by:  TheMadOne

One night, 3 titles.  Airing live on VERSUS on August 3rd, The WEC will be back following their last record breaking show, with a Championship tripleheader on Versus featuring Welterweight Champion, Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit, Light Heavyweight Champion, Brian Stann, and Lightweight Champion, Jamie Varner.  Stann and Varner will be defending their titles for the first time, while Condit will look to make it eight straight wins; most in dramatic fashion and showing the world why he is known as “The Natural Born Killer”.

Jamie Varner will face his first defense of the LW belt facing “The Wrecking Ball” Marcus Hicks.  Hicks is 8-0 and has finished all of his opponents and the last three by guillotine.  Varner looked great in his demolition of Rob McCullough and will be looking to continue his momentum when he faces Hicks.  Varner has won 3 straight with his last loss being to Hermes Franca in the UFC.  Hicks is a tremendous boxer and as a BJJ black belt, has a devastating guillotine that he can pull off from various angles and nearly any situation.  This should be a tremendous fight whether it becomes a boxing match or ends up on the ground, as both fighters are very well rounded.  Varner has mentioned that he has stayed motivated by posting pictures of Hicks all over his house.  Hicks has needed no extra motivation since learning that Varner had mentioned he would “smash” him once they finally met.  Hicks is not a trash talker and has a very quiet demeanor, but will for sure let his feelings be known once the cage door closes.

Brian Stann will see a familiar face across the cage for his Light Heavyweight Title defense as he faces the young and hungry Steve Cantwell.  The last meeting between these two lasted just over 40 seconds with Stann finishing the fight by TKO in the first round.  Quick finishes are nothing new to Stann (8-0, 8 KO’s) as he has finished all of his opponents by knock out and all in the first round.  Stann has made the move to Atlanta and is no longer on active duty giving him the opportunity to train full time for the first time in his career.  Cantwell has said on record that he thinks he has better skills than Stann, particularly on the ground and will prove it on August 3rd,.  Little has been seen of Stann’s ground game, because to this point, it hasn’t been required.  Stann responded to Cantwell saying, “My motivation for this fight is very simple: Steve really doesn’t think I’m a very good fighter. He does not respect my skills whatsoever.”  If Cantwell comes in with a lack of respect and tries to stand in the pocket trading with Stann, we may get a sense of déjà vu, and another short fight between these two warriors.

Carlos Condit (22-4) will be defending his Welterweight title against the very tough Hiromitsu Miura (9-4) on August 3rd.  Most casual fans may not be too familiar with Miura, but he has won his last two in the WEC, and lost by UD to Jason “Mayhem” Miller at WEC 27.  Despite a recent trip to Afghanistan to visit the troops, Condit stated that he is not overlooking Miura and has trained for this fight as he always does.  Despite the potential for a tough fight, Condit is still the clear favorite to retain his title.  The question is, if he wins again, who will he fight next?  On the undercard, Brock Larson and Carlo Prater are facing off to move back up the welterweight ranks, but Condit has already ran through both of them with submission wins, and has pretty much cleared out the welterweight division in the WEC.  Could a move to the UFC be in the future for Condit?

Main Card
·    Carlos Condit vs. Hiromitsu Miura (Welterweight Title Fight)
·    Brian Stann vs. Steve Cantwell (Light Heavyweight Title Fight)
·    Jamie Varner vs. Marcus Hicks (Lightweight Title Fight)
·    Brian Bowles vs. Damacio Page
·    Josh Grispi vs. Micah Miller
Undercard
·    Brock Larson vs. Carlo Prater
·    Blas Avena vs. Dave Terrel
·    L.C. Davis vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
·    Shane Roller vs. Todd Moore
·    Mike Budnik vs. Greg McIntyre
·    Scott Jorgensen vs. Kenji Osawa

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