San Diego Slugfest

Last night the city of Los Angeles was rocked with two great fighting events. Tonight, San Diego will host another mixed martial arts event when World Extreme Cagefighting presents a double feature with the rematch between Jens Pulver and Urijah Faber and a lightweight title fight between champion Jamie Varner and red hot Donald Cerrone.

This is not as strong of a card as recent WEC events, but that is understandable since this is the first time it will not have any middleweights or light heavyweights on the bill. The card is still interesting enough for the top two fights and a few prospects filling out the undercard.

The main event of the evening pits Faber against Pulver in a rematch of their classic featherweight title fight back in June. The California Kid displayed tremendous striking against Pulver throughout all five rounds. To Pulver's credit, he was able to take everything Faber had to offer, but it was still shocking to see such a feared striker get picked apart on his feet. 

Faber's win over Pulver was convincing enough to make me believe that there is no way he is going to lose this fight. He just lost his title to Mike Brown in a shocking knockout loss, which will make him even more hungry to prove he is still the most dominant 145 pounder in the world. 

Pulver, on the other hand, has lost four out of his last five bouts. He is still young at 34 years old, but he doesn't seem to have the same aggressiveness he once possessed. He has never lost three fights in a row in his career, but this fight will probably make that happen. I don't know if Pulver will walk away from the cage if he loses, but if he does, he is going to be a great coach. 

While I am certain Faber will win, I am still interested in how it will play out. In the last fight, the two pretty much slugged it out for five rounds, but since Faber just got knocked out, I think he might opt to use his tremendous wrestling to take Pulver to the mat. 

The explosive first fight was great to see, but I think a competition on the ground could be just as exciting and would give the matchup a fresh look. However, the only way Pulver could win is by hitting a one-hitter quitter much like Mike Brown did to Faber. Pulver still has pop in his punches, but I just don't see it happening. 

Faber wins via 2nd round TKO stoppage

The other main event is a five round matchup between WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner and Donald "The Cowboy" Cerrone. These two guys love to stand and bang and both of them never seem to lose. This could be an instant classic if it goes all five rounds. 

Varner is 15-2 and is riding a four-fight win streak with all three of his WEC bouts ending in a TKO. Cerrone is 9-0 in his blossoming career with eight of those wins coming via submission despite his preference to trade leather. 

Both fighters are red hot right now, which means the winner will be determined by the fighter that sticks with the correct gameplan and doesn't get suckered into turning the fight into a brawl like many young fighters do. Cerrone is going to want to stand and trade, but he should be looking to jab and then shoot all night long. 

If Cerrone puts the fight on the ground, his chances of winning are significantly higher. If he gets caught up in the moment and the adrenaline and opts to box with Varner, then he will come out on the losing end. 

Varner is so crisp with his jab and his footwork that most opponents, especially opponent's in their first title fight, cannot hang with him. Cerrone has power, but he keeps his hands low and throws wild punches off balance. Varner will pick him apart all night if he tries to box. 

Varner is also a decent wrestler though, and if it does hit the ground, I expect he would be able to scramble to his feet. I think Varner wins by knockout or decision and if Cerrone hopes to walk home with the gold, he needs to go for the submission and get the fight on the ground.

Varner retains title via 4th round knockout

In the undercard, WEC regular Charlie Valencia will welcome Seth Dikun in his debut. Valencia has been losing a lot lately, and at 5' 3" tall he is a little too short to keep competing a featherweight division that keeps getting tougher and tougher. Dikun seems like a good athlete and I expect him to pull out a nice win in his debut. 

Hiromitsu Miura is back in action after his great title fight with Carlos Condit. Look for Miura to rebound with another crowd-pleasing performance over Edgar Garcia.

The other two prospects to keep an eye on are Dominick Cruz and Jose Aldo. Cruz is a promising featherweight at 11-1 and has a slightly tougher test against the gritty Ian McCall. 

Aldo, a lightweight, brings a 12-1 record into his match against Rolando Perez and has looked good in his first two WEC appearances.