to win the tap at 3 minutes, 21 seconds of round three. It appeared, however, that fatigue may have played a role in the tap as the triangle did not appear dead-on and McIntyre appeared gassed after controlling Budnik during the first two rounds with takedowns. From the top position, McIntyre inflicted little damage.

With the come-from-behind victory, Budnik moved to 8-0.

Scott Jorgensen vs. Kenji Osawa
Jorgensen, a former division I wrestler, controlled Osawa throughout with repeated takedowns and position control. It was a fast-paced fight with five guillotine attempts in the first six minutes. Jorgensen took over in the third stanza, thunderously slamming Osawa to the canvas and controlling him with blows from the top. In the end, the judges rewarded Jorgensen with a unanimous decision.

Source: wec.tv